Oral Sex research: Introduction

Going down, sucking off, eating it, rimming,  giving head, taking a mustache ride.  These are just a few of the many unspecific euphemisms for oral sex that are commonly used by college aged students today.  Why does today’s collegiate crowd use so many non-sexual and often vague terms to describe oral sex, or fitting in the mode of popular terminology, “taking one in the mouth”?  Sex, particularly sexual acts that are not simply penile-vaginal intercourse, are often viewed as taboo in American culture.  This is perpetuated by the approach of the educational system when dealing with sex education in American youth.  In fact, according to one psychologist specializing in the study of gender and sexuality, “From an international perspective, American children are considered sexually illiterate” due to the lack of education that they receive on sexuality and the cultural stigma surrounding any useful or practical information (McHugh, 2009).  In fact, students cite that pornography and their peers are two of the most popular sources for discovering information about sex during adolescence.  Due to this lack of formalized education and the cultural restriction placed on talking openly about sex, euphemisms arise that are used to refer to oral sex acts without actually naming them: fellatio, cunnilingus, and analingus become  more comfortably vague terms such as “head,” “muff diving,” and “tossing a salad.”  Despite these social strictures, the popularity of oral sex among college aged students is on the rise (Grunseit et al., 2005).  The current research seeks to cut through the barriers put up to avoid openly discussing oral sex with college aged students and discover what they believe about oral sex, as well as what their oral sex behaviors are.  Based on the lack of accurate education available for students, I hypothesize that students will hold a wide range of beliefs about oral sex that will be similar to others in their demographic. This is a manifestation of the tendency to rely on peers as a source of sexual knowledge. Additionally, I hypothesize that the sexual practices of college undergraduate students concerning oral sex will be far more reflective of their personal beliefs than of any socially accepted norms that can be seen across demographics.

Due largely to the low degree of formal practical knowledge passed down in an educational environment to college aged students on the topic of oral sex, I expect to find that there will be significant deviation between the beliefs of students surrounding oral sex and their actual practices/sexual history.

References

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Finger, F.  (1975).  Changes in Sex Practices and Beliefs of Male College Students: over 30 Years.  The Journal of Sex Research, 11 (4) 304-317.

Grunseit, A. Richters, J. Crawford, J.  Song, A. and Kippax, S. (2005).  Stability and Change in Sexual Practices among First-Year Australian University Students.  Archives of Sexual Behavior, 34 (5), 557-568.

Halpern-Felsher, B.  Cornell, J. Kkropp, R. and Tschann, J. (2005).  Oral versus Vaginal Sex Among Adolescents:  Perceptions, Attitudes and Behavior.  Pediatrics, 115 (4).

Kaestle, C., and Halpern, C. (2007).  Whats Love Got to do with it?  Sexual Behaviors of Opposite Sex Couples Through Emerging Adulthood.  Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 39(3): 134-140.

Knox, D. Zusman, M and McNeeley, A.  2008.  University Student Beliefs about Sex: Men vs Women.  College student Journal, 42 (1), 181-185.

McHugh, M. (2009).  Sexual Education and Cultural Perspectives (class lecture, Psychology of Human Sexuality, 09/08/09).   Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Milhausen, R., Reece, M., and Perera, B. (2006).  A Theory-Based Approach to Understanding Sexual behavior at Mardi-Gras.  The Journal of Sex Research, 43(2): 97-106.

Patel, V., Yoskowitz, N., Kaufman, D. (2007).  Comprehension of Sexual Situations and its Relationship to Risky Decions by Young Adults.  AIDS Care 19(7): 916-922.

Richters, J., Visser, R., Rissel, C and Smith, A. (2006).  Sexual Practices at Last Heterosexual Encounter and Occurrence of Orgasm in a National Survey.  The Journal of Sex Research 43(3): 217-226.

Shindel, A., Ferguson, G., Nelson, C., and Brandes, S. (2008).  The Sexual Lives of Medical Students: A Single Institution Survey.  Hournal of Sex Medicine 2008, 5, pp 796-803.