Independent film maker Sharlene Azam's documentary with accompanying book - Oral Sex is the New Goodnight Kiss - investigates the sex lives of middle-class teen girls.

Anyone who associates teen sex of the wilder variety with drug-use and pimps hasn't been paying attention. Casual sex or even 'barter-sex' is part of the lifestyle of a percentage of middle-class teens for whom it is no biggie to offer oral sex for a favor or just cos some dude at a party looks cute and worthy enough.

Azam refers to girls as young as 11 who talk about having sex, going to sex parties and in some cases engaging in casual prostitution so they can purchase some needed item.

As one teen put it: "Five minutes and I got $100. If I'm going to sleep with them, anyway, because they're good-looking, might as well get paid for it, right?"

According to Azam these girls are all from "good homes" and in most cases the parents are completely unaware of what's going on.

Porn has had a major influence on teen culture. It informs everything from fashion to attitudes to song lyrics loaded with sexual innuendo. The sexting self-photo fad and racy images trafficked on the cellphone-express (some of them from last weekend's party) reflect the trend. Teens don't have to check into porn sites to be attuned to the porno sensibility.

Some teen girls are pragmatic about sex and seem able to compartmentalize it... at least if you buy what they have to say.

This for example:

"I mean, we're not looking for our future husbands... we have a lot of urges, I guess, that need to be taken care of. So if we resort to a casual thing, no strings attached, it's perfectly fine."

None of this is particularly new. What is new are the ways in which tech has impacted on teen culture and the ways in which information is processed.

A middle-class background like any other can have its own set of challenges. In a lot of cases parents and other guardians are absentee, either physically or just in terms of involvement in their kid's lives. At root where problems exist, it relates back to communication and support issues.

Azam, who has concerns about the teen sex she has been investigating says "we failed our girls" ... nonetheless the titillating title of her book and the cover plays up all the seductive teen lolita stereotypes. But then... gotta sell those books!