Teen condom use is falling for a worrying reason: expert

A sexual health expert has revealed the worrying reason teenagers aren’t using condoms.

According to studies, condom use among sexually active adolescents has decreased significantly over the past decade.

Just last year, the World Health Organization issued a warning about an “alarming decline” in condom use among young people that is expected to lead to a long list of consequences, including higher rates of STIs and increased of health care costs.

The alarm came after researchers found that almost a third of 15-year-olds (30%) reported not using a condom or birth control pills the last time they were sexually active.

If they used a form of contraception, they were less likely to use a condom than the pill.

Experts explained that lack of sex education and reduced access to contraceptive methods are to blame for the disturbing trend.

However, a sex educator has now argued that porn and OnlyFans also appear to be influencing teenagers not to use condoms when having sex.

YMCA sexual health educator Sarah Peart told the BBC that some boys were not using condoms “because they’re not seeing that in porn” and noted that “OnlyFans sometimes comes up as an element of that”.

“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 the education,” Peart said.

Prophylaxis proposed that young women are being “targeted on social media” by ads for period tracking apps designed to avoid unwanted pregnancies, as well as those promoting “natural family planning” – tracking one’s fertility cycle to determine when you are most likely to conceive.

The expert warned that these methods are not always reliable, “especially at that age when menstruation is probably not regular and young people do not tend to be more strict in keeping records.”

“It’s such a difficult hurdle to convince young people that birth control is not enough and that you need to protect yourself from STIs (sexually transmitted infections),” Peart said.

The issue isn’t just growing among teenagers, according to US health officials, who have warned that the rise in life-threatening sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is “out of control” as people of all ages ditch condoms.

“People are using condoms less and less,” Dr. Nima Majlesi, Director of Medical Toxicology at Staten Island University Hospital.

Majlesi said public health messages have “de-emphasized” the importance of safe sex in recent years.