Sex party
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A sex party is a gathering at which people meet for sexual relations. Most are run by people who are either swingers or couples looking for group sex. The term has similar connotations to an orgy. A similar term often used by the media is "key party."
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[edit] Urban legend
Sex parties have been a common feature in urban legend. Such legends often claim the parties are prominent, or growing in prominence, among teenagers. Several of these stories arose in 2003; in New York, rumors began that teens had been taking days off from school to attend "hooky parties" while their parents were at work. One school suspended a group of girls for attending such a party and refused to allow them back until each had submitted to a medical examination for sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, and allowed school officials to examine the results. The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit against the school on behalf of the students.[1] A more specific and elaborate urban legend arose about "rainbow parties", at which teenage girls supposedly took turns fellating their classmates while wearing different shades of lipstick, thereby leaving a "rainbow" of colors on their penises. These gatherings were discussed on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2003 and remained a popular subject for several years, but were dismissed by others as baseless urban legends or moral panic. For instance, Deborah Tolman, director of the Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality at San Francisco State University said: "This 'phenomenon' has all the classic hallmarks of a moral panic… One day we have never heard of rainbow parties and then suddenly they are everywhere, feeding on adults' fears that morally bankrupt sexuality among younger teens is rampant, despite any actual evidence, as well as evidence to the contrary."[2] Similar stories concerning teenagers' gel bracelets being used as coupons for sex also arose at the time, with similar lack of corroborating evidence.[3]
The urban legends saw a resurgence in 2006. This time the gatherings were called "chicken parties", alleged group parties at which more than one woman engages in oral sex, or one woman gives oral sex to more than one man. Author Sabrina Weill was inspired to write her book The Real Truth About Teens and Sex after hearing about chicken parties when she was editor-in-chief of Seventeen magazine. She writes: "[First] there's a word or catchphrase that everyone starts using to describe [the new sexual trend] like "chicken parties". Then everyone's talking about it, which means probably 0.5 to 5 percent of teens are actually doing it."[4]
[edit] Notes
- ^ "NYCLU Sues New York School Officials for Forcing Teen-Age Girls to Undergo Intrusive Medical Exams" (July 8, 2003). aclu.org. Retrieved February 2, 2007.
- ^ From Lewin, Tamar (June 30, 2005). "Are These Parties for Real?" The New York Times. Retrieved February 17, 2007.
- ^ Mikkelson, Barbara (2003). "Sex Bracelets". snopes.com. Retrieved December 22, 2005.
- ^ Weill, The Real Truth About Teens and Sex, p. 41
[edit] References
- Primetime May 18, 2006 "What Parents Don't Know About Their Teen Daughters' Sex Lives" (part of "The Secret Life of Teens")
- Primetime, July 21, 2005
- Weill, Sabrina, The Real Truth About Teens and Sex: From Hooking Up to Friends with Benefits – What Teens Are Thinking, Doing, and Talking About, and How to Help Them Make Smart Choices
