(hell, yeah) Scarleteen

“Research suggests that adolescents perceive fewer health-related risks for oral sex compared with vaginal intercourse,” wrote the authors, led by Casey Copen, of the division of vital statistics, for the Atlanta-based CDC. “However, young people, particularly those who have oral sex before their first vaginal intercourse, may still be placing themselves at risk of STIs or HIV before they are ever at risk of pregnancy.”

The data, part of the CDC’s “National Health Statistics Reports,” paints a picture of young adults not wholly aware of the ramifications of their actions, with one-quarter of young people having oral sex before vaginal intercourse. It represents the first time the CDC asked about the timing of oral sex relative to regular intercourse, which the authors argued is necessary to help educate young adults about risky behavior.

“I don’t think these numbers are surprising, but I do think that it’s important that this data has been captured at all, because it’s really important to have, and has for a long time been a fuzzy area in our understanding of sexual behavior,” Christopher Hurt, a clinical assistant professor in the division of infectious disease, at the University of North Carolina, told USA Today.

While many think oral sex is “risk-free,” Hurt warns the opposite to be true. Diseases like chlamydia, herpes, gonorrhea…

Read the rest here.

Note: We’re having some issues with a lot of reporting around this because oral sex usually DOES pose fewer health-related risks than genital intercourse.  It’s not a mistake to think that.  The error in thinking occurs if and when someone assumes that oral sex doesn’t pose any health risks, and that safer sex is a non-issue with oral sex.

This kind of reporting simply stinks of bias towards young people and a seemingly chronic burning desire on the part of the media to present young people as stupid or foolhardy, even when they’re not making foolish assumptions.  The message seems to remain pervasive: even with smarter sexual decisions, teens just can’t seem to win.