Women's Negotiation of Cunnilingus in College Hookups and Relationships (Report‪)‬

The National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior (NSSHB), a probability survey of American sexual behavior released in October 2010, found that 59% of 18- to 19-year-old men had received oral sex from a woman and 61% had given oral sex to a woman. The NSSHB also reported that 62% of 18- to 19-year-old women had received oral sex from a man, and 61% had performed oral sex on a man (Herbenick et al., 2010). (1) Other recent studies have also found that more than one half of American adolescents reported either receiving or performing oral sex (Leichliter, Chandra, Liddon, Fenton, & Aral, 2007; Mosher, Chandra, & Jones, 2005). This behavior reflects a sharp rise from mid-century findings that 17% of female adolescents had performed fellatio and 11% of males had performed cunnilingus (Kinsey, Pomeroy, Martin, & Gebhard, 1953). Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, and Michaels (1994) described the incidence and frequency of fellatio and cunnilingus as the most "basic change in the script for sex between women and men" (p. 102) to take place over the course of the 20th century. A rise in oral sex is not the only change in sexual scripts to occur over the past 50 years. The United States has also seen a diversification in the types of relationships in which sex occurs. The adoption of oral sex by young people over the past century coincided with the development of greater acceptance of sex outside of marriage and outside of relationships (Gagnon & Simon, 1987; Laumann et al., 1994). In the last few years, there has been increasing interest in scholars in the practice of "hooking up," which, following the lead of young people, scholars have defined as sexual activity, ranging from a kiss to intercourse, occurring outside of an exclusive relationship (Bogle, 2008; England, Shafer, & Fogarty, 2007; Manning, Giordano, & Longmore, 2006; Owen, Rhoades, Stanley, & Fincham, 2010; Paul, McManus, & Hayes, 2000). This scholarship sometimes exaggerates the novelty of casual sex among American adolescents. Indeed, the largest behavioral change occurred with the Baby Boom cohort: Rates of premarital intercourse are roughly the same for all cohorts born after 1948 (Finer, 2007). Yet, the meanings of casual sex for young people have continued to evolve in the post-sexual revolution era. Casual sex has become more normative, and new types of relationships (e.g., "friends with benefits") continue to emerge (Armstrong, Hamilton, & England, 2010).