Now let's get back to work, because here's the rest of the story. While teen pregnancy is down, there is evidence that kids are still having sex at a young age. In a recent survey, more than a third of ninth-graders said they have had intercourse. Anecdotes and news reports from around the country suggest that oral sex is currently in vogue among schoolkids. Peter Sheras, professor of adolescent development at the University of Virginia, says many teens have become desensitized.
Teens often shrug and say that oral sex never made anyone pregnant.
Parents need to remind them, though, that it can transmit dread diseases, including hiv and the papilloma virus, against which even condoms offer little protection. My first glimpse into the mysteries of sex came when I was 10 and wandered into our barn to see a veterinarian artificially inseminating a long row of dairy cows. That's when I first suspected that sex is not for the fainthearted. But I know that kids take their views and values from their parents. They look to us for direction.