Teen Girls Having More Same-Sex Contact, Fewer Pregnancies: U.S. National Survey Of Family Growth

A new analysis of the U.S. National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) has revealed some surprising shifts in the sexual activity of teenage girls over the past decade, including a significant spike among those who claim to have had same-sex contact.

A comparison of 2002 NSFG data to figures from 2006-2008 showed that 11 percent of 17-year-old girls in the latter pool had engaged in contact with other girls, compared with just five percent in 2002. Furthermore, those same girls also claim to have been significantly less heterosexually active, at just 46 percent in 2006-2008, whereas the 2002 survey found 63 percent of girls in the same age group had been active.

The decrease in heterosexual activity could, at least in part, account for another one of the survey's findings: a slight drop (18 percent to 12 percent) in the number of 17-year-girls who have been pregnant. "Factors that may account for this drop include our findings that more were waiting until later in adolescence to become heterosexually involved, more were using emergency contraception if they were heterosexually active, and perhaps even that more were engaging in same-sex behavior," Dr. Nanette Gartrell, NSFG lead author, is quoted as saying by the Windy City Times. "It will be interesting to see if the next cycle of NSFG data collection reveals whether these changes are a long-term trend."

The findings were published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, in a letter to the editor titled "New Trends in Same-Sex Contact for American Adolescents?" You can read the full analysis here.

The new analysis follows an October study conducted by Boise State University, which found that 60 percent of women who identify themselves as heterosexual have been sexually attracted to other women, while 50 percent confessed to having had same-sex fantasies. "Women are encouraged to be emotionally close to each other," Boise State University professor Elizabeth Morgan told LGBT Weekly at the time. "That provides an opportunity for intimacy and romantic feelings to develop."

Comments

[darlenebonny]

09:28 AM on 12/28/2011

Oh those bad girls!

[john77]

07:44 PM on 12/25/2011

I think some of these girls are having girl-girl relations to titillate sleazy straight guys. Keep in mind that female sexuality is largely about pleasing men, about aligning with the fantasies and fetishes of men. This is promoted in porn and music. When Britney kissed Madonna at the MTV awards ten years ago, they weren't doing it because they were in a relationship but because they wanted to get attention.

Our liberal society also treats male-male relations differently from female-female relations. Male-male is often segregated or treated as something that is controversial. Female-female is treated as if it's glamorous and mainstream. It's a homophobic double standard that liberals are responsible for.

[Dael Sumner]

09:20 PM on 12/25/2011

"I think some of these girls are having girl-girl relations to titillate sleazy straight guys".....Spoken like a man indeed.....Women are not put here to please men, think what you may. Sorry.

[TotalTranquility]

10:38 PM on 12/25/2011

Was it " Spoken like a man indeed " or Spoken like a man in need?
Sounds to me like most of his experience on this is derived from his extensive collection of porn.

[john77]

07:50 PM on 12/26/2011

Since when did I say a woman should please a man? I'm saying quite the opposite.

I'm simply pointing to the fact that women DO align their behavior to please sleazy straight guys. Don't deny it. Women DO make choices which reduce them to sexual playthings for sleazy straight guys. You can't deny that women DO make choices that are designed to titillate sleazy straight guys.

You should be blaming females too. They are one half of the exploitation equation.

[TotalTranquility]

11:49 PM on 12/25/2011

I touched base on the beginning of your comment with Dael Sumner that responded to your comment.

Now for the last part of your comment...

It has way less to do with as you called it " Our liberal society " then it has to do with the conservative aspects of our society.

Far more liberals have little to no problems with Homosexuality then conservatives do.

The double standard you speak of is based on a few things, however I feel this is a big one...

Heterosexual men have the ability to place themselves in a sexual situation with a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, most can not place themselves in a situation with two men.

Therefore there instinctual desires tell them that it is undesirable, and they manifest that in various ways.

And for this part of your comment...

" It's a homophobic double standard that liberals are responsibl­e for. "

Sorry but idiotic is what comes to mind when I read that part, also what comes to mind is... What is you agenda?

