Teens & Sex

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Menstuff® has compiled the following information on teenage sex. Note: Always have a Responsible Conversation about your Sexual History BEFORE petting or engaging in oral, anal or vaginal sex, even before petting.

When are we going to wake up?
We've got the highest teen pregnancy rate
in the world.

 
An unwanted erection

56:47
Teen Boys Hooked On Porn - BBC Documentary

Newsbytes - Recent records in the media

Teens Look to Parents for Sex Info
A Snapshot of Teen Sex
Take the Quiz
Run the Numbers
Teenagers and Sex: Are They Ready?
Teen Sex Health
Sex ed in schools may help delay teen sex
LGBTQ Youth: Young, Out and Afraid
Talking to your kids about sex
Talking to Kids about Sex: Did You Do It Right?
Here’s Why All Teens, LGBTQ And Not, Need To Learn About Anal Sex
Teen Sex & Pregnancy
Teen Births Down, Unmarried Births Up
Youth At Risk - AIDS/HIV Statistics
Survey Shows Sex Practices of Boys
Teens Think Oral Sex Is Like Abstinence
All About Semen
Why Are You So Surprised?
Playing the Odds
Oral Sex
Teenage Sex: Can You Influence Your Child's Decisions?
Why No Male Birth Control Pill?  Lots of Reasons
Vasectomies at 18/Tubuligations at 21
US Teens Lack Information on Avoiding HIV
Half of new HIV infections occur in youth
Sexually Transmitted Diseases amoung young Americans
Sexually active teen girls need Pap smears
Sex Education at Home: A Guide for Parents
Disparity in prosecution for teen sex
A Responsible Conversation about Sexual History
You Have to Check This Site Out!
The Five: Top 5 Teen Sex Moments
Ask the Experts
Early Teen Sex May Not Be A Path To Delinquency
Study Links Explicit Lyrics With Teen Sex
Mixed Messages Fuelling Teen Sex 'Crisis'
Teen Sex Unsafe Even With Main Squeeze
National Center for Health Statistics on Teen Sexuality
German Plan to Criminalize Teen Sex Put on Back Burner
Teen Sex Statistics
Birth Control Methods
Teenage Sex: Can You Influence Your Child's Decisions?
FAQ
Related issues: Talking With Kids About Tough Issues, Teen Pregnancy, AIDS, Bacterial Vaginosis, Blue Balls, Chancroid, Chlamydia, Condoms, Contraception, Crabs, Genital Herpes, Genital Warts, Gonorrhea, Hepatitis A, B, C, D, E, Impotency, Masturbation, Nongonococcal Urethritis, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, Reproduction, STDS, Syphilis, Trichomoniasis, Yeast Infection
Contraception Forms - Continuous Abstinence, Outercourse, Sterilization, Norplant, Depo-Provera, Intrauterine Device (IUD), The Pill, The Condom, Withdrawal, Diaphragm or Cervical Cap, Female Condom or Spermicide, Periodic Abstinence or Fertility Awareness Methods (FAMs), Emergency Contraception, RU-486
STD Resources
Teen Sexuality Resources
The Teen Sex InfoLine
Resources: Facts of Life Line
Comprehensive List of LGBATQQI + Term Definitions
Glossary of Sex Terms
Slide Guides: Safe Dating, STDS, AIDS
Books: Teens

1:25		1:40
Teen Sex Increasing in US		Teens having sex in school - teenagers tell it all on CNN

Youth At Risk - AIDS/HIV Statistics

• 50% of new infections in the U.S. are among people under the age of 25.
• Each year, over 20,000 people under 25 become HIV+ in the U.S.
• At least one American under the age of 20 becomes infected with HIV every hour of every day.
• 58% of all adolescent AIDS cases in the U.S. are young women.
• 70% of new U.S. adolescent AIDS cases are African-American, and 24% Latino; yet, these groups are only 13% and 15% respectively of U.S. adolescents.
• A recent study reported that as many as one third of young gay black men are HIV+.
• Almost half of young gay men admit to having had unprotected sex in the previous six months.
  

Take the Quiz (Results)

1) What is the median age for first intercourse for U.S. teens?

17
16
15 

2) In 2000, what country had the highest birthrate among women ages 15 to 19?

Canada
France
United States 

3) What percentage of U.S. teens have had intercourse by age 15?

8.2
22.6
14.1

4) What percentage of Swedish teens have had intercourse by age 15?

12.2
2.3
21.8

5) What percent of U.S. teen girls have babies every year?

6.0
2.8
5.4

6) What percent of all U.S. high school students report having had sexual intercourse?

47
63
45

Run the Numbers

Chief of the Multidisciplinary Unit for Adolescent Health at the University of Lausanne Hospital in Switzerland, Pierre-Andre Michaud says Swiss teens differ from their U.S. counterparts principally in that they are more likely to use contraceptives.

