They Move, They Talk, They Answer Your Questions: They're...Scarleteen on Instagram!

Scarleteen will soon be doing video questions and answers on our Instagram!

As so many of us are social distancing, self-isolating or in quarantine, a lot of people are missing out⁠ (out: Short for ‘out of the closet’. When someone’s LGBTQ+ identity is known to other people.) on in-person sex⁠ (sex: Different things people choose to do to actively express or enact sexuality and sexual feelings; often this involves genitals, but not always. ) education. Most of what we do is usually online, but we do some in-person outreach (that we aren't right now) and we're always looking for new ways to bring our brand of thoughtful, accurate, inclusive and made-for-the-real-world -- even when the real world changes radically in really crummy ways -- sex education to people online.

Truth: our team could all also do with a few minutes of shiny new distraction from the stress of current events.

Here's the plan! Each week we'll post a story on our Instagram announcing a theme for that week's videos, so if you don't already follow us on Insta, you'll want to do that first. Followers will be able to submit any questions they have around that topic. Then, a member of our amazing team will answer those questions in a series of short, informative videos that we share on our stories.

Here are just a few of the topics you can expect us to cover:

• Masturbation
• Managing long-distance relationships
• Sexual health, including what safer sex⁠ (safer sex: Practices which aim to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted infections, such as use of latex/nonlatex barriers, regular testing for infections and limiting the number of sexual partners.) looks like right now
• Dealing with your feelings (and also other people's feelings) right now
• Talking about sex or other kinds of intimacy with partners
• Intimacy and sex online, and how to manage and make decisions about those
• Impacts of the racism⁠ (racism: Prejudice, discrimination and oppression based on race/ethnicity or perceived or assigned race/ethnicity.) and ableism⁠ (ableism: The false belief that able-bodied people are what’s normal or superior.) that have been part of the pandemic
• Being home with family
• Sexual identity⁠ (identity: The defining character or personality of an individual; who we feel like we are as a person.)
• And more: it's really up to you.

Because everyone could use a little extra joy, and also because we are obsessed with them, our videos will often feature very special, furry, adorable guests, including:

• Hagrid the Rabbit, who once stole a demo condom⁠ (condom: A thin sheath or tube of latex or another material, worn over the penis during sex to prevent or reduce the risk of pregnancy and/or sexually transmitted infections.) from me while I was packing up for an outreach program. Silly rabbit.
• Malone the Hound, who would like everyone to remember that consent⁠ (consent: To freely and actively agree to do a specific thing with someone else with all the information about what that thing is, and the right to change your mind.) is important in non- sexual⁠ (sexual: About or relating in some way to sex or sexuality.) situations. Like asking for permission before trying to pet him.
• Troublepants the Dog, some of whose various shenanigans have been recounted on this site before.

Keep your eyes peeled for our first post in this series, and if you have questions you want to give us, please ask them! If you don't, you can also share the opportunity with friends, partners, or other people who might have questions of their own.