Statistics

Sources for statistics used in “Love or Lust?”

SEXUAL ACTIVITY RATES

• Teen sexual activity rates have declined significantly, and now the majority of high school students are virgins. Centers for Disease Control, “Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance – United States, 2013,” Centers for Disease Control, “Sexual and Reproductive Health of Persons Aged 10-24 Years — United States, 2002-2007,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 58:SS-6 (July 17, 2009): Table 26.
• Between 1991 and 2005, the sexual activity rate of high school boys dropped twice as quickly as that of high school girls. Centers for Disease Control, “Trends in HIV-Related Behaviors Among High School Students – United States 1991-2005,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly 55:31 (August 11, 2006): 851-854.
• Among those who have already lost their virginity, two-thirds of them wished they had waited longer to have sex (77 percent of girls and 60 percent of boys).National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, “America’s Adults and Teens Sound Off About Teen Pregnancy: An Annual National Survey,” (December 16, 2003), 17.

BENEFITS OF CHASTITY

• When a man is married as a virgin, his divorce rate is 63 percent lower than a non-virgin. For women, it’s 76 percent lower. Edward O. Laumann, et al., The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 503.
• The younger a girl is when she becomes sexually active, the more likely she is to experience multiple sexual partners, STDs, out of wedlock pregnancies, depression, abortion, and poverty. Heritage Foundation, “The Harmful Effects of Early Sexual Activity and Multiple Sexual Partners Among Women: A Book of Charts.”
• The odds of divorce are lowest with zero or one premarital partners. Counterintuitive Trends in the Link Between Premarital Sex and Marital Stability

STDs

• Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common STD. Division of STD Prevention “Prevention of Genital HPV Infection and Sequelae: Report of an External Consultants’ Meeting,” Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (December 1999): 1.
• HPV causes 99.7 percent of cervical cancer. So, with each sexual partner a woman has, her risk of cervical cancer increases. Cf. J. M. Walboomers, et al.,“Human Papillomavirus Is a Necessary Cause of Invasive Cervical Cancer Worldwide,” Journal of Pathology 189:1 (September, 1999): 12-19.
• While condom use may reduce the risk of HPV-related diseases, it doesn’t adequately protect individuals from HPV, because the virus is spread from skin-to-skin contact throughout the entire genital area, including one’s thighs and lower abdomen. National Institutes of Health, “Scientific Evidence on Condom Effectiveness for Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Prevention,” (June, 2000), 26; House of Representatives “Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act of 1999,” November 22, 1999.
• The majority of sexually active women have been infected with one or more types of genital HPV. Centers for Disease Control, Division of STD Prevention,“Prevention of Genital HPV Infection and Sequelae: Report of an External Consultants’ Meeting,” 7.
• A teenage girl’s risk of acquiring HPV from her first sexual relationship is 46%. Collins, et al., “High incidence of cervical human papillomavirus infection in women during their first sexual relationship,” BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology 109:1 (January, 2002): 96-98.
• Through sexual contact with one person, you could be exposing yourself to the STDs of hundreds of people. Bearman, et al., “Chains of Affection: The Structure of Adolescent Romantic and Sexual Networks,” American Journal of Sociology 110:1 (2004): 44-91. See Chart. See Map.
• Oral sex can transmit STDs. Centers for Disease Control, “Oral Sex and HIV Risk,” 2013; Centers for Disease Control,“Transmission of Primary and Secondary Syphilis by Oral Sex — Chicago, Illinois, 1998-2002,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 51:41 (October 22, 2004): 966-968.
• Hand-to-genital contact can transmit some STDs. C. Sonnex, et al., “Detection of Human Papillomavirus DNA on the Fingers of Patients with Genital Warts,”Sexually Transmitted Infections 75 (1999): 317?319; Winer, et al., “Genital Human Papillomavirus Infection: Incidence and Risk Factors in a Cohort of Female University Students,” American Journal of Epidemiology 157:3 (2003): 218-226; Tabrizi, et al., “Prevalence of Gardnerella vaginalis and Atopobium vaginae in virginal women,” Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 33:11 (November, 2006): 663-665.
• Even virgins can get STDs, including oral cancer from HPV. Ley, et al., “Determinants of Genital Human Papillomavirus Infection in Young Women,” Journal of the National Cancer Institute 83:14 (July, 1991): 997-1003; Hammarstedt, et al., “Human papillomavirus as a risk factor for the increase in incidence of tonsillar cancer,” International Journal of Cancer 119:11 (December, 2006): 2620-2623.
• Eighty-five percent of women (and 40 percent of men) who are infected with Chlamydia don’t show symptoms after they contract it. T. R. Eng and W. T. Butler,The Hidden Epidemic: Confronting Sexually Transmitted Diseases (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1997), 36.
• HPV will usually clear on its own. But when a husband is infected with it, his wife is five times as likely to get cervical cancer. Bosch, et al., “Male Sexual Behavior and Human Papillomavirus DNA: Key Risk Factors for Cervical Cancer in Spain,” Journal of the National Cancer Institute 88:15 (August, 1996): 1060-1067.

BIRTH CONTROL

• The birth control pill increases a woman’s chance of having breast cancer, cervical cancer, and liver cancer. Chris Kahlenborn, MD, et al., “Oral Contraceptive Use as a Risk Factor for Premenopausal Breast Cancer: A Meta-analysis,” Mayo Clinic Proceedings 81:10 (October, 2006): 1290-1302; Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer, “Breast cancer and hormonal contraceptives: collaborative reanalysis of individual data on 53,297 women with breast cancer and 100,239 women without breast cancer from 54 epidemiological studies,” Lancet 347 (June, 1996): 1713-1727; World Health Organization, “IARC Monographs Programme Finds Combined Estrogen-Progestogen Contraceptives and Menopausal Therapy are Carcinogenic to Humans,” International Agency for Research on Cancer, Press Release 167 (July 29, 2005); Smith, et al., “Cervical cancer and use of hormonal contraceptives: A systematic review,”Lancet 361 (2003):1159?1167; La Vecchia, “Oral contraceptives and cancer,” Minerva Ginecologica 58:3 (June, 2006): 209-214.
• Depo-Provera (aka: the shot) interferes with a woman’s immune system, making her more likely to contract chlamydia and gonorrhea. Morrison, et al.,“Hormonal Contraceptive Use, Cervical Ectopy, and the Acquisition of Cervical Infections,” Sexually Transmitted Diseases 31:9 (September, 2004): 561?567.
• The makers of the Shot (Pfizer Pharmaceuticals) have been sued for 700 million dollars because the drug thins out a woman’s bones. This is especially worrisome for young women, because the teenage years are a critical time for bone development. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “Black Box Warning Added Concerning Long-Term Use of Depo-Provera Contraceptive Injection,” FDA Talk Paper (November 17, 2004).
• Because of its link to breast cancer, veterinarians stopped prescribing Depo-Provera for dogs. However, it’s still being given to women, and is sometimes injected into male sex offenders in order to kill their sex drive. “The Case Against Depo-Provera,” Multinational Monitor 6:2-3 (February/March, 1985); T.A. Kiersch, “Treatment of sex offenders with Depo-Provera,” The Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 18:2 (1990): 179-187; “Assembly Bill 3339, “An act to repeal and add Section 645 of the Penal Code, relating to crimes.” California State Senate, Amended August 20, 1996; 2005 California Penal Code, 645.
• Makers of the Birth Control Patch are being sued by at least 4000 women. Johnson and Johnson, SEC Filing, Annual Report for Period Ending 12/31/2006.