Almost half (47 percent) of all U.S. high school students report having had sexual intercourse, according to a 2003 survey conducted for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; for high school seniors, the figure is 62 percent. In Sweden approximately 80 percent of teens have had sex by age 20, according to Tanja Tydén, professor in the Department of Public Health and Caring Services at Uppsala University in Sweden.

U.S. teens are more likely to have sexual intercourse before age 15 and to become pregnant than teens in England and Wales, France and Sweden, according to a 2000 report from the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit group that studies sexual health. The study also found that Western European teens are likelier to be in a committed relationship when they have sex.

U.S. teens also have a higher rate of infection and STDs -- due to lower condom use, according to the report.

The U.S. teen pregnancy rate (84 out of every 1,000 girls age 15 to 19 become pregnant each year) is higher than that that of Denmark (23), Finland (21), Germany (16) and Sweden (25), found a 2000 report in Family Planning Perspectives. (Differences in birth rates are also striking: Roughly six out of every 1,000 teen girls have babies every year in Switzerland, eight per 1,000 in Sweden, 10 per 1,000 in France, and 28 per 1,000 in England and Wales, according to the report, compared to about 54 per 1,000 in the United States. The U.S. abortion rate (then 29 per 1,000) was higher than that in Sweden (17), France (10), Finland (10) and the Netherlands (4), found the report.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, a third of all U.S. girls become pregnant before they turn 20; 80 percent of them are unmarried.

In the U.S., rates of teen sex, pregnancy, abortion and birth have all declined since 1991, as a result, most experts agree, of a combination of teens' postponing sex and increased contraception. But the rates are still higher than those in virtually all Western European countries.
Source: Elizabeth Agnvall, www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/15/AR2006051500830.html

A Snapshot of Teen Sex

Shocked? Actually, it makes Jefferson's kids typical American teens. But in one way the town is highly unusual: it was the site of a unique study in which researchers tried to document every romantic and sexual liaison among high school students over an 18-month period. The purpose of the research--part of the huge National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health--was to learn how sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) travel through teen populations. But what is most remarkable about the study, published recently in the American Journal of Sociology, is the accompanying chart-- the first to map the sexual geography of a U.S. high school.

The map took researchers by surprise. Overall, 573 out of 832 surveyed students reported at least one relationship during the previous 18 months. The majority probably involved an "exchange of fluids," say the authors. There were 63 couples who had no outside partners, but an astonishing 288 students were linked together in an elaborate network of liaisons. Many students had just one or two romances, but they were at risk of contracting STDs from everyone in the chain. This, wrote the authors, is "the worst-case scenario for potential disease diffusion."

Adult sexual networks look very different and usually involve clusters of wanton individuals known to public-health experts as "core transmitters." (Think prostitutes, NBA stars.) Another surprise was the absence of tightly closed loops in which a foursome trades partners--what co-author Peter Bearman calls the Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice phenomenon, after the 1969 film. Teenagers seem to shy from such post-breakup swaps. Bearman, who heads the sociology department at Columbia University, suggests that dating the former boyfriend of your ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend may involve a loss of status or cross a line of loyalty. "It's an incest taboo of sorts," suggests co-author James Moody, an Ohio State sociologist. The behavior is a big factor in creating the long chains that spread germs.

Though girls tended to date older boys, the study found few behavioral differences between the sexes. There are promiscuous boys who prey on less experienced girls, says Bearman, "and girls who are predators of boys." Most relationships were "romantic"; only about 5% were sex-only "hookups."

Just 1% of the relationships were homosexual; nationally, says Moody, the figure is about 2.5% for teens, whose sexual identities are still emerging. The data were collected in the kids' homes back in 1995 using a secure, computerized survey. Says Bearman: "There was no incentive to lie."

The study shows how easily STDs could spread in a high school, but paradoxically, it also indicates how easily the chains of contagion could be snapped. "If you could get person A or B to change his or her behavior--through abstinence, using a condom, or getting treated for an STD--then you could prevent transmission from B to C and down the network," says Kathleen Ethier, of the CDC's Division of STD Prevention. It's much harder to intervene in the adult core-transmitter model. So, scary as that map may look to parents, Ethier says, understanding how it works "is very encouraging for us."
Source: www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1022618,00.htm

Survey Shows Sex Practices of Boys

With young people engaging in a growing variety of sexual behaviors, public health experts said they were increasingly concerned that teenagers did not understand the risks of sexually transmitted diseases and were confused about what constituted abstinence.

"As health educators and parents, we've drilled the kids on the dangers of pregnancy," said Linda Alexander, president of the American Social Health Association. "We haven't talked as much about activities that don't result in pregnancy.

"What concerns me is what kids don't know. They're not protecting themselves; they don't understand the risks of transmitting infection between the genital and oral areas."

