Slightly more than half of American teenagers, ages 15 to 19, have engaged in oral sex, with females and males reporting similar levels of experience
A new very large study of teen sexual activity is out, and for the supporters of abstinence only, the numbers can not look very good.
Supporters of such programs say they have resulted in young people delaying intercourse, but opponents say they simply have led young people to substitute other risky behaviors, especially fellatio and cunnilingus. The new data tend to support the latter view, showing that nearly one in four virgin teens has engaged in oral sex.
25% of those following the abstinence line are still at risk for all forms disease. Comprehensive sexual education would include risk information about other forms of sexual behavior, and supply real information about how to avoid these risks. The abstinence classes often are full of lies, myth, and misinformation, and seldom address any area of prevention, other than don't do it.
"They're very smart about this issue," said Brindis, "but they may not have been given a strong enough message around 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 gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes and the human papillomavirus
A good study to see would be the actual rates of infection among peer groups of those getting full sex education curriculum against those who get the 'just say no' lesson.
I suspect those who get the whole truth, while starting earlier, have lower rates of disease and pregnancy. This will be very important in years to come, as we address effective education programs.
Because it is becoming clear, that good girls do.
Child Trend's analysis breaks down the federal data by age, race and ethnicity, mother's education, family structure and income. Combined, these breakdowns show that oral sex is most common among white families in the higher-income brackets.
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