Friday, May 23, 2008
YOUNG LOVERS AT MANILA BAY
Let's talk about sex for a change.
According to a recent Reuters report, a survey conducted by New York's Guttmacher Institute, indicates a widespread belief among U.S. teens that non-vaginal forms of sex, especially oral sex, is a way to be sexually active while remaining to be "technically" virgins.
The study, participated by about 2,271 females and males age 15 to 19, also reveals that about one in 10 of the teens said they had engaged in anal sex.
"Teens of white ethnicity and higher socioeconomic status were more likely than their peers to have ever had oral or anal sex," the researchers wrote.
The Guttmacher Institute studies sexual and reproductive health issues.
Meanwhile, a Washington Post article claims that slightly more than half of American teenagers ages 15 to 19 have engaged in oral sex, with females and males reporting similar levels of experience. Moreover, the report shows that the proportion increases with age to about 70 percent of all 18- and 19-year-olds. That figure is considerably higher for those who also have engaged in intercourse.
The article was based on the most comprehensive national survey of sexual behaviors ever released by the federal government. It was conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had also conducted a groundbreaking study on teenage sex practices as reported by USAToday. It reveals that among teens, oral sex is often viewed so casually that it needn't even occur within the confines of a relationship. Some teens say it can take place at parties, possibly with multiple partners. But they say the more likely scenario is oral sex within an existing relationship.
The sexual practices by these U.S. teens may be just as prevalent amongst Filipino youths. Hence, I agree with Laura Lindberg of the Guttmacher Institute in New York -- that while oral and anal sex carry no risk of pregnancy, engaging in these behaviors can nevertheless put teens at risk of sexually transmitted infections.
Local health officials, much like their American counterparts, ought to implement continued counseling and education programs that address the full range of behaviors that teens engage in, including oral and anal sex.
I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.
Thank you!
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Labels: health issues, youth culture
posted by Señor Enrique at 7:40 AM
14 Comments:
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Watergirl said... "ought to implement" might be asking for too much Senor E. Manila City govt officials turned their back on providing free oral contraceptives and condoms when Mayor Atienza took office because of his far more conservative stance than his predecessor, not to mention the end of the USAID fund to provide condoms and pills in 2006. I worked in public health programs for 2 years, working with local city governments and health officers. Like banging one's head on a brick wall trying to promote empowerment in reproductive health. As for the kids, they're just picking up information from friends, what they see on tv or the movies or comics. Too much old fashioned thinking about teenage sexuality in our culture. Well, about sex in general, not just the kids. Ack, let me step down from this soapbox.
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gmirage said...
Education about sex should begin at home. Its not easy though but when parents spend time with their kids teaching them about moral and spiritual matters maybe it would be effective. Conservative to think as it may but sex is still something should be exclusively shared by married couples...just because the trend changed doesn't mean its right.
Honestly I am afraid for my kids to be involve in it in an early age as most kids here do...(12 I think!) Reason why I kept trying to bring them up in bible standards (and it is not easy...) *sigh* This generation is really too different from us!-
nutart said...
Spiritually speaking, the sexual act is quite a sacred activity that stimulates the sexual energy of a person. Kaya the usual way a lot of couples experiment to keep their relationship going--up, down, sideways, backways, etcetera :-) get their energies all screwed up. Multiple partnered relationships also mix up their auric fields and merge emotional baggages here and there...the search for that coital high is often than not mixed with eventual depression. Oral sex is just as detrimental kasi the way the energy field surges is only within the genitalia. Kaya as the term goes maka-mundo lang ang inner perspective. Mystics and enlightened beings usually go for celibacy to keep their sexual energies disciplined and thus aid more in inner realization than physical satisfaction.
When I learned from my husband how the human energies go, I understood why he can be "old-fashioned" :-)...in an enlightened way.-
said... The new generation is far more advanced than the previous and certainly things have changed; a lot especially in terms of sex. Kids these days are open and willing enough to engage themselves in pre-marital sex thus getting tangled in the whole web of abortion, etcetera. I'm not discriminating those who agree w/pre-marital sex b/c I'm open enough to accept things as such but in my personal opinion, youngsters should know about the consequences before getting themselves into something like sex. I think that sex education should begin at home albeit it's hard parents can try to talk to their kids about the pros and cons of having sex in terms of religiousness or spirituality of it all. But who are we to impose such rules on others? Well, it all depends on the parents and how they choose to bring up their child. I can safely say that I'm still traditional in a way when it comes to sex.
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said...
