Situationships. B次元官网网址淪neaky links.B次元官网网址� The B次元官网网址渢alking stage,B次元官网网址� the flirtatious getting-to-know-you phase B次元官网网址� typically done via text B次元官网网址� that can lead to a hookup.
High school students are . ThatB次元官网网址檚 what the studies say. But that doesnB次元官网网址檛 mean theyB次元官网网址檙e having less sex.
The language of young love and lust, and the actions behind it, are evolving. And the shift is not being adequately captured in national studies, experts say.
For years, studies have shown a decline in the rates of American high school students having sex. That trend continued, not surprisingly, in the first years of the pandemic, according to a by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study found that 30% of teens in 2021 said they had ever had sex, down from 38% in 2019 and a huge drop from three decades ago, when more than half of teens reported having sex.
The Associated Press took the findings to teenagers and experts around the country to ask for their interpretation. Parents: Some of the answers may surprise you.
THE MEANING OF SEX: DEPENDS WHO YOU ASK
For starters, what is the definition of sex?
B次元官网网址淗mm. ThatB次元官网网址檚 a good question,B次元官网网址� says Rose, 17, a junior at a New England high school.
She thought about it for 20 seconds, then listed a range of possibilities for heterosexual sex, oral sex and relations between same-sex or LGBTQ partners. On her campus, short-term hookups B次元官网网址� known as B次元官网网址渟ituationshipsB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� are typically low commitment and high risk from both health and emotional perspectives.
There are also B次元官网网址渟neaky linksB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� when you hook up in secret and donB次元官网网址檛 tell your friends. B次元官网网址淚 have a feeling a lot more people are quote unquote having sex B次元官网网址� just not necessarily between a man and a woman.B次元官网网址�
For teens today, the conversation about sexuality is moving from a binary situation to a spectrum and so are the kinds of sex people are having. And while the vocabulary around sex is shifting, the main question on the CDC survey has been worded the same way since the government agency began its biannual study in 1991: Have you B次元官网网址渆ver had sexual intercourse?B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淗onestly, that question is a little laughable,B次元官网网址� says Kay, 18, who identifies as queer and attends a public high school near Lansing, Michigan. B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 probably a lot of teenagers who are like, B次元官网网址楴o, IB次元官网网址檝e never had sexual intercourse, but IB次元官网网址檝e had other kinds of sex.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�
The AP agreed to use teenagersB次元官网网址� first or middle names for this article because of a common concern they expressed about backlash at school, at home and on social media for speaking about their peersB次元官网网址� sex lives and LGBTQ+ relations.
SEXUAL IDENTITY IS EVOLVING
Several experts say the CDC findings could signal a shift in how teen sexuality is evolving, with gender fluidity becoming more common along with a decrease in stigma about identifying as not heterosexual.
They point to another finding in this yearB次元官网网址檚 study that found the proportion of high school kids who identify as heterosexual dropped to about 75%, down from about 89% in 2015, when the CDC began asking about sexual orientation. Meanwhile, the share who identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual rose to 15%, up from 8% in 2015.
B次元官网网址淚 just wonder, if youth were in the room when the questions were being created, how they would be worded differently,B次元官网网址� said Taryn Gal, executive director of the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health.
Sex is just one of the topics covered by the CDC study, called . One of the main sources of national data about high school students on a range of behaviors, it is conducted every two years and asks about 100 questions on topics including smoking, drinking, drug use, bullying, carrying guns and sex. More than 17,000 students at 152 public and private high schools across the country responded to the 2021 survey.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 a fine line we have to try to walk,B次元官网网址� says Kathleen Ethier, director of the CDCB次元官网网址檚 Division of Adolescent and School Health, which leads the study.
From a methodological standpoint, changing a question would make it harder to compare trends over time. The goal is to take a national snapshot of teenage behavior, with the understanding that questions might not capture all the nuance. B次元官网网址淚t doesnB次元官网网址檛 allow us to go as in depth in some areas as we would like,B次元官网网址� Ethier says.
The national survey, for example, does not ask about oral sex, which carries the risk of spreading sexually transmitted infections. As for B次元官网网址渟exual intercourse,B次元官网网址� Ethier says, B次元官网网址淲e try to use a term that we know young people understand, realizing that it may not encompass all the ways young people would define sex.B次元官网网址�
IS LESS TEEN SEX GOOD NEWS?
Beyond semantics, there are a multitude of theories on why the reported rates of high school sex have steadily declined B次元官网网址� and what it might say about American society.
