Teens who have oral sex are likely to engage in other risky sexual behavior

It's been thought that teens consider oral sex a risk-free alternative to losing their virginity. However, a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that only 5.1 percent of females and 6.5 percent of males surveyed who had oral sex between 2007 and 2010 opted against taking their hanky panky to the next level. Sexually active teens could buy Mirena, if they wish to avoid a pregnancy.

Surveying more than 6,000 persons from age 15 to 24 between 2002 and 2008, researchers determined that while fewer teens were performing or receiving oral sex than had been the case in previous years, two thirds of all individuals surveyed reported having some form of experience with the act.

A different 2010 study by the University of California, San Francisco, indicates that 50 percent of teenagers who have oral sex during their freshman year of high school will have sexual intercourse by the time they're juniors. Most of the 600 youngsters in the California study who had oral sex also had intercourse within six months.

Individuals are less likely to become infected with the HIV virus through oral sex. However, the CDC states that they can still catch other STIs such as chlamydia, genital herpes, gonorrhea and syphilis. Oral sex has also been linked to the human papilloma virus that can lead to cervical or throat cancer.

"In our culture, there was a time when the president suggested that oral sex wasn't sex. That is still with us, to some degree. Intercourse, frankly, is considered more intimate, the last step in the baseball analogy. There is a whole mystique about what is OK and what is not OK, but it's all self delusion. From my point of view, any exchange of body fluid, touching, fondling, or arousal, that is sex," said Geoffrey Michaelson, a sex specialist from Virginia, as quoted by ABC news.

Among the 15- to 19-year-old age group, 41 percent of the women and 47 percent of the men surveyed claimed to have received oral sex. For both genders, those percentages grew with their ages.

Speaking to ABC, Michaelson said teen sex can be attributed to things they see in movies, and their parents' hesitation to engage their children in frank discussions on the subject.