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Oral-sex issue hits middle schools (posted 6/10/2002)
Lexington Herald Leader ^ | Jun. 09, 2002 | Valarie Honeycutt Spears

Posted on 06/10/2002 4:35:38 AM PDT by Pern

Isolated incidents of oral sex on campus and talk among middle-school students of the behavior occurring at off-campus parties has alarmed some Fayette County school administrators and parents who plan meetings on the topic.

Physicians, including one who has seen an increase in sexually transmitted diseases among middle school students, and other professionals are promoting frank discussions about oral sex to discourage students from engaging in it. Still, all agree the practice is limited to a small number of students, some of whom do not equate oral sex to intercourse.

Since Beaumont Middle School principal Tom Mowery wrote to parents in December asking them "to be aware of the prevalence of oral sex at off-campus parties at the middle-school level," administrators at one school referred an incident to law enforcement, and administrators at another school, Jessie Clark Middle, called in parents to discuss a situation.

Diane Woods, the district's middle school director, put the topic on the agenda for a future principals meeting. She said she was notified of a report of oral sex occurring between two students on campus at Tates Creek Middle School several weeks ago.

Without releasing specifics, Tates Creek Middle School assistant principal Earl Stivers said the incident was investigated "both by law enforcement and administratively."

Students' remarks have made doctors and parents fear the activity is more widespread.

Dr. Hatim Omar, a University of Kentucky specialist in adolescent medicine, said that just since January, he has treated at least 10 middle school-age students for sexually transmitted diseases they said they had contracted through oral sex. That's up from six cases in 2001 and two each in 1999 and 2000.

Four students, treated for tonsillitis caused by gonorrhea, attributed their conditions to so-called "head parties," Omar said.

Also since January, he has seen students from every middle school in Fayette County who admit that they have engaged in oral sex or attended parties where students have engaged in oral sex.

Parents and administrators are responding. Besides principals addressing the topic, Beaumont PTA president Debbie Boian wants middle school PTA leaders to discuss developing programs at each school to talk to students about risky behavior.

"It's easy to say, 'Oh those kids are just bragging about having oral sex,'" Boian said. "But if there is any truth to it, you should" address the issue.

Nationally, public-health experts report that teen-agers appear to be engaging in high-risk sexual practices without caution and with alarming casualness. Nearly 1 in 10 reports losing his or her virginity before the age of 13, a 15 percent increase since 1997, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to several surveys, as many as half of teens ages 13 to 19 say they have had oral sex. Other communities across the country are grappling with the problem and are instituting policies that require more supervision and education.

Lexington pediatrician Tom Pauly said his patients are asking him about oral sex and telling him they think it's safer than vaginal intercourse.

"It's a new issue," said Bryan Station Middle Counselor Lynette Schmiedeknecht. "It's more part of the culture, more talked about. It seems that in talking with the kids, they don't consider oral sex (to be) sex. They just think it's something they do as an adolescent."

Dealing with incidents directly and speaking bluntly with middle school students is key to helping them understand the ramifications of their decisions, parents and doctors said. Damage to reputations and illnesses are two of the dangers.

"We advise them to abstain," Pauly said. "We talk about medical complications and the psychosocial complications of engaging in oral sex at such a young age."

After Jessie Clark Middle students talked about the popularity of oral sex with an assistant principal this spring, principal Steve Carmichael said: "We invited two moms to come in and shared our concerns. It wasn't a conversation as awkward as you might think. We would rather overreact than underreact."

The issue isn't a routine part of sex education classes, officials said.

Mike Kennedy, acting health education coordinator, said that until 1990, the district had a sex education curriculum. But now, site-based councils at each school are responsible for deciding what kind of sex education is dispensed, he said.

Seven middle schools offer programs that teach abstinence only, Kennedy said. Other schools cover sex education in health classes. But Kennedy said he doesn't think oral sex is discussed anywhere as part of the middle school curriculum.

