On March 11, 2008, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control announced that one-quarter of teen-age girls have at least one sexually transmitted disease.  Here’s the press release.

On March 12, 2008, the American media went crazy. 

I have been accidentally exposed to an enormous amount of shouting, blaming, and moralizing on this topic.  (This is something I usually try to avoid, the US media talking about sex and high school or college-aged girls in the same story.)  It was impossible to miss their tones of shock, disgust, and parental disapproval as commentators placed the burden of this disturbing news entirely on the shoulders of girls and young women.  For a comparison, imagine if the CDC had announced 1 in 4 girls has food poisoning… 1 in 4 girls has an eye infection… 1 in 4 girls has leukemia… 

Now there are a lot of different issues here, but I have yet to hear anyone considering these statistics in the light of the high rate of sexual abuse of girls.  Sadly, I think we have to assume that at least some of these girls were exposed to diseases, including the ones that are fatal if left untreated, by non-consensual sex (that is, rape).

Teens answering a survey about sexual health and behavior may or may not be willing to respond honestly about their experiences of sexual assault.  They may or may not even be aware that what happened to them was an assault.  They may be unable or unwilling to even remember it.

And while most people seem to be jumping to the conclusion that 1 in 4 teenage boys also has a sexually transmitted infection – there is good evidence out there that the people who have sex with, impregnate, and sexually assault teen girls are actually adult men over the age of 20.

I did find one quote through Planned Parenthood that offers a hint about what’s may really going on:

“A young woman whose first partner is seven or more years older than herself is less likely than other women to use contraceptives at first intercourse, and she is more than twice as likely to rate first intercourse as unwanted than those women whose first partner is the same age or younger. The percentage of women who use contraception at first voluntary intercourse increases as the levels of wantedness rise (Abma et al., 1998).” (emphasis mine) From Planned Parenthood’s Research page.

Incidentally, I found that site to be a great source, they compiled a lot of studies on a wide range of teen sexual health and behavior issues.  Instead of shouting about morals or blaming girls who have been infected, they give real information, much of it hopeful and pro-girl!  They have a site especially for young women too.  It was such a relief to find some real and useful information.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 5:47 am and is filed under denial, sexual health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.