Young Teens: Oral Sex Safer

Many 14-Year-Olds See It As Abstinence Or Safe Sex In Calif. Survey

(WebMD)  Halpern-Felsher notes that her study is the first to gather information from teens as young as 14. The kids enrolled in her ongoing study — with the full consent of their parents — and filled out surveys every six months. The survey questions become more detailed and cover more sexual topics as the children get older.


Oral Sex Is Acceptable Sex

"We are finding that these ninth-graders — and they are really young — are engaging in thinking about these things," Halpern-Felsher says.

And what these young teens are thinking may surprise their parents.

"Young adolescents are perceiving that oral sex is less risky than vaginal sex in terms of health risks — STDs, pregnancy, and HIV," Halpern-Felsher says. "They also see oral sex as having fewer social and emotional risks. They think they are less likely to feel guilty, to get in trouble, to have a bad reputation, or to have a relationship problem. They also felt oral sex is more acceptable. They think more teens are having it, and that it is OK in the context of both a dating and non-dating relationship — a one-night stand in our terms."


Is Oral Sex Really Safer Than Vaginal Sex?

One finding that worries Halpern-Felsher is that a small but significant proportion of teens think oral sex carries zero physical risk. Fourteen percent of teens said there was zero risk of getting HIV from oral sex, and 13 percent said the behavior carried zero risk of transmitting chlamydia. Only 1 percent and 2 percent, respectively, thought vaginal sex carried zero risk of HIV or chlamydia infection.

Experts say there is no doubt that oral sex can transmit virtually any sexually transmitted disease - including HIV and chlamydia. The risk of getting most of these infections from oral sex is lower than the risk of getting them from vaginal sex. But the exact risks of oral sex are largely unknown, Landry says.