At Beaumont, principal Mowery said the quick intervention -- writing to parents -- was successful. Parents responded to meetings about how to discuss sexual issues with their children. And as the year progressed, counselors and administrators had fewer kids talking about the parties.

Only a small minority of students have actually had oral sex, Mowery thinks.

"Ninety percent of our kids," he said, "make good decisions in every aspect of their lives."


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To: nopardons
I'm most certainly not trying to impress you. I hardly bother trying to impress myself, no less a woman who brings nothing meaningful to debates and resorts to ad hominem attacks.
361 posted on 06/10/2002 7:13:11 PM PDT by JediGirl
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To: jlogajan
Dear, she's already said rather personal things. I didn't try to drag anything at all out of her. She's legally an adult ( even if she's so far removed from being a real adult, as to be laughable !) and she's lecturig real adults , about right and wrong. Why don't you read the entire thread, before making spurious claims ?

Better still, butt out. You are looking sillier and sillier, with each reply.

362 posted on 06/10/2002 7:14:26 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: Equality 7-2521
Fair question. For me, as a religious guy, premarital sex is not a good thing. I have not been perfect in this area, though I have tried (hard) to be. Where I strayed, out of my selfishness, I hurt the women involved, and I regret that deeply. Had I gotten a woman pregnant by accident before marriage, I would never have considered abortion (for me it's murder) and I would have had to raise a child outside of marriage or in a marriage with a woman I wouldn't have chosen as my wife (which would be undoubtedly harmful to my kids). And (I know many will have trouble believing this), I also believe I hurt myself as well by not staying chaste. Why? Because I couldn't say to my wife that I had had the raw strength to save myself for her. In the same way, with regard to women, I do place a high value on virginity for a wife. But I would have considered marrying a woman who, like me, had tried sincerely to stay chaste and pure, but had failed. However, I would not have wanted to marry a woman who essentially went to bed with every man she got to know and dated (the way most people do today). In my mind, such women don't see sex as something special to be preserved and cherished in marriage - but rather as just another activity. If a woman is willing to give it up for all her past dates, it doesn't mean so much anymore in marriage. It loses its specialness and spiritual beauty in marriage. And it becomes divorced from its true design - to create new and wonderful and beautiful human life on this Earth. In short, women (and men) who sleep around devalue sex and end up with less in the end, I think. Again, my life's experience (in observing other people) has corroborated very strongly my religious beliefs. I do believe in God, and I see the wisdom of His rules.
363 posted on 06/10/2002 7:15:41 PM PDT by yendu bwam
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To: nopardons
…one of the most disjointed, illogical, fuzzy replies…

Just wanted you to be aware that just because most free thinking people backed Bush against Gore, don’t get the idea that we agree with all the other silly things a supposed true conservative might propose. For the record, tonight I am sober.

364 posted on 06/10/2002 7:18:53 PM PDT by TightSqueeze
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To: nopardons
I didn't try to drag anything at all out of her.

"Aren't you willing to openly talk about your sex life ? ... why not take this out of the realm of the hypothetical ?"

You were clearly throwing down a double-dare to have her talk about her sex life.

365 posted on 06/10/2002 7:19:49 PM PDT by jlogajan
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To: JediGirl
I didn't call you on your ad hominems and you've made plenty of them. LOL Just which ad hominems, of mine, dear, are you referring to ? That I called you a hypocrite, when you gave a hypocritical reply ?

Being emancipated, as you are, and wanting to be an adult , you can't now fall back on " victimhood " status as an out.

366 posted on 06/10/2002 7:20:16 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: DennisR
Nearly all children would be much better off if they had been "goody-two-shoes" and did exactly what their parents told them to do.

And what of all that wasted rock & roll?

367 posted on 06/10/2002 7:20:55 PM PDT by TightSqueeze
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To: avenir
Being lonely and chaste, and being spiritually empty from sleeping around are two different things IMO.