Most sexually transmitted diseases — whether viral, like herpes and hepatitis B, or bacterial, like gonorrhea, syphilis and chlamydia — can be transmitted orally or genitally. Although most researchers say H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, is not easily transmitted through oral sex, they caution that such transmission is possible.

According to the study, many teenage boys are engaging in sexual activities that include oral and anal sex.

"While 55 percent of teenage males say they've had vaginal sex, two-thirds have had experience with noncoital behaviors like oral sex, anal intercourse or masturbation by a female," said Freya L. Sonenstein, director of the Population Studies Center at the Urban Institute and one of the study's authors. "These behaviors put kids at risk of getting sexually transmitted diseases, which compromise their health."

The report of findings from the National Survey of Adolescent Males is being released today in the latest issue of Family Planning Perspectives, a publication of the Alan Guttmacher Institute.

The issue includes a report on the policy implications of oral sex among young people. The survey of adolescent boys was based on in-person interviews with 1,297 nationally representative males ages 15 to 19 in 1995, including an oversampling of black and Hispanic youths. An earlier round in 1988 surveyed 1,880 boys.

The questions about engagement in genital heterosexual activities were asked in a questionnaire that the teenagers answered themselves rather than telling the interviewer. Ms. Sonenstein said that methodology, known as a self-administered interview, yielded more reliable information on sensitive subjects.

According to the findings, more than 1 in 10 boys had engaged in anal intercourse, half had received oral sex from a girl, and slightly more than a third had performed oral sex on a girl.

The national survey found significant differences among racial and ethnic groups: black and Hispanic boys were almost twice as likely as whites to have had anal intercourse. White and Hispanic boys were about twice as likely as blacks to have performed oral sex on a girl. The study also found that while the percentage of black boys receiving oral sex more than doubled, to 56.9 percent, from 1988 to 1995, the percentage stayed relatively stable among white boys — at 50.3 percent — and among Hispanic boys, at 45.4 percent.

Many adolescents, according to the report, consider oral sex to be a precursor or substitute for intercourse and something that does not count as "sex." (Editor: And this was 5 years before Ken Starr and the press decided on the politically correct, right wing, definition that it was sex. Oh, politics.)

In 1996, as part of an effort to reduce teenage pregnancy, Congress provided $50 million a year for five years for abstinence-only education. To be eligible for the money, states had to offer programs teaching "abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage as the expected standard for school-age children."

Since then, researchers, public health experts and health care workers have found that many young people perceive oral and anal sex as something other from sex — and often, even, as abstinence.

In research last year among Midwestern teenagers 12 through 17 who had received abstinence education, there was no consensus on what qualified as abstinence.

And in an earlier survey of college freshmen and sophomores in the South, a quarter considered anal intercourse as abstinence, and more than a third thought the same of oral sex. Another study found that more than half of the college undergraduates surveyed did not consider oral sex to be sex, and that the proportions were even higher if the act had not resulted in orgasm.

Health educators themselves are no more clear: a survey last year found that nearly a third believed that oral sex was abstinent behavior.

And in 1998, President Clinton, in testimony about an affair with a White House intern, said he had not had "sexual relations" but had engaged only in oral sex.

Abstinent or not, the public health risks of oral and anal sex are real.

In one region of Georgia, the research report said, a health screening project among middle-school students intended to detect meningitis bacteria in the throat, found, to everyone's surprise, that several girls had pharyngeal gonorrhea.

Linda Dominguez, assistant medical director of Planned Parenthood of New Mexico and a nurse practitioner with a private practice, has also diagnosed pharyngeal gonorrhea in adolescent girls.

"Girls are asking to have their throats checked, more," Ms. Dominguez said. "Almost weekly, I'm getting questions like, can they get herpes, can they get warts in my throat, can they catch AIDS from oral sex. I ask if they use dental dams, or condoms, but they don't. Our questionnaires also pose the question about anal sex, which is a tool to start a conversation about whether that's by their choice, or whether there's some coercion."

Anal sex can be particularly risky for young women.

"We're seeing more evidence of anal sex in cultures with a high value on technical virginity, and it often causes lacerations and microabrasions that can lead to infections," said Ms. Alexander of the American Social Health Association. "You have to worry about AIDS. And we have heard that some girls use muscle relaxants, which can also be risky."

One indication of the growing concern about sexually transmitted diseases, she said, is that her group's Web site for teenagers, which is www.iwannaknow.org, is getting 400,000 hits a month.

Ms. Alexander and others said that the data on adolescent sexual practices should encourage parents and clinicians to take a broad view of sexual practices in their discussions with young people.

Ward Cates, president of the Family Health Institute and past director of the Division of Sexually Transmitted Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said, "The most important message of these findings is to encourage communication about the whole range of sexual behavior, and to get away from the dichotomy we've set up between sex and abstinence, the view that sex is vaginal intercourse and abstinence is nothing beyond holding hands."

