STDs Increase Among Teen Girls

By Rachel Stockton

There’s a bogus and extremely dangerous notion among teenage girls these days:  oral sex isn’t really sex.  This Clintonesque spin on sexuality could be one of the reasons that STDs are more concentrated in teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 19 than in any other demographic. 

The oral sex myth stems from the idea that, technically, a girl can engage in the act yet still be considered a virgin.  And, someone (probably a teenage boy) started the outrageously false assertion that oral sex is “safer” than sexual intercourse.

Both beliefs are causing the nation’s teenage girls to get sick at an alarming rate.  The Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance Report of 2008 states that new cases of syphilis in women increased 36% from 2007 to 2008.  Chlamydia and gonorrhea are also increasing among women.

Repercussions

Fortunately, there is a greater awareness that the vast majority of cervical cancers are attributed to HPV, which is a sexually transmitted virus.  Because of the increased awareness, men and women are changing their sexual practices by placing a greater emphasis on oral sex in an effort to elude the problem.

This is another dangerously false assumption.  Even more unnerving than the STD pandemic is the surge in certain oral cancers attributable to HPV; specifically, oropharyngeal cancer.

Although nothing definitive has been proven, there is a growing amount of evidence linking this type of cancer to unprotected oral sex. According to an article published earlier this year in the Journal of Oncology, incidences of oral cancer directly tied to HPVs have doubled in people in their 40s.

According to US News and World Report, over half of American teens regularly engage in oral sex.  Yet, British research has shown that 80% of teens who engage in oral sex do not use condoms, even though they wouldn’t hesitate to use them during intercourse.