I beg your pardon, then.

I'll never be certain of the difference, but the dark box of loneliness looks pretty much the same from inside, whatever it looks like on the outside. I have not played at all. The rhetorical question is the traditional one: If I'm getting to the same place, why not take the other road?

368 posted on 06/10/2002 7:21:57 PM PDT by Chemist_Geek
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To: TightSqueeze
This isn't about President Bush, but nice try . He didn't run as a " pure " Conservative; but, believe what you care to.

The topic, of this thread, happens to be oral sex amongst middle schoolers.

369 posted on 06/10/2002 7:23:41 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: nopardons
The topic, of this thread, happens to be oral sex amongst middle schoolers.

Yes, that is the title---but the thread has evolved

370 posted on 06/10/2002 7:26:02 PM PDT by JediGirl
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To: jlogajan
Getting " turned on ", are you ? Your pious affection , is quiet disengenuous and funny as all get out.
371 posted on 06/10/2002 7:26:41 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: nopardons
Your pious affection , is quiet disengenuous and funny as all get out.

It is funny because it is at your hypocritical expense.

372 posted on 06/10/2002 7:28:38 PM PDT by jlogajan
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To: laredo44
I don't find french kissing gross....
373 posted on 06/10/2002 7:29:01 PM PDT by rwfromkansas
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To: nopardons
The topic, of this thread, happens to be oral sex amongst middle schoolers.

I was merely responding to your smash mouth political crack against libertarians in your post 220#, you are the one who strayed from the topic.

374 posted on 06/10/2002 7:29:53 PM PDT by TightSqueeze
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To: JediGirl
No, devolved ; thanks in large part to you.
375 posted on 06/10/2002 7:31:20 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: nopardons
No, devolved ; thanks in large part to you.

You gotta work on this whole being bitter thing. It is not a good look.

376 posted on 06/10/2002 7:33:07 PM PDT by jlogajan
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To: yendu bwam
Confining sex to marriage, which is Scriptural, would eliminate all STD's and illigitimate children (and abortions) in one generation. And people would be much happier. Obviously that cannot take place 100% but it was the norm once. That's why we are seeing so many divorces among younger couples and 50 year anniversaries among older couples.
377 posted on 06/10/2002 7:36:19 PM PDT by Chemnitz
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To: yendu bwam
Thank you for your well thought out answer. We aren't that far apart in our end result after all even if we reach it by different methods.

Generally speaking, sexual promiscuity [in a man or woman] indicates a lack of self respect and esteem, which is the primary reason I would not be interested in a relationship with an overly promiscuous woman. That and the fact that there is little point in casual sex considering that self gratification feels [at least physically] almost identical to gratification with a partner. Weighing that against the risks of stds and pregnancies that will most likely bring children into the world who will ultimately have fragmented families, makes promiscuity an unwise choice.

I'm not spirtual so that doesn't enter my equation.

378 posted on 06/10/2002 7:38:38 PM PDT by Equality 7-2521
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To: Chemnitz
Confining sex to marriage, which is Scriptural, would eliminate all STD's and illigitimate children (and abortions) in one generation. And people would be much happier. Obviously that cannot take place 100% but it was the norm once. That's why we are seeing so many divorces among younger couples and 50 year anniversaries among older couples.

Well, I completely agree with you. My parents are having their 50th anniversary next month. They were virgins when they married, and have been faithful to each other ever since. They have lived wonderful fulfilling lives with each other. My wife and I hope to emulate them. And as for STDs, you are completely correct there as well. The whole AIDs crisis in Africa, as an example, would be virtually eliminated by living by Christian values. It won't happen, but the potential is enormous.

379 posted on 06/10/2002 7:40:57 PM PDT by yendu bwam
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To: Equality 7-2521
Thanks for your reply as well.
380 posted on 06/10/2002 7:42:46 PM PDT by yendu bwam
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