Questions, Themes, and Example Participant Quotes
| Question, Themea | All n (%) | Female n (%) | Male n (%) | Example Participant Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 : A recent study showed that very few youth use protection (condoms/dental dams) during oral sex. Why do you think this is? (n = 893) | ||||
| Lack of educationb | 200 (22.4) | 139 (26.7) | 43 (14.2) | “People aren’t well informed on safe sex due to the state of American sex education” |
| No perceived STI risk | 177 (19.8) | 109 (20.9) | 52 (17.2) | “Because they don’t think they can get stds from oral” |
| Sensation/pleasure | 172 (19.3) | 95 (18.2) | 66 (21.8) | “I think they think that condoms will result in a loss of pleasure” |
| No pregnancy risk | 140 (15.7) | 76 (14.6) | 54 (17.8) | “I think that’s because there’s no risk for pregnancy so they don’t think they need to use protection” |
| Access/cost | 104 (11.6) | 58 (11.1) | 32 (10.6) | “They probably don’t because it’s either too expensive or they feel weird buying these items” |
| Q2: On a scale of 1 to 5, how risky do you think it is to have oral sex without protection? (n = 883) | ||||
| 1 (Not risky at all)b | 72 (8.2) | 26 (5.0) | 42 (14.3) | “1 because fertilization is never actually achieved, it is just for pleasure” |
| 2b | 205 (23.2) | 96 (18.4) | 94 (32.0) | “2 You can’t really get anything super harmful from it. And it’s unlikely to get anything harmful at all. As long as you get tested and treated if any symptoms show up you should be ok.” |
| 3 | 269 (30.5) | 163 (31.0) | 88 (29.9) | “3 There’s a chance for sexual disease transmission but lower than with vaginal sex and no worry of pregnancy” |
| 4b | 136 (15.4) | 100 (19.1) | 28 (9.5) | “4 You don’t know what disease someone could have” |
| 5 (Very risky)b | 178 (20.2) | 124 (23.7) | 36 (12.2) | “5 STIs can be extremely serious and easily transferred” |
| Q3: What do you think are the risks (if any) to not using protection during oral sex? (n = 864) | ||||
| STIs/diseases | 760 (88.0) | 455 (89.0) | 245 (85.4) | “You could get a disease/infection like with any other type of sex.” |
| Seems not riskyb | 49 (5.7) | 16 (3.1) | 31 (10.8) | “...there aren’t as many risks by not using protection because it doesn’t involve the danger of getting someone pregnant” |
| Q4: What might help more people use protection during oral sex? (n = 855) | ||||
| Better educationb | 459 (53.7) | 293 (58.3) | 129 (45.4) | “It may help to have some more education about the consequences of oral sex without protection.” |
| Normalization | 163 (19.1) | 103 (20.5) | 45 (15.9) | “Make it normalized in media (television, porn, etc.) and make condoms and other forms of protection taste and feel better” |
| Access/cost | 128 (15.0) | 75 (14.9) | 37 (13.0) | “Lowering the price of condoms” |
| More options | 90 (10.5) | 48 (9.5) | 34 (12.0) | “Making it more available” |