Doing Everything But
Posted by karell on 09-20-2005Note from Anastasia: To my newsletter readers: We should have the authors of posts included in the newsletter tomorrow. This post is by Karell, who is one of the new Ypulse.com contributing editors. She also wrote yesterday's post on teen magazines.
The New York Times (reg. required) recently published an article on the nationwide survey conducted by the National Health Center for Health Statistics. It focused on American sexual practices and included some juicy bits on teen sex habits.
Here's an excerpt on some of those statistics. Most centered around oral sex:
–more than half of all teenagers aged 15 to 19 have engaged in oral sex - including nearly a quarter of those who have never had intercourse.
–55% of boys and 54% of girls have given or received oral sex
–49% of boys and 53% of girls have had intercourse.
–the survey found that nearly all teenagers who have had sexual intercourse have also had oral sex: 88 percent of the boys and 83 percent of the girls.
And here's a quote I thought was particularly interesting: "'A very significant proportion of teens has had experience with oral sex, even if they haven't had sexual intercourse and may think of themselves as virgins,' Dr. Manlove said. 'We're not sure whether these teens who have not had sexual intercourse are engaging in oral sex because they view it as a way to maintain their technical virginity or even because they regard it as an easy method of birth control.'"
I remember being in high school and hearing girls talk about "saving their virginity" by giving their boyfriends oral sex. It was generally looked upon as an admirable and obvious choice for those "waiting 'til marriage" who also did not want to be seen as completely checked out of the sex scene. Even as recently as last year, my then roommate discussed how she managed to "keep her virginity" 'til she was a freshman in college by being a blow job expert and redirecting her boyfriend's energy to oral sex and mutual masturbation.
This may be seen as shocking (or maybe not, who knows?) but having oral sex wasn't really seen as that big a deal–in teenagers' eyes. Don't get me wrong–it was a big deal if they had never done it before or were not in a serious relationship. Most girls did not want to be labeled as sluts or easy. But if a girl was in a serious relationship–usually lasting more than six months or so–and she was in love, and he was the "right one," then she figured that they could escalate their relationship to the next level without going too far.
It was seen as a compromise to the traditional sex debate. It was no longer–to do it or not do it, but more, how far can I go to almost doing it but still maintaining my virginity?
September 20th, 2005 at 11:35 am
Regardless of where a person stands on the whole sex before marriage debate, or whether a person supports teenagers even having sex…there is one thing that is most important. The education and reeducation of these teens.
Oral sex is not a SAFE substitute for sexual intercourse. These CHILDREN need to be educated on the numerous diseases they can catch and spread by participating in these sexual acts.
If you talk to many of these preteens/teens many seem to be under the impression that the only thing they have to be concerned with is getting pregnant/or getting a girl pregnant. Forget about the continual increase in the amount of teens contracting and spreading sexual transmitted diseases.
While we are at it, why don't we start purposing these children should have anal sex instead of sexual intercourse as a way to stay virgins.
I guess all this "abstinence only" education is finally rearing its ugly head. All these people seem to be concerned with is "keeping their virginity" instead of learning the proper protection techniques and what can happen when they have these types of sexual relations with another person.
Maybe we should print up big posters with a girls mouth taken over with warts and herpes. Maybe then the kids will realize how truly serious their actions are.
September 20th, 2005 at 12:05 pm
I do agree that there needs to be more education about STDs and STIs out there, but I don't think that teenagers are completely oblivious to the consequences of unprotected sex. Many teenagers (the ones I know now, and back then in high school) were very conscientious about buying condoms and protecting themselves.
I guess what would be interesting to see is a survey of teenagers who use condoms and other forms of protection vs. those who don't.
September 20th, 2005 at 5:40 pm
The Washington Post also had an article about the Teens and Oral Sex study.
"They're very smart about this issue," Brindis said, "but they may not have been given a strong enough message about the risks of oral sex. Maybe we need to do a better job of showing them they need to use condoms." Oral sex has been associated in clinical studies with several infections, including gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes and the human papillomavirus, which has been linked to cervical cancer. Condoms and other forms of contraception can be used to decrease the health risks of oral sex, but few teens use them.
A quick search on google came up with a bunch of studies that have been done. The consensus is that as "smart" as children seem to be, they aren't using condoms for oral sex, forget about guys using dental dams. Hopefully there will be in increase condom use in terms of oral sex.
I found this article on About.com.
Its great to see there are young professionals focusing on these issues. I can't wait to see what else ypulse is going to have.
I wonder what can be done about this issue. Hopefully now that the statistical information is out, the education will become available.