Situationships. 91裸聊视频淪neaky links.91裸聊视频� The 91裸聊视频渢alking stage,91裸聊视频� the flirtatious getting-to-know-you phase 91裸聊视频� typically done via text 91裸聊视频� that can lead to a hookup.

High school students are . That91裸聊视频檚 what the studies say. But that doesn91裸聊视频檛 mean they91裸聊视频檙e having less sex.

The language of young love and lust, and the actions behind it, are evolving. And the shift is not being adequately captured in national studies, experts say.

For years, studies have shown a decline in the rates of American high school students having sex. That trend continued, not surprisingly, in the first years of the pandemic, according to a by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study found that 30% of teens in 2021 said they had ever had sex, down from 38% in 2019 and a huge drop from three decades ago, when more than half of teens reported having sex.

The Associated Press took the findings to teenagers and experts around the country to ask for their interpretation. Parents: Some of the answers may surprise you.

THE MEANING OF SEX: DEPENDS WHO YOU ASK

For starters, what is the definition of sex?

91裸聊视频淗mm. That91裸聊视频檚 a good question,91裸聊视频� says Rose, 17, a junior at a New England high school.

She thought about it for 20 seconds, then listed a range of possibilities for heterosexual sex, oral sex and relations between same-sex or LGBTQ partners. On her campus, short-term hookups 91裸聊视频� known as 91裸聊视频渟ituationships91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频� are typically low commitment and high risk from both health and emotional perspectives.

There are also 91裸聊视频渟neaky links91裸聊视频� 91裸聊视频� when you hook up in secret and don91裸聊视频檛 tell your friends. 91裸聊视频淚 have a feeling a lot more people are quote unquote having sex 91裸聊视频� just not necessarily between a man and a woman.91裸聊视频�

For teens today, the conversation about sexuality is moving from a binary situation to a spectrum and so are the kinds of sex people are having. And while the vocabulary around sex is shifting, the main question on the CDC survey has been worded the same way since the government agency began its biannual study in 1991: Have you 91裸聊视频渆ver had sexual intercourse?91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频淗onestly, that question is a little laughable,91裸聊视频� says Kay, 18, who identifies as queer and attends a public high school near Lansing, Michigan. 91裸聊视频淭here91裸聊视频檚 probably a lot of teenagers who are like, 91裸聊视频楴o, I91裸聊视频檝e never had sexual intercourse, but I91裸聊视频檝e had other kinds of sex.91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频�

The AP agreed to use teenagers91裸聊视频� first or middle names for this article because of a common concern they expressed about backlash at school, at home and on social media for speaking about their peers91裸聊视频� sex lives and LGBTQ+ relations.

SEXUAL IDENTITY IS EVOLVING

Several experts say the CDC findings could signal a shift in how teen sexuality is evolving, with gender fluidity becoming more common along with a decrease in stigma about identifying as not heterosexual.

They point to another finding in this year91裸聊视频檚 study that found the proportion of high school kids who identify as heterosexual dropped to about 75%, down from about 89% in 2015, when the CDC began asking about sexual orientation. Meanwhile, the share who identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual rose to 15%, up from 8% in 2015.

91裸聊视频淚 just wonder, if youth were in the room when the questions were being created, how they would be worded differently,91裸聊视频� said Taryn Gal, executive director of the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health.

Sex is just one of the topics covered by the CDC study, called . One of the main sources of national data about high school students on a range of behaviors, it is conducted every two years and asks about 100 questions on topics including smoking, drinking, drug use, bullying, carrying guns and sex. More than 17,000 students at 152 public and private high schools across the country responded to the 2021 survey.

91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 a fine line we have to try to walk,91裸聊视频� says Kathleen Ethier, director of the CDC91裸聊视频檚 Division of Adolescent and School Health, which leads the study.

From a methodological standpoint, changing a question would make it harder to compare trends over time. The goal is to take a national snapshot of teenage behavior, with the understanding that questions might not capture all the nuance. 91裸聊视频淚t doesn91裸聊视频檛 allow us to go as in depth in some areas as we would like,91裸聊视频� Ethier says.

The national survey, for example, does not ask about oral sex, which carries the risk of spreading sexually transmitted infections. As for 91裸聊视频渟exual intercourse,91裸聊视频� Ethier says, 91裸聊视频淲e try to use a term that we know young people understand, realizing that it may not encompass all the ways young people would define sex.91裸聊视频�

IS LESS TEEN SEX GOOD NEWS?

Beyond semantics, there are a multitude of theories on why the reported rates of high school sex have steadily declined 91裸聊视频� and what it might say about American society.

