While it's nice of Mr. Saletan to respond to reader comments on his article on the study about oral sex, I feel he still missed some of the leading points made by myself and others. These are:

1) The current generation of teens and people in their twenties is so divorced from historical knowledge of how oral sex may have been seen back in the day it makes no difference in our view of oral sex. It simply doesn't matter what a historian says about how oral sex was viewed in the 1950s or the 1850s or under the rule of Catherine the Great to us. We don't consider this.

2) Who are Slate readers? The tenor of many articles here—and many I much enjoy—seems geared for educated young professionals in their twenties and early thirties. How many of these people really have teenage kids already? The tenor of Mr. Saletan's piece on oral sex however seemed more geared for the type of readership Time Magazine would have. What can we learn about oral sex from youngsters? Ummmm . . . we're young, man, so we don't need to learn anything really. That's like saying "what can the Pope learn about the Church from a bishop?". Many of my friends read the Slate and none have kids over the age of ten.

3) The article and most of the comments in response were biased towards heterosexual relationships and, like many many studies and articles before it, missed the large demographic of homosexuals engaging in oral sex. I feel this was a great oversight.

I just read this article in Slate and I have teenage kids. And by some weird coincidence, I just wrote an e-mail to a younger friend about how mores have changed, and how back in my day oral was something slightly kinky you might do with someone you were already having "normal" sex with. It's my opinion that AIDS made oral more popular, as it got a lot of publicity as being "safer" sex - and of course, it's a lot "safer" than vaginal sex to avoid pregnancy, too. But I agree with you that the history of sexual practices is neither necessary nor sufficient content in talking with your kids about sex. I don't recall if it came up - probably not, as I figure they can work out the mechanics on their own. That's NOT what parents are for.

TheCloudBoy makes a valid observation relating to homosexual oral sex. However, I fear that parents who are unable to accept their child as being gay in the first place (as is still so oft the case) would be able to sit their little'n down and discuss little johnny being blown by little barry. Talk about stigma...

Just make sure they wash their hands after using the bathroom.