The sexual legacy of 'El Slicko is featured here.
Posted on 11/07/2003 6:36:31 AM PST by Theodore R.
The celibacy struggle Many teens don't keep abstinence pledges; others redefine what 'sex' is
By Mary Meehan HERALD-LEADER ARTS WRITER
Abstinence pledges -- signed commitments that teenagers will not have sex before marriage -- might be less than effective, a recent study says.
And more than half the teens in a recent study said a person should still be considered abstinent after engaging in oral sex.
Those are the results of a Northern Kentucky University survey of nearly 600 teens.
According to the survey, 61 percent of those who had taken abstinence pledges had broken them within a year. Of the 39 percent who said they had not broken their pledges, more than half disclosed they'd engaged in oral sex.
"Some people feel like they can maintain their pledge and still have oral sex, and that oral sex doesn't count," NKU researcher and psychologist Angela Lipsitz said.
"It might help the pregnancy rate, but it's not going to keep people from getting diseases," she said. "The problem is you can get a lot of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) from oral sex."
The news comes amid media reports during the last few years that oral sex appears to be practiced by more teens today than in years past.
Although most evidence is anecdotal, a University of Wisconsin study showed 78 percent of new genital herpes cases could be linked to the herpes simplex virus type 1, which causes cold sores. The study showed that type of infection was more common in those ages 16-21 than in older patients. Typically, the Type 1 virus accounts for about 30 percent of new genital herpes cases.
Dr. W. David Hager, a Lexington physician and abstinence advocate, said he thinks the increase in oral sex can be traced to the Monica Lewinsky scandal and President Bill Clinton's claim that oral sex wasn't really sex. The exhaustive media coverage helped spread that idea to teens, he said.
As abstinence supporters have noticed the trend, he said, they are putting more emphasis on oral sex as unacceptable.
But Lipsitz said the NKU study showed other areas for concern.
She said pledge takers are less likely to use protection when they first have sex, getting swept up in the moment without being adequately prepared.
In a bit of good news, the study showed that pledge breakers had sex a year later -- at age 17.6 -- than non-pledging students.
The study, Lipsitz said, "does raise some caution flags that we need to look at honestly and see if these pledges are doing what people hope they are doing."
Pam Woodrum said her experience as a health educator at the University of Kentucky reflects the survey results.
"I know there are a lot of students who are abstaining," she said. But "I kind of see both ends of the spectrum."
Woodrum, a health educator for 30 years, encourages abstinence in her talks to student groups, but she said that by the time students get to college, they've already chosen a path.
"The students that I see a lot of time are the ones that aren't doing anything anyway," she said.
Woodrum urges parents to talk to their kids early and often about postponing sex and keep repeating the message even as they go off to college. One key point, she said, should be that "just because they see it in the movies or television and read about it on the Internet, that doesn't mean that everybody is doing it."
Parents also can help by not simply telling their children to say no but to get them thinking about the consequences of premature sexual behavior, Hager said.
"It's not a matter of being a watchdog and constantly checking," he said.
Abstinence pledges can work, he said, but the message has to be reinforced.
"We know that abstinence is not something that you teach one time and then dismiss and expect young people to continue necessarily to abstain," he said.
"The key thing is not only the structure and the commitment but really has a lot to do with peers," he said. Pledge takers need to have "a peer group where the individuals in that peer group are encouraging abstinence."
"The most significant thing, the only guaranteed way to prevent non-marital pregnancy and STD infections and the known emotional consequences of non-sexual activity is abstinence."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reach Mary Meehan at (859) 231-3261 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 3261, or mmeehan1@herald-leader.com.
That in itself is a very good result.
As for oral sex not being considered sex, that is the main Clinton legacy, as far as the culture goes.
North Korea's nukes are the Clinton legacy for foreign relations.
Not mention that it's sodomy, which is a worse sin than fornication, and will send people to Hell.
Result? Seems to me that kids who'd be willing to make such a pledge in the first place are more likely to delay sex, pledge or not.
The sexual legacy of 'El Slicko is featured here.
Of course. Also, it seems to me that the notion that oral sex really isn't sex preceded the Clinton presidency by a few years. I know I certainly heard it whilst in high school back in the 1980s...
Snidely
The problem is that the issue isn't the idealized argument about whether teenagers will remain abstinent or have sex while reliably using contraception. Teens that have sex simply do not reliably use contraception and birth control pills are no more effective against STDs than oral sex is. The point is to discourage teens from having recreational sex because if they are having recreational sex, the odds are very good that they won't be using condoms 100% of the time, even if every student is given a lifetime supply of them.
I thought sodomy involved a different oriface than the mouth. Is there a different legal interpretation? I'll leave the interesting theological discussion for another day.
Incredibly the main character on "CSI" said (last week or the week before) that all forms of sexual activity are normal (apparently including those involving animals, etc.) Only abstaining form sex is abnormal. (Perhaps a slap at Catholic clergy and teens pledging abstinency?) What a horrible message to our teens!
~snip~
Dr. W. David Hager, a Lexington physician and abstinence advocate, said he thinks the increase in oral sex can be traced to the Monica Lewinsky scandal and President Bill Clinton's claim that oral sex wasn't really sex. The exhaustive media coverage helped spread that idea to teens, he said.
Can responsible types start pointing out that if private parts are involved at all, it is SEX.
Period.
There is nothing to debate.
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