91裸聊视频淚 imagine some parents are rejoicing and some are concerned, and I think there is probably good cause for both,91裸聊视频� says Sharon Hoover, co-director of the National Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland. Health officials like to see trends that result in fewer teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

91裸聊视频淏ut what we don91裸聊视频檛 know is what this means for the trajectory of young people,91裸聊视频� Hoover says.

This year91裸聊视频檚 decrease, the sharpest drop ever recorded, clearly , which kept kids isolated, cut off from friends and immersed in social media. Even when life started returning to normal, many kids felt uncomfortable with face-to-face interaction and found their skills in verbal communication had declined, Hoover said.

The survey was conducted in the fall of 2021, just as many K-12 students returned to in-person classrooms after .

Several teens interviewed said that when schools reopened, they returned with compounded by fears of catching COVID. That added a new layer to pre-pandemic concerns about sexual relations like getting pregnant or catching STIs.

91裸聊视频淚 remember thinking, 91裸聊视频榃hat if I get sick? What if I get a disease? What if I don91裸聊视频檛 have the people skills for this?91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频� said Kay, the 18-year-old from Michigan. 91裸聊视频淎ll those 91裸聊视频榳hat ifs91裸聊视频� definitely affected my personal relationships, and how I interacted with strangers or personal partners.91裸聊视频�

Another fear is the prying eyes of parents, says college student Abby Tow, who wonders if helicopter parenting has played a role in what she calls the 91裸聊视频渂aby-fication of our generation.91裸聊视频� A senior at the University of Oklahoma, Tow knows students in college whose parents monitor their whereabouts using tracking apps.

91裸聊视频淧arents would get push notifications when their students left dorms and returned home to dorms,91裸聊视频� says Tow, 22, majoring in social work and gender studies.

Tow also notices a 91裸聊视频済eneral sense of disillusionment91裸聊视频� in her generation. She cites statistics that fewer teenagers today are getting driver91裸聊视频檚 licenses. 91裸聊视频淚 think,91裸聊视频� she says, 91裸聊视频渢here is a correlation between students being able to drive and students having sex.91裸聊视频�

Another cause for declining sex rates could be easy access to online porn, experts say. By the age of 17, three-quarters of teenagers have viewed pornography online, with the average age of first exposure at 12, according to a report earlier this year by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit child advocacy group.

91裸聊视频淧orn is becoming sex ed for young people,91裸聊视频� says Justine Fonte, a New York-based sex education teacher. She says pornography shapes and skews adolescent ideas about sexual acts, power and intimacy. 91裸聊视频淵ou can rewind, fast forward, play as much as you want. It doesn91裸聊视频檛 require you to think about how the person is feeling.91裸聊视频�

IS THERE AN EVOLVING DEFINITION OF CONSENT?

Several experts said they hoped the decline could be partly attributed to a broader understanding of consent and an increase in 91裸聊视频渃omprehensive91裸聊视频� sex education being taught in many schools, which has become a target in ongoing culture wars.

Unlike abstinence-only programs, the lessons include discussion on understanding healthy relationships, gender identity, sexual orientation and preventing unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Contrary to what critics think, she said, young people are more likely to delay the onset of sexual activity if they have access to sex education.

Some schools and organizations supplement sex education with peer counseling, where teens are trained to speak to each other about relationships and other topics that young people might feel uncomfortable raising with adults.

Annika, 14, is a peer ambassador trained by Planned Parenthood and a high school freshman in Southern California. She91裸聊视频檚 offered guidance to friends in toxic relationships and worries about the ubiquity of porn among her peers, especially male friends. It91裸聊视频檚 clear to her that the pandemic stunted sex lives.

The CDC91裸聊视频檚 2023 survey, which is currently underway, will show if the decline was temporary. Annika suspects it will show a spike. In her school, at least, students seem to be making up for lost time.

91裸聊视频淧eople lost those two years so they91裸聊视频檙e craving it more,91裸聊视频� she said. She has often been in a school bathroom where couples in stalls next to her are engaged in sexual activities.

Again, the definition of sex? 91裸聊视频淎ny sexual act,91裸聊视频� Annika says. 91裸聊视频淎nd sexual intercourse is one type of act.91裸聊视频�

To get a truly accurate reading of teen sexuality, the evolution of language needs to be taken into account, says Dr. John Santelli, a Columbia University professor who specializes in adolescent sexuality.

91裸聊视频淭he word intercourse used to have another meaning,91裸聊视频� he points out. 91裸聊视频淚ntercourse used to just mean talking.91裸聊视频�

91裸聊视频擩ocelyn Gecker, The Associated Press

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