While the federal government also supports research on adolescent girls, in the National Survey of Family Growth, that study does not gather information on oral or anal sex. www.nytimes.com/2000/12/19/science/19SEX.html

Teens Think Oral Sex Is Like Abstinence

It's hard to imagine a 10- or 12- year-old even thinking about this, but an article in today's USA Today reports from sources as divergent as the University of Minnesota's director of pediatrics and adolescent health, and an online survey in a teen magazine that kids this young engage in oral sex and don't think they're having sex. Oral sex was described "as a fun thing to do with a guy" by 27 percent of the 10,000 teenagers who answered the magazine survey.

Of course this survey is far from scientific, but next month the Guttmacher Institute will report on dramatic increases of oral herpes and gonorrhea of the throat among teenagers. Oral herpes will be a tricky one to trace back to oral-genital sex, though.

Ten years ago this was the most intimate of acts, not the first sex act a kid did, the way it is today. It now seems to be considered petting. The loss of innocence is sad. www.healthcentral.com/drdean/deanfulltexttopics.cfm?ID=44577&storytype=DeanTopics

Why Are You So Surprised?

It was a story of 24 frenetic hours in the livs of a group of contemporary teenagers who, like all teenagers, believe they are invincible. It was a deeply affecting, no-holds-barred landscape of words and images, depicting with raw honesty the experienes, attitudes and uncertainties of innocence lost. KIDS got under the skin and lingered, long after it was viewed. The kids at the core of the story are just that: teenagers living in the urban melee of modern-day America. But while these kids dwell in the big cifty, their story could, guite possibly, happen anywhere. From mid-town Manhattan to Terre Haute, Indiana to Elko, Nevada.

Many of the people I knew who had teenagers at the time discounted the movie as out of proportion. "That may be middle-class kids in New York. That just isn't true in California." So, I made an inquiry at the local free health clinic in Marin Country, Califronia, one of the best educated and wealthiest counties in the country. Apparently, the movie brought in slews of young girls, from 10 up, worried that they might have gotten AIDS from oral intercourse. None of them thought it was possible. How sad is that? A positive point is that in California, anyone can get a confidential AIDS test or pregnancy test without parental concent. I know at one time that some states forced young teens who have had sex to admit it to their parents or risk dying from AIDS. That is really sad that parents so want to control their children in areas that they can't and, by doing that, risk their children's lives. Check with your local health clinic or Planned Parenthood office for further information. www.citysearch.com/sfo/ppgg

Playing the Odds

However, if you end up on the wrong side of the above percentages, there are still options that the woman can take if this isn't the right time to become parents. Contact your local free health clinic or Planned Parenthood www.cityserarch.com/sfo/ppgg Here are some of the options:

• EC, the morning after pill taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex
• Non-surgical abortion, 4-7 weeks of pregnancy
• Surgical abortion, 4-16 weeks of pregnancy
  

Teens Look to Parents for Sex Info: But Many Teens Say They Don't Know How to Discuss Sexual Health With Their Parents

The online survey included more than 1,100 teens aged 14-17 and more than 1,100 moms of teens in the same age range. Participants live in Canada, and the survey comes from the nonprofit Canadian Association for Adolescent Health.

Among the findings:

• Nearly three in 10 teens aged 14-17 report being sexually active.
• At age 15, one in five was sexually active. Nearly half (45%) were sexually active by 17.
• Teens have had three partners, on average, since becoming sexually active.

Guidance From Parents?

Most teens regard parents as role models and sources of information on sexual health, the survey shows.

• 63% of teens called their parents a major source of information on sex and sexual health.
• 43% of teens said their parents are their most useful and valuable source of information.
• 45% of teens called their parents their role models.
• Fewer teens said their role models were stars (about 15%) or friends (32%).

Those views may surprise some parents. Most mothers who were interviewed said they thought their teens looked to friends and stars as their role models.

However, many teens have a glitch in talking about sex with their parents, the survey shows.

A quarter of teens said they didn't know how to talk about sexual health issues with their parents. Half of teens said they haven't talked about sexual health with their parents.

Skimpy Protection Against STDs

Nearly all teens surveyed (90%) claimed to be "very" or "somewhat" knowledgeable about sex and sexual health. But they didn't necessarily know much about sexually transmitted diseases.

Consider these findings:

• One in 20 teens had been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection.
• A quarter didn't use any protection against STDs the last time they had sex.
• Half of those who used condoms the last time they had sex didn't check to see if the condom was still intact after use.
• Only one in five had heard of human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted infection, and few knew that HPV can (but doesn't always) lead to cervical cancer.
• More than half of sexually active female teens hadn't gotten a Pap test in the last three years.

Pap tests screen for cell changes in the cervix that indicate or could lead to cancer. Women should start getting an annual Pap test within three years of becoming sexually active or by age 21, whichever comes first, according to the American Cancer Society.

