Rainbow Parties

• A rainbow party is the name for an alleged type of teen sexual meet-up that was feared to be popular in the United States during the early 2000s.
  
  

Definition

• Rainbow parties are allegedly gatherings in which boys receive multiple sessions of oral sex from girls, collecting a number of "rainbow" lipstick stains on their genitals, then comparing their results with their male friends.
  
  

Panic

• The panic surrounding the supposed rainbow party phenomenon began in 2003 when it was publicized on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
  
  

Novel

• Simon and Schuster commissioned Paul Ruditis to write a young adult novel about the subject, titled "Rainbow Party." The book brought controversy and was decried as "smut" by conservative pundit Michelle Malkin. The book was in fact written to discourage the behavior and contained no depictions of rainbow parties.
  
  

Expert Insight

• In 2005, Dr. Deborah Tolman, who directs the Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality at San Francisco State University, reported that "rainbow parties" were most likely more of an urban legend than a real occurrence.