Few interesting observations..
1) More females engaged in "lesbian" sex as their first "sexual"
experience.. However, the number of real "lesbians" are not being
documented.
2) The adult males engaging in "gay" sex stays constant over the
last 10 yrs.. More social stigmatisation against gays than
lesbians? Straight males less curious than straight females in
exploring "homo" sex?
3) Again, STDs do not select their victims.. Protective sex with
condoms and water-based lube seems to be the best "cure"..
4) Experts, once again, warned against a total abstinence program,
the program supported by the Bush administration.. Something that
not only gays should be worried about, but the whole human
race..
Teens opt for safe sex alternative
But practice could backfire, say experts
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/75463.asp
WASHINGTON The United States government's largest-ever survey of
the
nation's sexual practices has found that American teenagers
are
increasingly engaging in oral sex as a strategy to avoid Aids
and
other sexually-transmitted diseases.
It also found a dramatic increase in the number of women who said
they
had engaged in a lesbian relationship.
About 11 per cent of women aged between 18 and 44 said they have
had a
lesbian sexual experience, up from 6 per cent in a 1992 poll. In
the
18-to-29 age group, 14 per cent of women said they had engaged
in
lesbian sex.
The two findings suggest a shift in sexual practices, in which
females
are using oral and lesbian sex "as a safer alternative than
(vaginal)
sex with men", said epidemiologist William Mosher of the
National
Centre for Health Statistics, the study's lead author. The rise
in
lesbian experiences might also be the result of greater female
sexual
freedom and increasing social acceptance of lesbianism, said the
report.
The number of adult males reporting homosexual relationships
was
around 6 per cent the same figure as in 1992.
Researchers found that men aged 30 to 44 have had a median of six
to
eight sexual partners in their lifetimes. The median for women
was
about four.
The study was conducted by the Centres for Disease Control
and
Prevention's National Centre for Health Statistics, which employed
200
female researchers to survey 12,571 men and women aged between 15
and
44 in person during 2002 and 2003. It found that among teens aged
15
to 19, 55 per cent of males and 59 per cent of females had engaged
in
oral sex. This number rose to nearly 70 per cent for those aged 18
and 19.
About 53 per cent of girls aged between 15 and 19 and 49 per cent
of
boys said that they had had full intercourse.
Experts warned the teen reliance on oral sex to avoid
sexually-transmitted diseases could backfire. Only 9 per cent
reported
using a condom during sexual activities despite studies showing
that
gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes and human papilloma virus can
be
transmitted through oral sex.
Other researchers said the conservative government's emphasis
on
sexual abstinence rather than education about healthy sexual
practices
contributed to this danger. DPA