Since teenage girls have a three-year window between becoming sexually active and getting their first Pap test, the Canadian teens weren't necessarily behind schedule. Women age 30 and older who have three normal Pap tests in a row may get screened less often.
Sources: By Miranda Hitti. News release, Canadian Association for Adolescent Health. WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise: "Pap Test: Test Overview." WebMD Medical News: "New Guidelines for Cancer Screening." www.webmd.com/content/Article/119/113241.htm?printing=true

Why No Male Birth Control Pill?  Lots of Reasons

Dean Edell, M.D.: "You've seen the headlines. More people are talking about male birth control. But what's taking so long?

Shannon McGowan/For Male Birth Control: "Because women always took the responsibility and it was easy to let them do that."

John Behrens/For Male Birth Control: "I couldn't really say why a male birth control pill hasn't been developed thus far. It seems like a good idea."

Dean Edell: "A good idea facing a lot of obstacles."

Richard Szabo, M.D./Urologist, Kaiser Permanente:  "Although men make sperm all the time and a woman ovulates only once a month, there are other issues."

Dean Edell: "Issues like side effects. After all when the female pill was developed 40 years ago, there were problems. With the male pill, various studies have shown a reduction in sperm count, but with serious side effects like liver problems, and lowering a man's 'good' cholesterol. But what might be the biggest concern?  Suppressing sperm without supressing libido."

Richard Szabo: "Pychologically, I think men might have a problem with a birth control contraceptive agent in their body affecting their virility. It's hard enough to get men to have vasectomies." (Editor: I've had a vasectomy for over 35 years and have never forgotten the releif and freedom it gave me, both in my marriage and since. Those of us who did ask our doctors were told we had to be at least 30 before they would allow it. Thanks goodness those rules have changed!  See Vasectomies at 18/Tubuligations at 21.)

Dean Edell: "A male pill is still probably years away. Years that may be necessary for some men to get used to the idea. Just ask urologist Richard Szabo how many of this patients have asked about a male birth control pill."

Richard Szabo: "I've never had a man ask me for a birth control pill. Or even ask me if there is anything coming down the pike, and I've had a lot of crazy questions asked of me in this specialty."

Dean Edell: "And guaranteed, if and when scientists do create a male pill -- there will be even more crazy questions."

End Note: Doctors in Scotland say the first male contraceptive pill could be on the market in five years. Doctors are quick to point out however, that it won't protect against sexually transmitted diseases.

US Teens Lack Information on Avoiding HIV

African-American and Latino teens--who comprise 84% of new infections among young people--"are even more likely to say they are concerned about becoming infected," according to a survey of over 1,500 Americans aged 12 to 17 conducted this past summer by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.

According to US government statistics, half of new HIV infections in the US occur in people under the age of 25.

But just how much does America's youth know about HIV/AIDS at this point in the epidemic? The survey findings indicate:

-- Nearly four out of five (79%) young people know there is still no cure for AIDS, while half (51%) have heard of life-extending HIV medications.

-- Most young people (91%) know that wearing a condom during sexual intercourse helps protect against transmission of HIV. However, 18% think unprotected oral sex carries no risk for transmission, or were not sure about the risks involved in oral sex.

-- Only 41% of teenagers realize that infection with another sexually transmitted disease (such as gonorrhea) increases the risk of becoming infected with HIV.

-- Among the one third of teens aged 15 to 17 who say they are sexually active, 62% say they have never considered getting tested for HIV, and only 48% said they would know where to go for a test should they desire to do so.

-- One in every five sexually active 15- to 17-year-olds say they use condoms "only sometimes" (14%) or "never" (6%) when they have sexual intercourse.

Given their spotty knowledge when it comes to HIV/AIDS, it may come as little surprise that 57% of teens surveyed said they wanted to learn more about how to protect themselves from HIV. Most appear to get their information on the subject from either school or their parents, but others cited friends, television, books, and magazines as potential sources for AIDS education.

What is clear from the survey is that most young Americans--especially minority teens--remain keenly aware that HIV is not going away. Over 60% of African-American teenagers said they remain "very" concerned about the threat HIV poses to themselves and to their community. Forty-four percent of Latino teenagers said they were very concerned about the issue, as did 28% of white teens.

According to the Kaiser report, "All teens, regardless of age, sex, race/ethnicity, or whether or not they are sexually active, want to know more."
Source: www.healthcentral.com/News/NewsFullText.cfm?ID=44628&storytype+ReutersNews

Half of new HIV infections occur in youth

Sandra Thurman, director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, spoke about the findings to a group of high school students, in conjunction with the United States Conference on AIDS here.

"We've made some real progress since the last report was published, and that's good news, but unfortunately, we're facing a lot of the same challenges that we faced in 1996," she said.

