Recent survey conducted by the University of Michigan reveals that majority of American teens and young adults remain clueless about STDs. More specifically, most of them believe that sexually transmitted diseases cannot be contracted through oral sex.
The poll included 900 American young adults and teens. The participants were asked to rate the risk of oral sex on a scale of 1–5, with 5 marking the highest risk.
Around 60% of participants marked oral sex with 1 or 2, meaning they consider it’s not risky at all or that the risk is very low. These participants, mostly men, focused their rating around the lack of risks of unplanned pregnancy.
Despite what seems to be a serious lack of awareness, 46% of participants believe that they received good sexual education. Only one in five believe society needs to work towards normalizing conversation about oral sex, so that young people don’t feel ashamed to enquire about it.
On the other hand, females were twice as likely to rate oral sex as 4 or 5 on the risk scale. They formed a larger part of the group of the participants who believe that sexual education should focus more on raising awareness about protection during oral sex.
