More girls placing limits on sex

By Karen S. Peterson
USA Today

Gannett News Service Numbers down in 3 key areas Sociologists Barbara Risman of North Carolina State University, and Pepper Schwartz of the University of Washington-Seattle point to these encouraging trends, culled from various research sources: Teens 15 to 17 who have had intercourse dropped from 54.1 percent in 1991 to 48.4 percent in 1997. Teen pregnancy rates dropped 17 percent from 1990 to 1996. Teen abortion rates dropped 16 percent from 1990 to 1995.

"It seems that girls have a little more control of relationships now," she says. "I have this image of a guy walking down the hall, carrying a girl's books again. And it's a good thing, because girls take things more slowly, especially around sexual things and how far one goes."

Her opinions may reflect a growing trend.

A given relationship may last only a few weeks and involve anything from no sex to oral sex — which today's teens often contend doesn't count — to full intercourse. But no matter how ephemeral the matchup may be or the degree of sexual activity, girls are feeling more comfortable about setting sexual boundaries, say sociologists Barbara Risman of North Carolina State University and Pepper Schwartz of the University of Washington-Seattle.

They write about their new theory in Contexts, a new journal from the American Sociological Association.

The social scientists are trying to explain what many see as positive news about teen behavior. Overall, teen sexual activity before 18 seems to be decreasing, along with its unwanted consequences, including pregnancy.

Explanations range from a fear of disease to the increasing prevalence of "just say no" messages. Now, Risman and Schwartz say, girls are speaking up, declaring what they do want and don't want, and helping drive statistics down.

Many members of USA Today's Teen Panel, including Montague, say the two authors have hit the mark, particularly in relation to girls who want to hit the brakes.

"Girls, instead of expecting boys to completely turn off the biological drive to procreate during their teenage years, when males are in their sexual prime, have adapted by empowering and asserting themselves," says Marissa Robillard, 17, of Green Bay, Wis., who wrote the newspaper a lengthy e-mail.

"Young females are now generally better acquainted with themselves and consequently have become capable of delaying sex until they feel ready for it," Robillard says. "This new awareness affects boys, too, achieving a sort of tidal-wave effect that helps young males to understand and act on the importance of not pressuring a girl into sex."

Joel Holland, 17, of McLean, Va., says the girls are the ones who are increasingly willing to throw out an anchor. "They are the ones who (could) get pregnant and ruin their lives, and the guys can walk away. But now the girls are really questioning things."

Risman and Schwartz are both specialists with the Council on Contemporary Families, a nonprofit group of family researchers. The sociologists have taken a new look at statistics from a government-sponsored, long-term study of 10,000 teens under 18, analyzing the results by gender.

Sexual activity is becoming more equal, they find. While the number of high-school girls who had intercourse declined slightly from 1991 (51 percent) to 1997 (48 percent), the number of boys who had intercourse dropped significantly, from 57 percent to 49 percent.

Drawing on a number of studies on teen behavior, interviews and a wealth of statistics, they write that "boys' sexual behavior has become more like girls'." The boys' behavior reflects girls' "increased influence in intimate relationships."

Boys and girls today are more apt to have sex within a relationship of some sort, the authors say. "Lots of the teens we talked to said some boys have sexual buddies they hook up with for some kind of sex," Schwartz says. "But you can't get a reputation as a boy who just plays girls. You have got to be in a relationship, be going with somebody."

Risman says that boys are tending to have even their initial sexual relationships with "a girlfriend, not in one-night stands. It is not so casual now."

Many factors actually are affecting the decline in teen sex statistics, teen panelists and many other experts caution. Brady Welch, 18, of Mount Pleasant, S.C., cites two divergent causes: more condoms and more religion.

"Religion is pretty important among teenagers," particularly those outside major population centers, he says. "I think the abstinence messages are getting through." But when couples do have sex, they are having safer sex, he says.