"The report emphasizes the distressing reality that the vast majority of HIV-infected youth do not receive adequate medical care," Thurman continued.

According to the report, out of 40,000 new HIV infections every year, government officials estimate that 50% of the cases occur in young people between the ages of 13 to 24. Although high-risk sexual behaviors have dropped and the use of condoms has risen, the number of new HIV infections has remained steady since 1996.

Minorities are at greatest risk of being infected, Thurman said. African Americans and Hispanics each make up about 15% of US teenagers. Among new teen AIDS cases reported, 49% are among African Americans and 20% are among Hispanics.

"We need to make sure that we are giving our young people the information they need to make decisions for themselves. Young people ought to have access to counseling, testing and treatment if they're HIV-infected and many young people in this country don't have that access," Thurman told Reuters Health after the conference.

"The report reminds us that behavior change is still the key to preventing HIV and protecting America's youth and shows the good news that we know what works. It's not rocket science here," she added.
Source: www.healthcentral.com/News/NewsFullText.cfm?ID=42157&storytype=ReutersNews

Here’s Why All Teens, LGBTQ And Not, Need To Learn About Anal Sex

Here’s Why All Teens, LGBTQ And Not, Need To Learn About Anal Sex

Teen Vogue’s recent publication of “A Guide to Anal Sex” has brought out the usual crop of right-wing, anti-LGBTQ religious conservatives who are stirring a backlash against the magazine.

Radio host and Fox News commentator Todd Starnes, one of the most outlandish anti-queer bigots on the airwaves, zeroed in on the issue this week, bringing onto his show Elizabeth Johnston, otherwise known as “The Activist Mommy.”

Johnston is an Ohio-based conservative vlogger and mother of ten children who has gained notoriety and a huge following for her campaigns against LGBTQ people, in particular attacking Target’s gender neutral rest room policy last year. A video she posted to her Facebook page in 2016 was titled, “LGBTQQIAAPP?? Asexual? Non-binary? Gobbledygook! Gender insanity! This is out of hand!.”

Johnston has predictably led the charge against Teen Vogue, with a video in which she burns copies of the magazine. She told Starnes:

I was truly flabbergasted. They should not be teaching sodomy to our children...All of us are trying to do our best to protect our children from immorality and over-sexualization in our culture. And to see this disturbing article where sodomy is being normalized, not discouraged ? even the CDC says that sodomy is the riskiest sexual behavior for getting and transmitting HIV for men and women.

And therein lies the reason why it’s so vital to talk to all teenagers, straight and LGBTQ, about anal sex and how to engage in it safely. But just as importantly, they must be taught that it is normal, natural and healthy, yes, healthy, and that it is nothing about which to be ashamed nor to stigmatize others about. Telling young people, as Johnston does, that “sodomy” is “disturbing” and a part of the “immorality” in our culture, and should not be “normalized,” is encouraging bullying, violence and discrimination against LGBTQ people.

Anal sex is, after all, a predominant form of intimacy between men who have sex with men and among many transgender women and men, and the message Johnston sends is that queer people are immoral. There is absolutely no getting around this, though Johnston told Starnes in response to Teen Vogue’s editorial director Phillip Picardi’s remarks describing the backlash as a reflection of homophobia: “We don’t hate anyone. We love the children of this country.”

If that is true, then Johnston should want to protect children, all of them , from stigmatization, as well as from STDs. Her claim about the risks of anal sex and HIV are precisely the reason why Teen Vogue should be teaching young people about safe sex of all kinds. Johnston and her ilk in fact use the risk of acquiring HIV as cover - something they’ve been doing since the beginning of the epidemic - sending an implicit message that no one should engage in anal sex, ever, because of HIV.

But by that logic women should never engage in vaginal sex because of the risks of being infected with HPV, which is far more easily transmittable than HIV, including within monogamous relationships by married heterosexual couples - which can lead to cervical cancer.

So, no, Johnston’s real fears are not about disease, otherwise she’d be talking about STD prevention and engaging in sex safely. Condemning anal sex, she calls for abstinence about sexual activity that straight and queer teens are engaging in - and that just doesn’t work. People will still engage in it, often without the proper eduction about how to do it safely. She puts all young people at risk, while stigmatizing queer people.

John Paul Brammer wrote a piece about this controversy on NBC Out that everyone should read, as it also delves into the lack of sex education in our nation’s schools and how, when there is sex education of any kind, it often excludes any discussion of LGBTQ sexuality, sometimes by state law.

Brammer spoke with Dr. Michael Newcomb of Northwestern University’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing, who discusses how young people, both hetero and LGBTQ, don’t believe they’re receiving proper sex education in schools, as well as how anal sex is an activity that many heterosexual young people engage in and thus need to learn about:

We think of it as an LGBT issue, but research shows that, in part, anal sex is a power and credibility issue with heterosexual youth, where boys want to say they’ve done it with girls. Education about anal sex isn’t coming through schools, they’re not getting it.

