What is it?
Oral
sex is contact of a person’s mouth or tongue with another person’s genitals.1
Who’s
doing it?
More than 80 percent of sexually active high schoolers and 20 percent of virgin high
schoolers have had oral sex.4
Twenty
percent of 12- to 15-year-olds have had oral sex, though a fourth of them have not had vaginal sex.5
Can
you get STDs through oral sex?
Yes.
Syphilis, herpes and gonorrhea throat infections are transmitted easily through oral sex.6 Chlamydia and Human Papillomavirus are transmittable via oral sex to a
lesser degree,7 and HIV is transmittable
by oral sex, though to a still lesser degree.8
More
than 80 percent of teens who know what oral sex is know that they can get an STD via oral sex, though 13- to 14-year-olds
are less likely to know the risks than 15- to 16-year-olds.9
Only
30 percent of teens consistently use protection when practicing oral sex.10
What
do teens think about oral sex?
Seventy percent
of 13- to 16-year-olds know what oral sex is. 11
More than
75 percent of teens classify oral sex as “sex.”12
Half of teen
boys don’t think oral sex is as big a deal as vaginal sex, but less than 40 percent of teen girls think it isn’t
as big a deal.13
More than
half of teens think those who practice only oral sex are still virgins.14
Half of teens say the first time they had oral sex, they did so to remain a
virgin.15
1 "The Facts About Oral Sex & STDs," The Medical Institute, http://www.medinstitute.org,
accessed 2/3/05.
2 "The Facts About Oral Sex & STDs."
3 "The Facts About Oral Sex & STDs."
4 Newcomer SF, Udry JR. "Oral sex in an adolescent population." Arch Sex Behav. 1985;14:41-46, referenced in
"The Facts About Oral Sex & STDs."
5 "Oral Sex and STDs," Sexual Health Update, The Medical Institute, Fall 2003.
6 "The Facts About Oral Sex & STDs."
7 "The Facts About Oral Sex & STDs."
8 "The Facts About Oral Sex & STDs."
9 "Nearly 3 in 10 young teens 'sexually active,'" NBC News, PEOPLE Magazine commission national poll, 26 January 05.
10 "Nearly 3 in 10 young teens 'sexually active,'" 26 January 05
11 "Nearly 3 in 10 young teens 'sexually active,'" 26 January 05
12 "Nearly 3 in 10 young teens 'sexually active,'" 26 January 05
13 "Nearly 3 in 10 young teens 'sexually active,'" 26 January 05
14 "Nearly 3 in 10 young teens 'sexually active,'" 26 January 05
15 "Nearly 3 in 10 young teens 'sexually active,'" 26 January 05
