Although a recent study reported last month that the rate of teenage sexual activity has leveled off for the first time since the 1950s, teens at Roosevelt High School on Fordham Road say that sex is still going strong.
"They constantly talk about sex," said Shacoya Young, 17, a junior, about her fellow students. "They say how they perform and how they enjoy it."
And while she said not everyone is having sex, she guessed that about 80 percent of the school's students are sexually active.
Many of her girlfriends began having sex at 13, she said. Young said she first had sex at 16, but right now she's abstaining. "It gets in the way of your schoolwork," she said.
Fifteen-year-old David Hall said most kids begin having sex once they're in high school. Hall admitted, however, that he and many of his friends were still not sexually active.
He said he thought 18 or 20 was the right age to begin having sex, because then "you're an adult. You can handle it."
According to the study, conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 53 percent of high school students nationwide are now sexually active. At Roosevelt High School the percentage may be higher, according to Lori Sukenik-Kursun, the clinic manager at the school's health center. Roughly three-quarters of the students she sees at the center are sexually active, she said.
"Just because it's not on the rise doesn't mean it's not happening," she said.
Many students made their sexual debut before they entered high school, and at least 100 of the school's approximately 3,500 students have children, Sukenik-Kursun said. Having children, she said, is one of the few things many of them think they can do successfully.
Most of the girls "are having sex because their boyfriends want them to," she said, "but you'd be surprised at how many want to have babies and who are unhappy when they get a negative pregnancy test."
The study also reported that more teens are using condoms. While 46 percent of all sexually active teens said they used condoms in 1991, almost 53 percent said they did in 1993.
The increase in condom use is particularly marked among blacks and Hispanics, who make up most of the South Bronx high school enrollment. Among blacks, the nationwide figure was up from 48 percent to 56.5 percent, and among Hispanics, the percentage increased from 37.6 to 46.1.
"My general feeling is that condoms are being used, but not consistently, and they're not being used across the board," said Debora Campbell, a clinic social worker at Planned Parenthood in the borough. "But a good amount of people are using them, so there's hope," she added.
"We push condoms here," Sukenik-Kursun said about Roosevelt's health center. "Every time they visit, I ask if they are sexually active, and I always suggest they use condoms."
But Sukenik-Kursun has evidence that not everyone is getting the message. She said she spends every Wednesday performing gynecological exams on female students, and discovers sexually transmitted diseases among half the patients.
"Some of the girls are so mature and so well-read, and some just don't have a clue," she said.