Technically a virgin? Teens feel oral sex doesn't lead to virginity loss: Study

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The concept of "technical virginity" or sexual abstinence through the means of oral sex or fellatio is popular among teenagers around the world, say researchers.

Adolescent girls commonly engage in oral sex with their boyfriends to preserve their virginity and avoid pregnancy. In fact, an earlier study conducted by a medical body in the United States defined this practice after examining a older study conducted across 29 US states observing sexual behaviour of 599 college students. They found that 60 per cent of them felt that oral-genital contant through sexual acts like fellatio or cunnilingus did not consider it as actual sexual intercourse.

This mentality is not just confined to heterosexual couples. Recent studies revealed that some gay males regard penile-anal penetration as resulting in loss of virginity, but not oral sex or non-penetrative sex, and lesbians may regard oral sex or fingering (the act of stimulating the vagina with fingers) as loss of virginity. But, due to the traditional view is that virginity is only lost through vaginal penetration by the penis, members of the LGBT community assert that the term virginity is meaningless to them.

Furthermore, in light of recent researches conducted to determine of the correlation of virginity loss in the case of sexual assualt, which is non-consensual, findings show that a person losing his/her virginity as a result of forced sexual intercourse or rape has been subjected to controversy and debate with many holding the view that virginity can only be lost through consensual sex.

So, as per the studies and surveys conducted over the years, many people still hold the view that sexual acts like oral sex, anal sex, mutual masturbation or other forms of non-penetrative sex do not result in loss of virginity.

But, is being a virgin 'technically' just a myth?
A reputed international research institute has however revealed contradictory findings. Although the team concluded that despite a widespread belief among teenagers that non-penetrative sexual practices can enable them to stay sexually active while still "technically" remaining virgins, this supposed substitution of oral sex for vaginal sex is largely a myth.