Healthy Spring @ WVU

Everyday millions of teenagers and young adults are slammed with statistics and warned of the dangers of having unprotected sex. However, is intercourse the only sexual activity students should be warned about? 

By: Erin Harbert

Oral sex has been a way for young people to preserve their virginity while being sexually intimate with another person. They are able to experience the sexual pleasures without having sex. This appeals to most young people because it allows them to keep their innocence. Sadly, it is even the new thing to do at middle school parties.

However, many partakers do not consider themselves to be sexually active unless they have had intercourse.  In a survey of 12 random university level students, we asked six men and six women what being sexually active means. All the men said they did not consider themselves sexually active if they were only having oral sex. All women but one considered themselves sexually active even if they hadn’t had intercourse. All students also didn’t take into consideration their oral sex partners when asked how many people they had been sexually active with.

So, oral sex seems to be the answer for most young people who are not ready to have sex. However, many people are not aware of the risks that come from oral sex. In the same survey, all but three students were aware and took into concern the idea of contracting an STD through oral sex. Also, none of the students used protection when having oral  sex. So, do students need to be more aware of the dangers of unprotected oral sex?

Although people don’t like to believe it, the risk of getting an STD from oral sex is just the same as getting one through intercourse, stated a John Hopkins School of Public Health study. The study, published in Medicine Magazine in June 2008, found a correlation between oral sex and throat cancer.

Researchers took blood and saliva samples from 100 individuals who have been diagnosed with cancer of the tonsils or the back of the throat. They also took 200 blood and saliva samples from healthy individuals who also recorded their sexual history.

Researchers were looking for the Human Papilloma Virus that causes most cases of cervical cancer and can be transferred through oral sex.

The results showed that most of the healthy people were infected by HPV and were 32 times more likely to develop throat cancer. Also, those who tested positive for having traces of a certain strain of HPV were 58 times more likely to develop throat cancer.

The type of virus contracted correlated with the number of oral sex partners the individuals had. More tests are being conducted to rule what the correlation might also be.

Oral sex can lead to more serious risks then just throat cancer. It can lead to HIV as well as herpes, which both are life altering diseases.  It also can lead to a variety of other STDs such as Chlamydia and gonorrhea.

With all of the risks of oral sex, information about the dangers of oral sex and promotion of protected oral sex should rise.  Some students are not even aware that protected oral sex was an option. The dental dam, which is a latex square worn over the mouth during oral sex, helps prevent STDs like a condom is used during intercourse.

Katelyn Hlusko, a sophomore at West Virginia University, has never heard of a dental dam or condoms used in oral sex. “I’m not quite sure what a dental dam would even look like,” said Hlusko.

However, other students find it insane that people do not believe that you can’t get an STD unless you have intercourse. Hannah Silverman, a sophomore at West Virginia University, believes that people should consider protected oral sex. “They wear condoms when they have sex so why not with oral sex?” asked Silverman.

Oral sex is just as serious as sex. STDs can be contracted as well as life altering diseases. Many people are not aware of the choices of having protected oral sex.  Although some will still have oral sex to abstain from intercourse, they should be informed the risks are just as severe as they are with sex. 

Edited: Kayla Shane