| ORAL SEX A FEDERAL REPORT issued September 15, 2005 indicated that 70 percent of 18 and 19-year-olds in the U.S. have engaged in oral sex. The report was issued by the National Center for Health Statistics. A link to a Washington Post article about the September 15 report (The link was operational at the time of last modification of this article.) An article the following day in the Indianapolis Star about the report cited dangers from gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, and the human papilloma virus. However, as is discussed below, the risk of oral cancer, which wasn't mentioned in the Star article, is probably of at least as great a significance. I currently happen to be in contact with two institutions that are entrusted with educating 18- and 19-year olds. Those are the University of Chicago (my elderly undergraduate alma mater) and Indiana University. I find the attitude of those two schools toward the oral sex question to be both disappointing and irresponsible. As discussed below the introduction on campuses of Merck's HPV vaccine is likely to make a bad situation worse. Many of the nation's university faculty are baby boomers who will be facing retirement fairly soon. It might have seemed somewhat theoretical in years past to have said that there�s a conflict between birth control and stability of pension funds. That's because, in theory, it was seen as necessary to produce enough of a younger generation to contribute enough to keep up those funds. However, oral sex is a cheap method of birth control and it seems to me that the "theoretical" conflict is now showing itself as a palpable, unpleasant, dangerous reality. The potential conflict is between the generations and, as I see it anyway, is a question of trust and responsibility as exercised by different age groups in the population. A specific question is whether young people are being given good information about sex. Our discussion of oral sex and the HPV vaccines is under two headings. If desired, the reader may follow one heading and return to this page to follow the other. |
| 2. Institutional response
In October 2005 I called the office of Dean Craig D. Brater of the Indiana University Medical Center. Previously I�d tried to get a response from the medical center�s media relations office regarding the statistic that 70% of young Americans 18-19 have experimented with oral sex. Media relations had promised to call back but hadn�t done so. Continue "institutional response" |
| 1. ORAL SEX RISKS
: I apologize for the slightly lurid nature of some of the following material. Some may find it offensive that I mention current political leaders in this; but, as will be discussed, that seems to be my fate. Oral sex has been around for long enough to have two more specific Latin words to describe it. Here we are concerned with the danger of fellatio. Continue "oral sex risks" |
The stability of the social security system seems to hinge on the question of "passing the torch." between generations CLICK FOR SOCIAL SECURITY ARTICLE |
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