When a 2005 Center for Diseases Control study of 15 to 19 year olds reported that one in four teen virgins had engaged in oral sex, public response was intense -- to say the least. Many news outlets reported that teens were engaging in oral sex so that they could claim that they were still technically virgins, while talk shows warned of teens casually engaging in oral sex at parties with multiple partners. Some speculated that the apparent rise in oral sex among teens was the result of the Clinton political scandal that put into question whether oral sex was really sex. Others wondered whether teens chose oral sex over vaginal or anal intercourse in response to a fear of pregnancy and/or sexually transmitted infections.

The teens I work with constantly remind me that teen attitudes towards sex have changed since I was their age. A class doesn't go by without my students responding to something I say with a good-natured eye roll and an explanation of how folks "do it different now" or "don't think that way anymore." My students are teen mothers or pregnant teens and we discuss sex openly during our women's health classes. Even so, I was surprised in 2005 when the CDC's findings appeared to indicate that teens were engaging in oral sex because they didn't define it as sex and as an alternative to sexual intercourse. My student's didn't share that they thought oral sex wasn't sex or that is was an alternative to sexual intercourse. Instead, they spoke of oral sex as part of a sexual relationship or part of sexual exploration.

But the results of the CDC study released in 2005 suggested that more than half of those teens surveyed responded that they were engaging in oral sex. Although researchers did not ask about the circumstances in which oral sex was taking place, many people interpreted the data to mean that teens were engaging in oral sex because they did not view it as sex and felt that oral sex was a way to remain "technical virgins." In other words, the study claimed that one in four teens was using oral sex as a substitute for sexual intercourse. Could it be that teens were responding to abstinence-only curricula by opting for oral sex over intercourse? Or was it that teens were avoiding sexual intercourse because of lack of access to contraception? Was this apparent teen oral sex epidemic a good thing or a bad thing?

Well, it turns out that all the speculation was likely in vain. A new study from the Guttmacher Institute challenges the facts of and conclusions drawn from that 2005 CDC report. As reported by Amie Newman in Teen Myth Busting: Study Shows Oral Sex No Substitute For Vaginal Intercourse, the Guttmacher report found that the conclusion that teens frequently substitute oral sex for sexual intercourse is flawed - oral and anal sex are significantly more common among teens who have already had vaginal intercourse than among those who have not. In other words, teens are more likely to explore a range of sexual activities as they become sexually active and are not likely to substitute one activity for another.

Now that we know that teens aren't using oral sex as a substitute for sexual intercourse and that they are engaging in a variety of sexual activities when they become sexually active, we must use this new data clarifying teen sexual behavior to address the increase in teen sexually transmitted infection and re-infection rates. The challenge is to work with the reality of teen sexual behavior rather than speculate over the myth of technical virginity.

For direction we can look to the example of programs like Sexual Awareness for Everyone (SAFE), which has had success in reducing STI re-infection rates among the high-risk teenage women of color participants in the program.

A study of the SAFE program conducted by Andrea Ries Thurman of the University of Texas Health Sciences Center-San Antonio and her colleagues followed a group of 14 to 18 year old black and Mexican-American participants. SAFE offers comprehensive STI counseling and education. Participants in the study attended small groups that included role-playing sessions, interactive video sessions, reviews of written material and group discussion that addressed strategies for prevention like abstinence and monogamy while explaining the importance of sticking to STI medication regimens as prescribed.

Graduates of SAFE are less likely to engage in high risk sexual behavior and have a lower incidence of recurrent gonorrhea and chlamydia as compared with teen women in a control group who received only 15 minutes of individual counseling. The cumulative STI re-infection rate for teen women who participated in SAFE was 24 percent, for the control group this number skyrocketed to 40 percent.

As Emily Douglas wrote in response to the data that one in four teen women have an STI, all four out of four teen girls need better sex education and better sex education requires a deeper understanding of the reality of teens and their lives. Reproductive justice activists who work with teens know that pro-knowledge programs built on solid data like SAFE help to address the real risks teens face when they are sexually active. Looking back, it is clear that the problem with the 2005 CDC teen oral sex study wasn't in the data but with the speculation that followed. Programs like SAFE and their undeniable success in reducing risk demonstrate that comprehensive sex education remains the key to empowering teens.

Sex education the Midwest Teen Sex Show style