Forty years ago, the Bark ran its first ever sex survey in 1974, one that delved into the shrouded sex life of teenagers. Among the topics discussed was that of condom use, and in the most recent survey, 55.8 percent of Redwood teens who have had sex reported using condoms during intercourse.
In a 2014 Bark survey that asked about Redwood students’ sexual habits, 28.9 percent reported having had sex at least once.
This is in keeping with past data when compared to numbers from a survey done by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Survey of Family Growth done in 2010, in which 42 percent of teenagers (ages 15-19) reported having had sex at least once.
Overall, the number of teens (of both genders) who reported using condoms has increased gradually over the years, with 47 percent in 1974, 31 percent in 1982, 53 percent in 1985, 57 percent in 2003, and 55 percent in 2014.
In the January Bark survey, 66.7 percent of students reported using at least some sort of protection when having sex, the most common of which was condoms at 55 percent. According to Social Issues teacher Jon Hirsch, this is probably due to its accessibility and easy use.
“It’s the easiest to access, it’s the most portable, it lasts the longest, and it can be spontaneous,” Hirsch said. “The birth control pill, the ring, the hormonal birth control methods have to be well planned, and the condom doesn’t,” he said.
According to the CDC, condoms have an average failure rate of 18 percent when used correctly. However, there are still some who feel the desire not to wear any form of protection, despite the possibly life-altering consequences.
According to Hirsch, some teenagers shy away from condom use because it can detract from the feel and pleasure of intercourse.
“I think a lot of people who chose not to use a condom during intercourse do it because it feels different. Obviously most people have sex for the pleasure factor, and wearing a condom takes away from that a little bit,” Hirsch said.
According to Hirsch, many young men may choose not to use condoms because they don’t want to admit that they don’t know how.
“Even as far as gender equality has come in society, there’s still some idea that males are supposed to have some degree of sexual prowess instinctively, even if they’re sexually inexperienced. Of course, that makes no sense, because sex is something that you get better at through experience. I think most women would say, if you surveyed them, that they would appreciate it if a guy used a condom, and that they wouldn’t hold it against the guy if he didn’t necessarily know how to use it.”
Hirsch added that his demonstration of how to put on a condom has shown him how sexual norms have changed over the years, leading to some people not wearing condoms during sex.
“During Social Issues, I do a demonstration of how to put on a condom on [plastic phallus], and then I let people come up to the front of the room and demonstrate how to put it on [the plastic phallus], and surprisingly enough, three times more girls than guys come up to try it, even though it should be the opposite. And it creates a self-perpetuating cycle, they don’t learn how to use it, so they don’t use it, and then they never learn how to use it,” Hirsch said. “Obviously girls have more to lose, like ‘You’re going to put this on and if you don’t do it, I’m going to do it for you.’”
Spontaneous sexual situations also lower the chance that a teen will use a condom, according to Hirsch.
“Hookups tend to be spontaneous, and from what my students tell me, a lot of hookups tend to be under the influence of alcohol, which obviously compromises judgment,” Hirsch said. “I would have to think that putting those two things together and adding the cultural situations in which hookups occur, I would have to say that the chances that one uses a condom are significantly lower,” Hirsch said.
