Virginity. It seems like such a straightforward concept, but ask any ten people what it means and you'll get ten different answers. Despite this, the importance of virginity is stressed by many groups, and by abstinence only sex education programs. These programs frequently encourage teenagers to maintain their virginity rather than giving them comprehensive information about safer sex.
The problem is that even when these sex ed programs are effective in encouraging teens to remain virginal, "effective" may only mean that the programs have convinced teenagers to avoid vaginal intercourse. But vaginal intercourse is not the only sexual activity that can be hazardous to a person's physical and emotional health; oral and anal sex may not lead to pregnancy, but they can spread sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as gonorrhea, herpes, and HIV.
What is in a Promise?
Virginity pledges are a component of some abstinence-only sex education programs, and are also frequently promoted by the conservative media. When a teenager takes a virginity pledge, they usually promise to remain a virgin until marriage. These programs, however, rarely define "virginity," and, because of this, even those adolescents who are faithful to their promises may feel free to engage in anal and oral sex.
Several studies have examined virginity pledges to see if they are effective at stopping teenagers from engaging in sexual activity. Some studies have, in fact, found that individuals who take virginity pledges say that they are having less sex than those individuals who haven't taken a pledge. Unfortunately, most of those studies suffer from a major problem. Specifically, they don't ask teenagers what they consider to be "sex." Many teenagers don't consider oral or anal sex to be a violation of their virginity pledge.
Studying The Problem
When detailed descriptions of sexual activity are included in study design, the results look quite different. Several studies have found that many teenagers who consider themselves true to their pledge still engage in anal or oral sex. Since they don't believe that these forms of sex affect their virginity, teens don't worry that they might violate their pledge.
Furthermore, at least one study has found that teenagers who have engaged in oral and/or anal sex, but not vaginal sex, were more likely to have taken a virginity pledge. This may be one explanation for why that same study of virginity pledges found that pledgers have similar STD rates to those who don't.
Not surprisingly, since virginity pledges are often a component of abstinence-only education, it was also found, in at least one study, that individuals who take virginity pledges are less likely to use condoms the first time they have intercourse than those who don't pledge. Since condom use at first intercourse is a good predictor of future safer sex behavior, this does not bode well for the pledgers' lifetime sexual health.
Comprehensive Understanding
Encouraging teenagers to only focus on virginity, without teaching them how to make other forms of sex safer, may protect them against pregnancy, but it doesn't do anything about STDs. In fact, anal sex carries an increased risk of transmitting certain STDs, such as HIV, when compared to vaginal sex, because there is a higher likelihood of tearing. Oral sex is also a problem, since many teenagers treat it relatively casually even when they know, objectively, that it puts them at risk of infection.
It makes far more sense to give teenagers comprehensive sex information so that they can make intelligent choices about their sexual health. After all, sexually transmitted diseases don't care whether or not a person is a virgin. They'll spread between any two people who are having unprotected sex.
Sources:
Brückner, H. and Bearman P. "After the promise: the STD consequences of adolescent virginity pledges" Journal of Adolescent Health 36 (2005) 271–278.
Nicole Stone, "Oral sex and condom use among young people in the United Kingdom" Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health (2006) 38(1).
Lisa Remez "Oral Sex Among Adolescents:Is It Sex or Is It Abstinence?"Family Planning Perspectives (2000) 32(6):298-304.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2005 Supplement, Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project (GISP)Annual Report 2005. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, January 2007.
