The Teenage Body: How Young Women Are Reimagining What It Means to be a Teenager
In the wake of the Columbine shootings in 1999, a wave of feminist-inspired activism has re-examined the social dynamics of young women’s bodies, and has come to the startling conclusion that their bodies aren’t their own.
Now, a new study finds that teenage girls have a greater capacity for pleasure than their male peers.
The results were published in the March 25 issue of the journal Sex Roles.
In the study, which involved more than 1,200 teenagers, participants answered a series of questions about their bodies and their bodies’ interactions with other people.
Participants also were asked to rate how much pleasure they felt each day on a scale from 1 to 5.
The researchers found that the average age at which teenagers began sexual activity was 13.2, with an average of 16.2 per week.
The average number of sexual partners was 7.9, and the average number per week was 13, which was above the national average.
The study found that among teens who reported having sex more than once a week, the average sex experience was 3.6 times per week and the frequency of intercourse was 5.1 times per month.
“For young women, sexual satisfaction is high, but it is not a universal experience,” said study lead author Lauren K. Binder, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.
“There is a difference in sexual satisfaction between young men and young women.
These differences may be related to the specific contexts of their lives and experiences, and that might have an impact on the way they experience sexual pleasure.”
While the findings suggest that teenagers have an increased capacity for sexual pleasure, it doesn’t mean they’re ready to have sex as often as they used to.
“We need to look at the context of sexual pleasure and understand how it is related to how the body experiences pleasure,” Binder said.
“If you’re sexually active, you may be more satisfied than before.
That anxiety is one of the reasons the researchers looked at how teenagers’ sexual activity changed as they matured. “
If there’s an expectation that sex is always a ‘once-a-week’ experience, then people are more likely to feel anxious about getting it in a timely manner,” Binders said.
That anxiety is one of the reasons the researchers looked at how teenagers’ sexual activity changed as they matured.
“Teenagers were asked about their sexual experience before they became sexually active and then again after they had sex,” Besser said.
Teenagers’ sexual behavior did not change significantly as they aged.
But as they began having more sexual partners, their sexual satisfaction increased.
“When teens were in their early 20s, they were less likely to have intercourse, but after their first sex experience, they felt more sexually satisfied,” Besson said.
It was clear that, at the same time, teenagers’ bodies were changing as they got older.
“Their sexual pleasure was increasing as they grew older, but their sexual activity did not,” Bresser said, adding that it was unclear how this effect of sexual experience on sexual satisfaction differed across age groups.
“It’s possible that sexual activity has a stronger impact in teens when they are sexually active,” she said.
This study suggests that teenage women are able to experience pleasure differently than their peers because of how their bodies work, Binder noted.
While the study is only a preliminary look at sexual satisfaction among teens, Besson and her colleagues hope to see more longitudinal research that looks at the effects of sexual activity and sexuality on teenage women’s mental health.
Besson is also investigating whether these changes in sexual activity might help teens manage anxiety or depression.
“Some of these changes might also be helpful for treating anxiety disorders,” Bresch said.
The findings come as the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the number of Americans ages 18 to 29 increased from 27.2 million in 2010 to 31.4 million in 2019.