Teen Vogue and all outlets, including Queer Voices, that have discussed anal sex - as well as LGBTQ sexuality - hopenly and honestly are providing a vital forum for young people to access information and open up a dialogue. That’s a far cry from what “The Activist Mommy” and her minions are doing, putting all young people at risk by promoting abstinence while encouraging bigotry against LGBTQ Americans.

Follow Michelangelo Signorile on Twitter: www.twitter.com/msignorile

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/all-teens-need-learn-about-anal-sex_us_5971ecb2e4b00e4363ded8da?section=us_queer-voices

Sexually active teen girls need Pap smears

"We recommend strongly that sexually active girls 10 to 19 years of age undergo yearly Pap smear screening," write co-authors Dr. Sharon Mount of the University of Vermont, and Jacalyn Papillo of Fletcher Allen Health Care, both in Burlington, Vermont. Their report is published in the March issue of the journal Pediatrics.

The researchers obtained over 10,000 Pap smears from an "almost exclusively white" group of rural and suburban New England girls, aged 10 to 19, and compared the results of those tests to Pap smears collected from adult women.

They report that nearly 4 percent of adolescent Pap smears contained pre-cancerous cells, indicating increased risk for cervical cancer. This rate was higher than the 3.5 percent rate found in Pap smears from the 20- to 29-year-old group of women, according to the authors.

The Vermont investigators also found that 14.6 percent "of (adolescent) smears showed infectious processes" - infection with pathogens such as herpes viruses or yeast infections. Infection rates were highest (16.7 percent) among the youngest subset of girls aged 10 to 14 years of age. "Although not life-threatening, many of these microbiologic entities necessitate medical intervention," the researchers note.

By comparison, infection rates among adult women 20 to 29 years of age, and over 30 years of age, were approximately 12 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively. According to Mount and Papillo, this means that the highest rate of infection "was found in the subset of patients aged 10 to 19 years of age."

They speculate that an increase in sexual activity among U.S. adolescent girls may be contributing to a continuing rise in abnormal Pap smear findings among this age group. A 1996 survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that about a third of girls in the 9th grade and two thirds of those in 12th grade were sexually active.

The American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends that women receive regular pelvic examinations and Pap smears beginning at age 18. However, Mount and Papillo believe their findings present "compelling evidence for the importance of periodic cervical Pap smear screening in the (sexually active) pediatric and adolescent population."
Source: www.healthcentral.com/News/NewsFullText.cfm?ID=10190&storytype=ReutersNews

You Have to Check This Site Out!

“Welcome to The Dinah Project, where ongoing sex education just got a whole lot more fun. Go on and explore human sexuality through professional articles and advice, expert reviews and interactive forums. Discover innovations and fresh perspectives from a world of sexuality that is all passion, health, safety and opportunity.”

There are so many different aspects of this site that I could spend hours digging around. With side bar links at the main page that direct you to topics from Male and Female Sexuality, to Pride and even Sex in the Life Cycle, you will be taken to lists of intriguing articles placed wonderfully into categories for you.

There is also a blog and a forum for asking questions. Oh, and The Dinah Project is actually facilitated by (as they put it) “a team of public health practitioners and sexuality educators, supported by medical and paramedical professionals”. So check it out.

Ask the Experts

Q: Is it ok if I want to shave the hair around my penis?
A: Go here www.teenwire.com/ask/articles/as_20020130p349.asp

Q: Is 13 years old too young to get pregnant?
A: Go here www.teenwire.com/ask/articles/as_20020117p345.asp

Q: If you don't eat properly or you have an eating disorder, can it affect your growth rate or your puberty?
A: Go here www.teenwire.com/ask/2002/as_20020320p370.asp

Q: I heard you shouldn't have sex in the water because you can get stuck together from the suction. Is that REALLY true?
A: Go here www.teenwire.com/ask/2002/as_20020319p369.asp

FAQ

Could I be pregnant?
Can I get HIV/AIDS from Oral Sex?

• Cunnilingus (Eating Out, Going Down On)?
• Fellatio (Blow Jobs)?

Can I get HIV/AIDS from Kissing?
Can I get HIV/AIDS if we are both Virgins?
Is it OK to masturbate? How much is OK?
How do I know if I'm gay/lesbian/bisexual?
I heard that Condoms aren't reliable, why do you recomend them?

• The Truth About Condoms!

Why do you encourage sex without Love?
The only safe sex is no sex! (Editor's note: Actually, if you say masturbation is sex, then you can have sex with self-msturbation iand it even safer than petting since with petting it is possible to get herpes and HPV.)
But Abortion = Murder!
But what you teach is Sinful!

