Really, it does:
Teens believe oral sex is less risky to their health and emotions than regular sex, and they think it is more acceptable among their peers.
Not surprisingly, they also are more likely to try oral sex.
This view comes from a new survey of 580 ethnically diverse Northern California ninth-graders reported in the April issue of the journal Pediatrics.
The students in general thought oral sex was less likely to have negative social and emotional consequences, such as creating bad reputation or feelings of guilt. Oral sex is also seen as less threatening to their values and beliefs.
Click on the link above to find out more of the clinical details. But the finding is clear:
“These findings suggest that adults should discuss more than one type of sexual practice when they counsel teens,” said Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, associate professor of adolescent medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “When we counsel adolescents about the risks and benefits associated with sex, we need to understand how they perceive it among themselves.”
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.