# Are these statistics correct? (Teen Sex)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-statistics-correct-teen-sex/191397
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 28, 2003, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-statistics-correct-teen-sex/191397 "2003-07-28T08:16:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Homer\_J.Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homer_J.Simpson)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2003, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-statistics-correct-teen-sex/191397/1 "2003-07-28T08:16:36Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Consider these statistics:
>
> Almost half of all students in grades nine through twelve have had sex.
> Half of all girls are likely to be infected with an STD during their first sexual experience.
> Nearly one in four of sexually active teens have an STD.
> Teens will contract nearly one in four of the 15 million new cases of STDs this year.
> Teens make up 10% of the population but contract up to 25% of all STDs.
> Herpes (specifically herpes simplex type 2 or “genital herpes”) has skyrocketed 500% among white teenagers in the last 20 years.
> One in five children above age twelve tests positive for herpes type 2.
> One in ten teenage girls has chlamydia, and half of all new chlamydia cases each year are diagnosed in girls 15 to 19 years old.
[http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles/JacobseTeenSex.htm](http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles/JacobseTeenSex.htm)
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### Author:  [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2003, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-statistics-correct-teen-sex/191397/2 "2003-07-28T10:17:12Z")
I don’t know, but it sounds like Xian B.S. to me. Frightening if it is accurate…
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-statistics-correct-teen-sex/191397/3 "2003-07-28T13:31:18Z")
These two stats:
> [@](#):
>
> Half of all girls are likely to be infected with an STD during their first sexual experience.
> Nearly one in four of sexually active teens have an STD.
when taken together means one of the below:
– #1 is meaningless. What did the quote mean by “likely”.
– #1 and #2 are contradictory. (1 in 4 has an STD, but 1 in 2 girls get an STD from one experience??)
– Both are correct and meaningful. All females get an STD, but none of the males do, making both stats correct.
In other words, these statistics make little sense.
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-statistics-correct-teen-sex/191397/4 "2003-07-28T14:56:14Z")
What was the percentage of teens that told the turth about their sexuality?
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### Author:  [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2003, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-statistics-correct-teen-sex/191397/5 "2003-07-28T17:47:52Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Teens will contract nearly one in four of the 15 million new cases of STDs this year.
> Teens make up 10% of the population but contract up to 25% of all STDs.
The second one is is merely rewording the first.
In other words, **Ludovic** is right.
I’m disinclined to believe them, as neither their rendundancy and the fact that they came from an orthodox Christian\* website screams “reliable” at me.
Another posibility: did it say anywhere that these statistics were for American teens? For all I know they could be completely true when discussing Rwandan teens.
\*I’m not trying to imply that Christians are unreliable or untrustworthy, merely that religious texts aren’t always the best place to look for sexual information.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_of\_Sandwhich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_of_Sandwhich)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2003, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-these-statistics-correct-teen-sex/191397/6 "2003-07-28T18:30:44Z")
Homer J. Simpson writes: “One in five children above age twelve tests positive for hepres type 2.”
The makers of the herpes drug Valtrex claim on their website that 60 million Americans have herpes. That’s about one in five. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention corroborate that figure.
So in other words, the teenagers condemned in the stats Homer J. brought up have about the same prevalence of herpes as the general population: far from comprising their very own category of sluts and monsters, teens are very much a part of the larger culture. They are influenced by, and ultimately reflect, the population at large.
Perhaps next time, instead of scapegoating teens, the orthodoxytoday folks will look at STD’s as a problem that affects all of society.