Teens in a 'Sexplosion'? Or Is It All Just Talk?

"This wasn't an isolated incident," said lead defense attorney Joseph G. Cavallo. "We feel the jury will understand this behavior didn't just exist on this particular night, but exists among teenagers across the country."

But psychologists, school counselors and teens themselves say otherwise.

And at least one long-running scientific survey backs them up, showing that high school students are less likely to say they have had sex, unconventional or otherwise, than they were a decade ago.

Among teens, "talk is bigger than actual action," said Newport-Mesa School District counselor Laurie Rybaczyk.

To be sure, popular culture offers plenty of evidence to support the defense contention: Provocative images of teen sex are common. Youth clothier Abercrombie & Fitch depicted naked young people in its 2003 Christmas catalog in a layout labeled "Group Sex."

Designer clothes bearing "Pornstar" logos are hip among high school girls. Teen heartthrob Britney Spears sings of masturbation in "Touch of My Hand."

But images are one thing, teens say -- reality is something else.

"I want guys to notice me," said one 17-year-old girl shopping last week at South Coast Plaza -- wearing shoes sporting the Playboy logo. "But I don't want guys to look at me and think, 'Hey, I wonder how long it will take to get her in bed.' "

Issue Raised Early

The issue came up early in the Orange County trial. Defense lawyers argue the girl was a willing participant in unconventional sexual behavior that they contend has become popular among teens.

The jury will be asked to determine the guilt or innocence of three teens: Gregory Scott Haidl, the 18-year-old son of Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, along with Kyle Joseph Nachreiner and Keith James Spann, both 19.

Each faces up to 55 years in prison if convicted of raping the then-16-year-old girl and sexually assaulting her with a pool cue, a Snapple bottle and a lighted cigarette in Don Haidl's Corona del Mar home.

Prosecutors say the boys drugged the girl unconscious, but defense lawyers believe the girl feigned blacking out and was awake the whole time -- as if she were an actress in a kinky sex scene.