Teens think oral sex is risk free

A new study has revealed that teenagers who have oral sex in their freshman year are likely to have vaginal intercourse too.

Teens who have oral intercourse in their junior year of high school have a 25% chance of initiating intercourse at the same time, and a 50% chance of having full intercourse by the end of their junior year.

Worryingly for sexual health advocates, many teenagers seem to think that oral sex is entirely free of risk. While oral sex is indeed much less risky than ‘normal sex’ in terms of the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, people can still pass on diseases such as herpes by orally pleasuring a partner. Experts say that when we educate our teenagers about ‘the birds and the bees’, we need to tell them about every type of sex, and not only vaginal intercourse.

"We don't talk about the risks that are inherent in oral sex," Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, Ph.D, senior author of the study and a professor of pediatrics at the University of California San Francisco told CNN. "Teens think oral sex is less risky [than intercourse] and they're right, it's not risk free but it is less risky. But socially and emotionally, they're still being intimate."

"We have a disadvantage as health professionals and parents when teens do not equate oral sex with sex," says Halpern-Felher. "They think the messages don't apply to them and we need to make it apply to them, we need to talk to them about oral sex."

Genital herpes is one sexually transmitted infection that can be passed either to the receiver, or the giver, of oral sex. Some people with herpes take suppressive therapy to prevent outbreaks occurring.