Troubling reason for falling condom use among teens: Experts

A sexual health expert has revealed the disturbing reasons why teenagers are reluctant to use condoms.

Research shows condom use among sexually active teens has dropped significantly over the past decade.

Just last year, the World Health Organization warned of an “alarming decline” in condom use among teenagers, which it expected would lead to a range of consequences, including rising rates of sexually transmitted infections and higher health care costs.

It comes after researchers revealed that nearly a third (30%) of 15-year-olds said they neither used a condom nor took the pill the last time they had sex.

If they did use some form of birth control, they were less likely to use condoms than birth control pills.

Experts explain that a lack of sex education and reduced access to contraceptive methods are to blame for this troubling trend.

However, a sex educator now believes that pornography and OnlyFans also appear to be influencing teenagers to not use condoms during sex.

YMCA sexual health educator Sarah Peart told the BBC that some boys don’t use condoms “because they don’t see it in pornography”, noting that “OnlyFans do sometimes become part of it.”

“We try to educate young people to make their own healthy choices, and hopefully that includes not opening an OnlyFans account, but we can only provide education,” Peart said.

The precautionary advice notes that young women are also being “targeted on social media” through ads for period-tracking apps to avoid unwanted pregnancies, as well as those promoting “natural family planning” – which tracks a person’s reproductive cycle. to determine when you are pregnant. Most likely to be pregnant.

Experts warn that these methods are not always reliable, “especially at an age when menstruation is irregular, and younger people tend not to keep the most rigorous notes”.

“It’s a very difficult hurdle to convince young people that birth control is not enough and that you really need to protect yourself from STIs,” Peart said.

The problem isn’t just growing among teenagers, U.S. health officials say, as they have been warning that the rise in life-threatening sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is “out of control” as people of all ages abandon condoms.

“People are using condoms less and less frequently,” Dr. Nima Majlesi, director of medical toxicology at Staten Island University Hospital, previously told The Washington Post.

Majlesi said public health messaging has “downplayed” the importance of safe sex in recent years.