Source: Coalition for Positive Sexuality, 3712 North Broadway #191, Chicago, IL 60613 or cps@positive.org or www.positive.org or 773.604.1654

Quiz Results

According to a 2001 Family Planning Perspectives report:

1) What is the median age for first intercourse for U.S. teens? 17 for U.S. teens, 16 for Swedish teens and 17 for Swiss teens.

2) In 2000, what country had the highest birthrate among women ages 15 to 19? The teenage birthrate, per 1,000 women, was 48.7 in the U.S., 20.2 in Canada and 9.4 in France.

3) What percentage of U.S. teens have had intercourse by age 15? 14.1 percent of U.S. teens surveyed had sex before age 15. By age 18, 63.1 percent surveyed had sex.

4) What percentage of Swedish teens have had intercourse by age 15? 12 percent of Swedish teens surveyed had sex before age 15. By age 18, 65.2 percent surveyed had sex.

5) What percent of U.S. teen girls have babies every year? Roughly, 5.4 percent of teen girls have babies every year in the United States. In Sweden, roughly seven per every 1,000 teen girls give birth each year.

6) What percent of all U.S. high school students report having had sexual intercourse? According to a 2003 survey, almost half of U.S. high school students have had sexual intercourse.
Source: polls.washingtonpost.com/cgi-bin/multi_poll?section=health2&pollname=health2/teensex.poll&template=health2/teensex_results.htm&answer1=c&answer2=c&answer3=c&answer4=c&answer5=b&answer6=c&questions=6

Resource

The Teen Sex InfoLine: An innovative telephone information service offering teens a confidential and anonymous way to acquire sexual health information. PPT trains youth to respond to questions and provide support and referrals to teens about healthy sexuality. Tel: (416) 961-3200. Monday to Wednesday: 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.. Saturday and Sunday: Noon to 6 p.m.
Source: www.ppt.on.ca/tsip.html

LGBTQ Youth: Young, Out and Afraid

Over the next two weeks, we'll be sharing what we've learned about the lives of LGBTQ Americans in a series of posts focusing on each stage of life -- from childhood through the golden years.

While many of us celebrate the victory for marriage equality in the U.S. Supreme Court, research shows that LGBTQ people face significant challenges throughout their lives -- beginning at a very early age.

LGBTQ youth are coming out earlier than ever...

In a Pew Research Center study, LGB adults said they first felt they might not be heterosexual around the age of 12. Today, the average age of coming out is 16 years old -- compared to 21 in the 1980s.

For those who identify as transgender, the process of understanding gender identity can start much earlier. According to the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, psychologists believe that children begin identifying their unique gender identity between the ages of 3 and 6.

...and they're not as happy as their straight peers.

While LGBTQ youth feel comfortable being true to who they are, there's also cause for concern: Only 37 percent of LGBTQ youth say they're happy, according to a 2012 survey by the Human Rights Campaign -- compared to 67 percent of non-LGBTQ youth.

When LGBTQ youth were asked to describe "the most important problems facing their lives right now," each of the top three concerns relate to a desire for acceptance from people in their families, schools and communities. See chart.

A lack of acceptance can leave LGBTQ youth feeling unwelcome and unsafe, especially at the one place where they spend most of their time -- school.

Discrimination at school is a big problem.

In a survey of LGBTQ youth conducted by GLSEN, 8 out of 10 said they had been verbally harassed at school, while 5 of 10 said they had heard homophobic remarks from a teacher or other staff member. Meanwhile, three out of ten reported suffering from physical harassment.

LGBTQ youth are held to a double standard for romantic behavior at school. Columbia Gender and Law Journal reported that they're twice as likely as their peers to be disciplined for age-appropriate romantic activities, such as holding hands or hugging.

These staggering figures point to a need for greater understanding and acceptance in schools--especially among the adults who lead them.

Problems at home can lead to devastating crises.

Far too often, these challenges follow LGBTQ youth home after the bell rings. Lack of acceptance by family members remains the top concern reported by LGBTQ youth, and rejection after coming out can create significant emotional trauma -- with potentially devastating results.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, LGBTQ youth are more than four times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers. A 2011 study found that 26 percent of gay and lesbian youth surveyed had attempted suicide, compared to only 6 percent of straight youth.

Too frequently, young people are kicked out of the house after coming out to their family. As a result, four out of ten homeless youth in the United States are LGBTQ.

Whether at school or at home, these problems require swift solutions and concerted effort. Many people and organizations are already dedicating significant time, energy and resources to provide support for LGBTQ youth -- but we have a long way to go before the youngest among us feel truly safe, loved and accepted.

What more can the LGBTQ community do to support our youth? Join the conversation and share your ideas today at www.shareourtomorrow.org.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-pierce/lgbtq-youth-young-out-and_b_7926324.html

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American's teens have the worst of all worlds...Our children are bombarded and confronted with sexual messages, sexual exploitation, and all manner of sexual criticism. But our society is by and large sexually illiterate. - Faye Wattleton

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