foodconsumer.org: STDs Increase Among Teen Girls

STDs Increase Among Teen Girls
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admin on 11/17/2009 22:28:00
 
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.