What counts as oral and is oral considered sex?

Mature but factual content alert. This was recently asked by someone and I told them that if they were wondering, it was very likely that others would be, too. So here’s the answer.

Things that are considered “oral” include anything where mouth encounters genitals. Here come some descriptive words... Mouth to penis, mouth to vagina, mouth to anus would all be “oral.” The benefits of oral are that there is no risk of pregnancy and you can still feel sexual pleasure. The down side of oral is that you can still catch STIs if you don’t use a condom or dental dam. (Check out the post from last week on what a dental dam is and how to make one from a condom!) Oral is considered a type of sex in that it is performed for sexual pleasure. However, vaginal penetration is where many people draw the “virginity” line. I think that is a personal distinction and will leave it up to you to define what virginity is. But yes, oral = oral sex.