Pregnancy Scared?

Worried you or a sexual partner might be pregnant? Evaluate your risk, find out what steps you may need to take next, check in with your feelings and by all means, breathe. We're here to walk you through it.

Sexuality: WTF Is It, Anyway?

The term "sexuality" can be used a lot like the word "sex." They're both terms we say and hear a lot, but which often aren't clearly defined. We take for granted everyone knows what sexuality means, a heck of an assumption to make with something that covers so many important things and can feel as murky as Lake Erie. So: what's it all about?

With Pleasure: A View of Whole Sexual Anatomy for Every Body

Usually, when we’re looking at a layout of sexual anatomy it's through the lens of reproduction, so it’s all about penises and vaginas, testes and uteri. But from a standpoint of pleasure and sexual response, sexual anatomy is about far more than genitals and is far less about reproductive organs.

Innies & Outies: The Penis, Testes and More

There's a whole lot more to this anatomy than meets the eye. Sure, you may know where the penis is... but what about the rest of it? This simple guide walks you through the external and internal reproductive and urinary anatomy for most penis-bearing folks.

What's Sex?

It's obviously important if you're here for information that you know what we mean when we talk about sex, so we thought we'd make it clear.

Innies & Outies: The Vagina, Clitoris, Uterus and More

A lot of questions about how to have intercourse, how to masturbate, and worries about what's all going on down there can be solved by simply getting to know your own body. In fact, I'd gander to say that before you let anyone else get to know it, you'd best know it yourself as well as you know your own face.

Not Everything You Wanted To Know About Puberty (But Pretty Darn Close)

Puberty is the process of physical changes and sexual maturation leading to sexual maturation as well as complete body growth. During puberty, your whole body goes through growth spurts until it has become physically mature in terms of bone mass and size, and the sexual organs and secondary sexual characteristics develop and mature. Chances are, if you're at this website, you have likely already started puberty.

Vagzilla! (Or, All Genitals Great and Small)

If we're going to think of our genitals as big, any one of us, given the small range between them, we should think everyone's genitals are big. We also need to accept that it's ignorant or misinformed to think, presume or suggest that penises are big but vaginas are small, because we really are all about the same size. If thinking big is better for one sex, it's also got to be better for the other. So, if you or someone else is going to go on about some big penis, you'd best get just as excited about the idea of a big vagina, and make having a big ol'Vagowski just as cool. And if you're all hung up on the idea that the vagina be as small as it can possibly be, or is such a small thing, then you've got to accept that penises are small, too.

The Simple and Underrated Art of Washing Your Hands

Handwashing, seriously? Yep, handwashing. Seriously. (Well, mostly seriously.) Here's how to do it and why it's so important to do.

This is About Genital Herpes

I realized that I was uncomfortable associating myself with genital herpes. Will people think I have it? Why else would someone write about genital herpes and risk that association if they didn’t have it, right? So I pressed on, putting myself at the center of an itty-bitty social experiment that resulted in some pretty big stuff.

Disability Dharma: What Including & Learning From Disability Can Teach (Everyone) About Sex

Being inclusive of disabled people in sex education and sexuality as a whole benefits those of us who are disabled and is something we strongly need. But it also can benefit everybody, in ways you might not expect.

Misconception Mayhem: Separating Myths from Facts

Ever wonder if what you've heard is fact or fiction? Have trouble finding the truth in statements? Then put your finger to your mouse and start clicking through some of the most common misconceptions surrounding sex and sexuality education.

Honorably Discharged: A Guide to Vaginal Secretions

Vaginal discharge and secretions are normal and usually healthy. The vagina is a passageway between the outside of the body and the internal reproductive system. Vaginal secretions are how the vagina cleanses and regulates itself -- how amazing is that? -- in the same sort of way that saliva helps keep your mouth clean and healthy and part of the fertility cycle.

Safe, Sound & Sexy: A Safer Sex How-To

What's safer sex? Find out how you can best reduce your risks of STIs and protect your health and how to do it and be supported in it without feeling like the Sex Decency Brigade or bringing on the buzzkill.

Genderpalooza! A Sex & Gender Primer

It’s typically assumed that sex and gender are the same. They’re not. What's gender all about, then? What is the range of gender and gender identity, and how does gender impact our lives and how we live them?

My Corona: The Anatomy Formerly Known as the Hymen & the Myths That Surround It

The mythical status of the hymen has caused far too much harm for far too long. RFSU shares their fantastic information booklet intended to dispel some of the myths surrounding the hymen and virginity, including a new, improved term for that anatomy, the vaginal corona.

From OW! to WOW! Demystifying Painful Intercourse

At least once every couple of days, someone posts or writes into Scarleteen reporting that vaginal entry -- usually intercourse or manual vaginal sex, and usually (but not always) with male partners -- is painful, uncomfortable, or unfulfilling for them. Whatever sort of vaginal entry we're talking about -- with fingers, a penis or a dildo, with partners of any gender -- not only doesn't have to be painful, it really shouldn't be. More than that, any kind of sex shouldn't be about a lack of pain, but about the presence of pleasure.

Give'em Some Lip: Labia That Clearly Ain't Minor

Freaking out because you think something must be wrong with your labia? Think again!

Yes, No, Maybe So: A Sexual Inventory Stocklist

What do or might you want to do, not want to do or aren't sure about when it comes to sex with a partner? What about your partner? You can use this evaluation tool to help you find out and more clearly communicate answers about physical boundaries, language, relationships, sexual activities and responses, sex safety and reproductive choices.

The Scarleteen Do-It

Feeling low about your body and how it looks? Thinking about, or already doing, some drastic things to try and change it? You're not alone. But you can get to a better place with your body and how you feel about it without doing anything that keeps you feeling just as bad, or puts your physical or mental health at risk. Here's some ways to ditch the die(t)s and go for the happy, healthy do's.

Shown Actual Size: A Penis Shape & Size Lowdown

Throw a rock at any sex education site or service, ask what the most common question we get is from men and we'll all tell you that it's about penis size. We don't imagine with this piece we'll never get asked again, but we're hoping these answers get you guys better filled in so you can feel good about yourselves, your penises and whatever you do (or don't) do with them.

The FBI Files: Vaginismus

Some people experience great pain or discomfort with vaginal sex or other kinds of vaginal entry that's not about hymens, lack or arousal or lubrication, or rough partners, but about a health condition known as vaginismus.

On the Rag: A Guide to Menstruation

Your menstrual cycle and your reproductive system have held people in awe (or perpetual duh, depending on how you look at it) for thousands of years. Follow us through a tour of how it all works, how to best manage it and use it to empower yourself, and find out what it means now and has meant to others in the past.

Misconception Mayhem: Separating Body Myths from Facts

Can women be too tight for intercourse? Does the size of a man’s feet really tell a lot about the size of his penis? Should all women shave? Scarleteen’s taking the time to debunk some of the most common misconceptions surrounding the body in one handy place.

What Safer Sex Isn't

Maybe you know what safer sex is. But do you also know what it isn't? Take a minute and fact-check your ideas about what can protect you from STIs and what cannot.

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