Personal Injury Law

Myth - Teens Substitute Oral Sex for Intercourse

By Jane Akre

Many teens who want to brag they are still virgins are engaging in oral sex instead. At least that's the myth. But this study finds that what teens say they are doing is not exactly what they are doing.

In this published study 2,271 females and males ages 15 to 19 were questioned in 2002.

Half of the teens said they had practiced oral sex.  But it was far more common among those teens to also be having vaginal sex. Most said they began both practices at roughly the same time. And six months after first engaging in vaginal sex, 82 percent also had experienced oral sex.

All of this dispels the widespread myth that teens are "technically" still virgins after beginning sexual activity.   

The research was conducted by the Guttmacher Institute in New York which studies sexual and reproductive health issues and practices.  It will be published in the July issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.

J. Dennis Fortenberry, a specialist in adolescent medicine at Indiana University, tells USA Today that sexual practices often occur at the same time.

"If they've having oral sex, it's likely they're having sexual intercourse," he says.

The Guttmacher Institute also found that two-thirds of teens who had oral sex also had one partner.  Laura Lindberg, the study's author says that "does not suggest that teens are hooking up around oral sex with lots of partners."

Teens need more information about the sexually transmitted infections from non-coital sexual behavior, according to the study. Oral sex can transmit herpes, chlamydia and gonorrhea.

There are other signs that girls are not abstaining from intercourse.

The birth rate for U.S. teens rose in 2006 according to the Centers for Disease Control, for the first time since 1991.  

And in March, the CDC released statistics showing more than 25 percent of U.S. teen girls were as infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease.  #  

Full post as published by InjuryBoard on May 21, 2008 (boomark / email).