The term ‘heavy petting’ was once in common use but it is so ambiguous that it is meaningless. It is supposed to mean any sexual activity up to but not including the penis crossing the entrance of the vagina. Unfortunately, without more detailed information it could be taken to mean kissing with
your mouth open, touching your partner’s genitals with your hands or even massaging each other without your clothes on none of which will result in pregnancy. ‘Heavy petting.’ It sounds so serious! When you think of ‘heavy’ you think of cumbersome, unwieldy, bulky, awkward, clumsy. Now while this may be a very accurate description of the early grope sessions of adolescence, it does nothing to help young people work out safe and unsafe activities, or to improve the attractiveness of non-intercourse options. It is more useful to talk about ‘outercourse’, referring to a number of ways of satisfying your physical needs, even to the point of orgasm, without the disadvantages of intercourse.
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