[Rothay]

03:14 PM on 12/25/2011

No matter how Boise University professor Elizabeth Morgan puts a spin on the intimacy and romantic feelings developing between teenage girls, there is one basic fact that cannot be changed: it takes a man and a woman to beget a child. No questions about that. Frankly the NSFG study raises an obvious question: were the "claims to have indulged in" mere fantasizing by these teenagers? Teenagers are known for elaborating on things, claiming to have done this, that, and the other simply to be one of the crowd. A passing fad? Or an opportunity to gain attention. No doubt these misguided teenagers will grow up and allow common sense to prevail, if not nature.

[bluntobject]

07:34 PM on 12/25/2011

Wrong! It takes some sperm and an egg. The inconvenience of being trapped in a heterosexual relationship no longer applies to those who wish to conceive and have a child. :)

[TotalTranquility]

12:36 AM on 12/26/2011

AHHH yes! The loving time when a man only mounts a woman to beget a child, those were the good old days. LOL

[Victoria Brooke Burns]

02:40 PM on 12/25/2011

This picture is offending me for some reason. It's like they want people to think about typical movie scenes where hot cheerleaders hook up or have pillow fights in their underwear. It made this article seem less legitimate.

[TotalTranquility]

12:37 AM on 12/26/2011

Sounds like you have some unresolved issues.

[Victoria Brooke Burns]

12:43 PM on 12/26/2011

I don't have any issues I just think it makes the article seem silly. I feel like a picture of girls eating lunch together or walking with backpacks would be more affective because it would give the reader more creative control over the connotations they draw from the image while still embodying teen life.

[beckymonster]

02:02 PM on 12/25/2011

perhaps it's just easier to get instant gratification from girl-to-girl contact (girls spend an awful lot of time together in close quarters), and there is less social repercussion after the act vs if a girl would to hook up with a teen boy. Most girls would keep it among each other, meanwhile, the encounter would be on twitter/facebook/in locker room chatter before the girl even leaves the room. Just my theory ;)

http://beckymonster.blogspot.com/

[TotalTranquility]

12:48 AM on 12/26/2011

I wish I had been in a Catholic all boys school growing up, there was far more boy on boy action going on then in the public schools.

[jacmed]

10:35 AM on 12/25/2011

Same-sex experimentation - what WILL they think of next?!? Oh, for heaven's sake - this has been going on, like, forever. With one exception, humans are sexual beings - you are born homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, or transgender (the exception is those who were born asexual altogether, but that is very rare). But we are also emotional and curious beings. Although the desire to do so might have been felt at one time or another, not all heterosexuals have experimented with same-sex contact and not all homosexuals have experimented with opposite-sex contact, but many have. No big deal, people, really. I don't see how it warranted an entire article and I absolutely do not agree with the implication that more teen girls are lesbians than ever before.

[mac2jr]

10:11 AM on 12/25/2011

Merry Christmas Moderators.

[bluntobject]

07:35 PM on 12/25/2011

Yeah really...

[TedEjr]

07:38 PM on 12/25/2011

Yeppers.

Show the Christmas spirit and let EVERYTHING through tonight.

;-)

However, I will see Mac's comment, and raise it a "Happy New Year."

;-)

[mac2jr]

10:09 AM on 12/25/2011

Society is changing - NOT. It has for generations been ok for two women to dance together on the dance floor, but not two men. It has for generations been ok for two young ladies to hug and kiss, even if they are first meeting, but not for two young men. It has for generations been ok for young girls to 'play' dress up' and do each other's hair, makeup, shopping, dressing, etc., but not so for most men.

Now, in this current generation, we see men as 'what?' , many young men dress like ridiculous fools with their butts hanging out, their hair in whatever, etc., and many are now drop-outs, unemployed, rude, crude, and tattooed. The picken's is a-gettting worse and worse.

Plus, where is the 'respect' from a male toward the female, I see that it has gone by the wayside for most from age 9 to 99. The 'Woman's Movement' was a success for many, but removed the 'hold the chair for me', 'open the door for me', and 'put out the garbage for me' generation. It removed something from the 'boy meets girl' mystique.

Add to this the near 50% divorce rates, the near 90% court ordered sacrifice rate, and the 'jump into the sack on the first date' statistics and who would want to be in a man on woman relationship?

