ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews some common, often unarticulated myths and juxtapose them with the realities of what sex can be. Before entering into a discussion of the myths themselves, two of the most important lessons should be introduced in order to appreciate the adverse impact of common beliefs on normative sexuality and to demonstrate that there are alternatives to both the beliefs and their effects. Participants’ ability to demarcate the beginnings of “great” sex indicated a clear and distinct improvement in their sex lives as they reached midlife. They had developed the capacity for magnificent sex rather than having been “born that way”. The notion that sex should be “natural and spontaneous” ranks among the most difficult assumptions to dislodge and among the most deleterious and dangerous to couples. It is so ubiquitous a hallmark for “great sex” as depicted in Hollywood movies that it has become a cliche.
