Editor’s note: The names of certain individuals have been changed to protect their identity and to respect their views on private matters.
Although sex has become a ubiquitous topic among teens, many of the traditional preconceptions and attitudes surrounding the act have changed over time.
A comprehensive report released by the National Center for Health Statistics documented varying degrees of sexual behaviors from a random nationwide sample of 13,495 males and females ages 15 to 44 based on reports from 2006 to 2008.
Among teenagers ages 15 to 19, the study noted that 7 percent of females and 9 percent of males have had oral sex with an opposite-sex partner with no vaginal intercourse. The study also found twice as many women reported having same-sex contact in their lifetimes in comparison to their male counterparts (13 percent of women and 5.2 percent of men).
Sam, a University freshman, said she prefers to have vaginal intercourse instead of oral sex because she feels there may be a lesser degree of emotional attachment associated with performing oral sex.
“For me, I would rather have actual intercourse than oral, because it’s not as fun,” Sam said. “I think a lot of people don’t consider it being sex, so it’s just like fooling around or having fun. There may not be as much emotional ties to it, whereas when people actually have sex, people may ask, ‘Oh, are you in a relationship,’ but if you just say, ‘Oh, I gave him head,’ then it’s like he was at a party and then it was whatever, so it’s not as big of a deal for some people.”
Anjani Chandra, a CDC health scientist and lead author of the study, said this was the first time that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracked the timing of oral sex in relation to vaginal sex as younger people mature.
Although the study gave no explanation to account for the high rate of an exclusive oral sex preference among young teenagers, Erin McGladrey, an office coordinator for the University’s Women’s Center, said a switch from vaginal intercourse to oral sex may be because of a dearth of contraceptive options in certain communities.
In other cases, McGladrey said, women may perform oral sex to avoid other types of sexual acts while still being able to please their partners.
Although the study itself can be applied broadly to a large range of sexual issues, Chandra said the purpose of the study was to address the issue of sexually transmitted infections, since they can still be contracted by oral sex.
Charlotte Boesel, a volunteer at the Women’s Center, also noted that oral sex may be more permissible because of a false assumption that oral sex does not constitute a sexual act.
“I think oral sex being more predominant than vaginal-penile sex is largely due to abstinent-only education, and I have seen a lot of cases where people are told not to have sex and so they think that’s okay — people are sexual and so that’s (what) they do instead,” Boesel said. “It’s fun and it feels good, so it’s an alternative.”
CDC data also showed 12.5 percent of women ages 15 to 44 reported having a homosexual experience in their lifetime, and 9.3 percent reported having oral sex with a female partner.
This indicates that a significant amount of the reporting (about 75 percent) of same-sex experience among women can be accounted for by oral sex, rather than the more general question about “any sexual experience.” However, the study found that women at the older end of the 18 to 44 age range were more likely to report themselves as heterosexual and less likely to report themselves as bisexual.
Boesel said such a response may be because of a social perception that such actions are permissible based on depictions of stereotypes on television shows and other forms of media. However, McGladrey said there is a double standard in this reasoning because same sex relations between men is consider a social faux pas, since one sexual experience between two men would automatically label them as gay.
“Society — predominantly the mainstream — suggests that it’s more acceptable or it encourages female-identified individuals to have more sexual relations,” Boesel said. “If you see ‘Girls Gone Wild’ or other types of mainstream videos like that, it’s idolized and becomes the male gaze. So, I guess through the media its become more acceptable.”
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