Nice shot of the lovebirds smooching by the boulevard :)
For some reason, sex education was taboo in Pinas when I was a youngster. I remember when I was in high school at a Catholic boys school we had a speaker at a retreat, a lawyer/judge who was well on his way to retirement told us to dismiss our sexual urges and said - " time will come magsasawa rin kayo sa sex" LOL :) Telling that to a 16 year old undergoing hormonal turbulence in his body to keep him chaste was like - huh ?? WTF is this guy really trying to tell me ? :)-
-= dave =- said...
You may want to tune in to 89.9 FM at around a quarter before midnight every Mondays to Thursdays ;)
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said...
I don't think sex education is fully implemented to all schools here in the Philippines. Being a conservative country, they still believe that our teenagers should know talk about this issue. However, due to curiosity, our teenagers engaged themselves in premarital sex.
I totally agree with what you have posted about oral and anal sex can still transmit STDs. It is in the medical researches conducted that even if its oral sex, one cal still get gonorrhea. That makes me realize, it is not safe as well.-
Señor Enrique said...
That seems to be the case, Equilibrium ... kids these days are wont into experimentation, mostly egged on by peer pressure. And with our television and movies showing more relaxed attitude towards sex, teenagers tend to follow suit.
Yes, sexually-transmitted disease can be dreadful in can be contacted easier than most kids realize.
Interestingly, this may be due to a lack of local sex education: many boys I've spoken to are under the impression that during copulation, pregnancy can be avoided if the boy pulls out prior to ejaculation. I had to explain to them that pre-cum carries enough sperm to induce pregnancy in a female.-
said...
Yes that is so true. A lot of teenagers nowadays are being pressured by peers. They want the feeling of being in the click group.
And also, due to lack of sexual education, they tend to believe in the myths that they have been hearing from old peeps.
Sometimes, those old generation needs to open up. This is if they really cares about your youth today.-
Señor Enrique said...
I agree with you, Equilibrium, our older folks ought to be more practical and acknowledge the value of adequate sex education.
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said...
But see I wonder why other guys would love to engage in anal sex? I mean I believe it shouldn't be based on the bible and also due to health reasons.
Can't they just be contented on the other hole. :( **Me thinks**-
Señor Enrique said...
Must be the closest these kids could get into the actual act of copulation without having the threat of pregnancy. Could be experimentation, too.
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said...
hmm but i think it is not safe though. And eto ha, funny right if we poo and the poo is too hard, its painful already. How much a guy's genital inserting it back and forth. Ouch!
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Señor Enrique said...
The pain can indeed be debilitating, Equilibrium, but I wouldn't know for sure since I never had any inclination to experience such "backdoor" action.
However, not that I'm promoting or condonig it, anal sex or sodomy was a common practice among some early Chinese migrant workers in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period.
Check this out:
In 1598, the archbishop of Manila wrote the king of Spain about the ongoing practice of sodomy within the Chinese community. He went so far as to accuse the Chinese of spreading the habit not only in Manila, but throughout the Philippine archipelago.
Also in that same year, the king’s court received a letter from Antonio de Morga, a civil official, strongly suggesting that the movements of the Chinese be restricted. He claimed these overseas workers from China had become extremely troublesome — committing crimes and wantonly engaging in sodomy among themselves.
Meanwhile, the Augustinian missionaries in Iloilo were horrified to have discovered this widespread sexual practice among the Chinese. They sternly voiced out their revulsion to such deviancy; petrified that God might repeat in Iloilo what was done in Sodom.
Miguel Benavides, archbishop of Manila and founder of the University of Sto. Tomas, demanded stringent measures. In 1603, he fired off a missive to the king citing the case of an Ilocana who was sodomized by a Chinese man. To protect the Filipinos — both male and female — he requested for a new parian to be set up to segregate the Chinese. He also recommended that those who engaged in such wicked behavior to be expelled and shipped back to China. In addition, he suggested that only the merchant Chinese be allowed into the colony, but to be placed on ships in the harbor during the night.
However, much to his dismay, the king’s court sent no response. Benavides was so enraged for having been ignored turned his ire on the Jesuits instead. Their greed, he pointed out, made them ignore sodomy and other sinful acts being committed in their midst by those who comprised the backbone of their lucrative enterprises — the Chinese who provided the Jesuits with indispensable services as artisans, carpenters, and merchants. Unbeknownst to the archbishop, the Jesuits may have been early proponents of the “don’t ask, don’t tell policy.”
Here's the URL for complete article:
http://senorenrique.blogspot.com/2006/11/brokeback-parian.html