[BeninOakland]

08:48 PM on 12/26/2011

Heterosexuals?

[Clive Richards]

09:03 AM on 12/25/2011

What is wrong in my view is the need to "define" - something pushed as much by they gay community as the straight community. I believe that all men and women have inbuilt capacity for all types of relationship and their life partnership will be based on loving someone irrespective of gender. From early teens human beings need an outlet for sex and this has nothing to do with procreation, its a physical and emotional need that creation (I will use a generic term) gave us. Of course it was not long ago that "civilisation" taught that masturbation was wrong and young people were made to feel guilty about that in my living memory. However this is mankind inventing civilisation, and making rules, for itself. There have great civilisations, such as ancient Greece, which embraced quite different ideas to those we have given ourselves.
I am the first to agree that Political Correctness, just like religion, occasionally drifts towards the bizarre but in this instance it is NOT telling people what they must, or will, become. It teaching people to feel ok with their feelings and to respect the feelings of others.

[ethelmertzrules]

09:59 AM on 12/25/2011

Well said. Civilization will promote fear and violence, yet go out of their collective minds when it comes to sex. Any kind of sex.

[LazarusDurden]

07:55 AM on 12/25/2011

I'm not really sure how I feel about the jumping cheerleaders for the photo of this article. Is it a "YAY! Three cheers for more same sex contact!" or is it ironic in sort of a Man Show esque kind of way? Or did some staffer simply throw up that picture out of laziness or a joke? Man I really need to stop deconstructing these things. Wait why do I suddenly have an urge to watch girl on girl? Is it because... No, no... Don't analyze it. Just watch it.

[bluntobject]

07:36 PM on 12/25/2011

Definitely three cheers for more same sex contact..lol

[caliber44c]

02:54 AM on 12/25/2011

Better to think of it this way......... If homosexuality becomes the rave of the day, and there are no more children being born, then it will be the end of us all, LOL....

[Tsvi1]

06:01 AM on 12/25/2011

Do you think homosexuality is contagious?
Do you think these girls have become lesbians and won't ever have children because of some lesbian action?
If you answer yes to those two, than your conclusion follows. However, I wish to attack your premises, your argument is unsound.

[caliber44c]

10:39 AM on 12/25/2011

I wish to call you a TWIT, my comment was in JEST, HUMOR, making light of the data supplied !! I have no such conclusion, nor do I wish to hear your ranting about premises.. I have non, other than a good laugh, and now, at your expense ! LOL

[bbriani3842]

09:10 AM on 12/25/2011

LOL ... reminds me of that South Park episode, "EVERYONE BACK INTO THE PILE!"

[caliber44c]

10:40 AM on 12/25/2011

Merry Chistmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza !! and for you athiest, Have a NICE DAY !

[Tsvi1]

06:02 AM on 12/25/2011

It was talking about pride. You do know what that English phrase means, right?

[Dael Sumner]

01:30 PM on 12/25/2011

Lovers of themselves...Gay and lesbian means with others of the same sex.......are you so alone you dont comprehend "others" or do you prefer your own "company" so much you have gone blind?......

[caliber44c]

02:26 PM on 12/25/2011

In the Biblical sense, it means what you say, lovers of the same sex, as well as being self centered... And I am not blind, and Have a Degree in Theology, DO YOU ?

[paddy523]

01:09 AM on 12/25/2011

That's AWESOME!!!!!

[Trapped in Arizona]

12:21 AM on 12/25/2011

Note to self -- create website that only discusses gay and immigration issues to attract rabid right wing vitriol.

[bluntobject]

07:39 PM on 12/25/2011

Oh yes, open your doors and they WILL show up, like the fish that came to dinner and stayed.

[Rogr1667]

11:47 PM on 12/24/2011

Let the paranoia commence. The thumper's haven't had enough to freak about ,yet. This should push them right over the edge. ::Crossing fingers::.

[RepublicanDepression]

04:10 AM on 12/25/2011

They went over the edge long ago. Just waiting on the splat...

[ethelmertzrules]

10:06 AM on 12/25/2011

lol - it's been a long wait. I'm looking forward to some good splatting.

[Rogr1667]

12:50 AM on 12/26/2011

I'll gladly volunteer to help clean it up.