NBC News and PEOPLE Magazine commissioned a poll to find out about teens' intimate sexual attitudes and practices (think Kinsey for teens). I am going to publish the data in the extended entry (newsletter readers, come to Ypulse.com). It seems that Bill Clinton may have had a lasting impression on today's teens... According to the poll results, for many teens (43%), oral sex is not seen as being as big a deal as sexual intercourse. It's still a big deal, but is taken somewhat less seriously than intercourse. It's also a big part of what happens in the "friends with benefits" relationship, which 8 percent of the teens polled say they have participated in.

NBC News/PEOPLE Magazine Poll Results

SEXUALLY ACTIVE YOUNG TEENS

Nearly 3 in 10 (27%) thirteen to sixteen year-olds are sexually active and "have been with someone in an intimate or sexual way." Most of these sexually active teens have touched someone else's genitals and almost half of those had oral sex and/or had sexual intercourse.

SUMMARY TABLE: Sexual activity among 13 to 16 year-olds

Have been with someone in an intimate or sexual way 27%
Ever touched someone's genitals or private parts 21%
Ever had oral sex 12%
Ever had sexual intercourse 13%
Ever had a casual sexual relationship 8%

IS ORAL SEX REALLY NOT A BIG DEAL?

Most Teens Know What Oral Sex Is - Today, 70% of teens, ages 13 to 16, know the definition of oral sex.
Is Oral Sex, Sex? - Three-quarters of teens would classify oral sex as "sex" (77%), but less than half (45%) would label touching someone's genitals as "sex."

Is Oral Sex a Big Deal? – For many teens (43%), oral sex is not seen as being as big a deal as sexual intercourse. This doesn't mean that teens are dismissive of its significance: Fifty-five percent of teens hold that it is "very important" to be in love before having oral sex. Somewhat more (68%) say it is very important to be in love before having sexual intercourse.

Are Teens Who Have Oral Sex Still Virgins? – While a majority of teens do feel that oral sex is as big a deal as intercourse, it seems oral sex is taken somewhat less seriously than intercourse. More than half (54%) of American teens maintain that teens who only engage in oral sex are still virgins.

Do Teens Approve of Teens Having Oral Sex? - Most teens don't think it is okay for 13 to 14 year-olds to be having it (87%). Seven in 10 (70%) also don't approve of 15 to 16 year-olds having oral sex. However, fewer are disapproving of older teens - only a little more than third of teens (35%) think 17 to 18 year-olds shouldn't engage in oral sex.

How Many Teens Have Had Oral Sex? – One in 10 (12%) teens have had oral sex. Girls are as likely as boys to have had oral sex, but it seems there's a discrepancy when it comes to willingness to perform oral sex. 22% of sexually active girls say their partner never performs oral sex on them, while only 5% of boys say their partner never does. A statistically insignificant less than one-half of a percentage of teens said they had ever been to the now mythological oral sex party.

Why Are Teens Having Oral Sex? – Pressure, love, lust and pragmatism all figure into why teens decide to have oral sex. While few teens (21%) say they had oral sex for the first time because they wanted to be more popular or to be accepted, 76% said they did so because the other person wanted to. Teens also say they had oral sex for the first time because they met the right person (71%), to satisfy a sexual desire (70%), so they didn't have to worry about pregnancy (68%), or because they were curious (64%). Half (49%) say the first time they had oral sex they did so because they wanted to remain virgins.

Do Teens Know the Risks? – While most young teens know about the risks, many don't always take measures to protect themselves. Nine in 10 (89%) teens that have had oral sex say they know STD can be spread through oral sex. Yet only three in 10 (30%) always use protection when they have oral sex.

SEXUAL INTERCOURSE

Young teens are as likely to have had sexual intercourse as oral sex. But their reasons for doing so are somewhat different. Among the 13 percent of young teens who have had sexual intercourse, a solid majority says a principal reason they did so for the first time was because they met the right person (62%). This is consistent with the majority's view that it is very important to be in love before having intercourse (68%).

Curiosity (36%) and/or sexual desire (34%) played a major role in why young teens had sexual intercourse for the first time. More than a quarter (28%) did so in hopes of making the relationship with the other person closer. Fewer said they were pressured (15%) or did so to be accepted or popular (2%). In addition, boys are more likely than girls to have had sex the first time to satisfy a sexual desire (49% vs. 15%).

While nearly all-young teens (90%) know they can get an STD from having sexual intercourse, they're not always acting on that knowledge. Only two in three (67%) say they use protection such as condoms every time they have sex.

"FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS"

Casual relationships are not uncommon among sexually active teens. Eight percent of 13 to 16 year-olds, roughly half of young teens who have had oral sex or sexual intercourse, have been involved in a casual sexual relationship. Girls are just as likely to have had a casual relationship as boys. These casual relationships typically involve oral sex (78%) and/or sexual intercourse (79%).

Young teens who engage in casual relationships often do so "to satisfy a sexual desire" (67%). Nearly half (48%) of young teens that have had a casual sexual relationship say they did so because they wanted to "avoid the complications of a serious relationship."

What's more, among teens that have had sexual intercourse and casual relations, more than two-thirds (69%) say they did not engage in casual sex to have a closer relationship with the other person. However, few young teens have casual relationships exclusively. Only fourteen percent of young teens who have had a casual relationship say they have never been involved in a serious relationship.

TALKING ABOUT SEX

Teens are most likely to say they talk often to their friends about sex and sexual relationships (62%). Four in 10 (41%) also say they talk with their parents often. Teens are much less likely to speak with school and religious leaders.

Parents top the list of information sources for teens about sex and sexual relationships --70% of teens have gotten information from their parents. Followed by friends (53%), school (53%), TV and movies (51%) and magazines (34%). As an information source, the Internet ranks lowest.

Before speaking with the teens in our survey, we interviewed their parents and found that most were concerned about the sexual pressures their teens were facing. While both parents and teens report talking to each other about sex and relationships, there appears to be a disconnect: twice as many parents than teens maintain these conversations happen often (85% to 41%).

This disconnect continues when it comes to teens' actual behavior: while 27% of teens report having been sexually intimate, only about half of their parents (15%) believed their teens had gone beyond kissing.

Parents are more likely to be pessimistic about kids waiting to have sex than teens are. They're also more likely to believe there is pressure to have sex by a young age than do teens However parents and teens are largely on the same page when it comes to oral sex – about 4 in 10 of each group agrees that oral sex is not as big of a deal as sexual intercourse.

Posted by anastasia