September 21, 2008 | Sex Life

Suck on this: Aussies embrace oral sex

Leading sexual health experts in Australia say their country is embracing oral sex unlike ever before.

"For young people it's an almost universal practice now, with 90 per cent trying it before the age of 30," said Basil Donovan, a professor of sexual health at the University of NSW. Among teenagers it's the new abstinence in the Clintonesque sense, because it's a way of having sex without having sex, and there are obvious contraceptive advantages too."

Heterosexuals have embraced the act as a way to spice up their sex lives, while both gays and straights see oral sex as a safer form of sexual expression with fewer risks for STIs.

But clean genitalia seems to be the number one reason for the change.

"I can't prove it but my theory is that when people only had a bath on Saturday night oral sex was a less attractive prospect," Donovan said. "The aesthetics changed when people started washing more often."

This shift took place in a single generation.

"Now it's a one year gap and in many groups the oral intercourse comes first, some times by a few years," Prof Donovan said. "That's a major shift from 80 years ago when it was entirely the work of sex workers and men were never going to get it at home."

There are still risks, of course. The risk of gonorrhea and herpes is still something all people, including gay men, need to consider.

Maybe we should send some of our oral experts over to help train them in providing the perfect blowjob. We've been doing it successfully for years, after all.