B次元官网网址淚 imagine some parents are rejoicing and some are concerned, and I think there is probably good cause for both,B次元官网网址� says Sharon Hoover, co-director of the National Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland. Health officials like to see trends that result in fewer teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
B次元官网网址淏ut what we donB次元官网网址檛 know is what this means for the trajectory of young people,B次元官网网址� Hoover says.
This yearB次元官网网址檚 decrease, the sharpest drop ever recorded, clearly , which kept kids isolated, cut off from friends and immersed in social media. Even when life started returning to normal, many kids felt uncomfortable with face-to-face interaction and found their skills in verbal communication had declined, Hoover said.
The survey was conducted in the fall of 2021, just as many K-12 students returned to in-person classrooms after .
Several teens interviewed said that when schools reopened, they returned with compounded by fears of catching COVID. That added a new layer to pre-pandemic concerns about sexual relations like getting pregnant or catching STIs.
B次元官网网址淚 remember thinking, B次元官网网址榃hat if I get sick? What if I get a disease? What if I donB次元官网网址檛 have the people skills for this?B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� said Kay, the 18-year-old from Michigan. B次元官网网址淎ll those B次元官网网址榳hat ifsB次元官网网址� definitely affected my personal relationships, and how I interacted with strangers or personal partners.B次元官网网址�
Another fear is the prying eyes of parents, says college student Abby Tow, who wonders if helicopter parenting has played a role in what she calls the B次元官网网址渂aby-fication of our generation.B次元官网网址� A senior at the University of Oklahoma, Tow knows students in college whose parents monitor their whereabouts using tracking apps.
B次元官网网址淧arents would get push notifications when their students left dorms and returned home to dorms,B次元官网网址� says Tow, 22, majoring in social work and gender studies.
Tow also notices a B次元官网网址済eneral sense of disillusionmentB次元官网网址� in her generation. She cites statistics that fewer teenagers today are getting driverB次元官网网址檚 licenses. B次元官网网址淚 think,B次元官网网址� she says, B次元官网网址渢here is a correlation between students being able to drive and students having sex.B次元官网网址�
Another cause for declining sex rates could be easy access to online porn, experts say. By the age of 17, three-quarters of teenagers have viewed pornography online, with the average age of first exposure at 12, according to a report earlier this year by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit child advocacy group.
B次元官网网址淧orn is becoming sex ed for young people,B次元官网网址� says Justine Fonte, a New York-based sex education teacher. She says pornography shapes and skews adolescent ideas about sexual acts, power and intimacy. B次元官网网址淵ou can rewind, fast forward, play as much as you want. It doesnB次元官网网址檛 require you to think about how the person is feeling.B次元官网网址�
IS THERE AN EVOLVING DEFINITION OF CONSENT?
Several experts said they hoped the decline could be partly attributed to a broader understanding of consent and an increase in B次元官网网址渃omprehensiveB次元官网网址� sex education being taught in many schools, which has become a target in ongoing culture wars.
Unlike abstinence-only programs, the lessons include discussion on understanding healthy relationships, gender identity, sexual orientation and preventing unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Contrary to what critics think, she said, young people are more likely to delay the onset of sexual activity if they have access to sex education.
Some schools and organizations supplement sex education with peer counseling, where teens are trained to speak to each other about relationships and other topics that young people might feel uncomfortable raising with adults.
Annika, 14, is a peer ambassador trained by Planned Parenthood and a high school freshman in Southern California. SheB次元官网网址檚 offered guidance to friends in toxic relationships and worries about the ubiquity of porn among her peers, especially male friends. ItB次元官网网址檚 clear to her that the pandemic stunted sex lives.
The CDCB次元官网网址檚 2023 survey, which is currently underway, will show if the decline was temporary. Annika suspects it will show a spike. In her school, at least, students seem to be making up for lost time.
B次元官网网址淧eople lost those two years so theyB次元官网网址檙e craving it more,B次元官网网址� she said. She has often been in a school bathroom where couples in stalls next to her are engaged in sexual activities.
Again, the definition of sex? B次元官网网址淎ny sexual act,B次元官网网址� Annika says. B次元官网网址淎nd sexual intercourse is one type of act.B次元官网网址�
To get a truly accurate reading of teen sexuality, the evolution of language needs to be taken into account, says Dr. John Santelli, a Columbia University professor who specializes in adolescent sexuality.
B次元官网网址淭he word intercourse used to have another meaning,B次元官网网址� he points out. B次元官网网址淚ntercourse used to just mean talking.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址擩ocelyn Gecker, The Associated Press
READ MORE:
