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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.

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.

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.

Ready or Not? The Scarleteen Sex Readiness Checklist

Thinking about partnered sex? Do yourself a favor and look through our checklist to get a good idea bout the readiness of you and your partner -- it's more complicated and demanding than many people think, and knowing what you need to get ready can help assure that your sexual experiences with a partner will be as great for both of you as possible.

Love the Glove: 10 Reasons to Use Condoms You Might Not Have Heard Yet

You've probably heard or thought some things about condom use that might be keeping you or others from using them or from using them consistently, and I'm willing to bet you haven't heard everything I'm about to say. Even if you're already using condoms and using them every single time properly, I bet you know someone -- a sibling, a friend, a sexual partner -- who could stand to hear ten great reasons to use condoms.

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.

Chicken Soup for the Pregnancy Symptom Freakout's Soul

What are the early symptoms of pregnancy and when do they start to happen? Why are symptoms not the smartest way to tell if you're pregnant, and how CAN you tell if you are? If you're losing your mind during a pregnancy scare, and finding symptoms everywhere you look, here's some on-target information and a dose of comfort to help you separate the real deal from the hype.

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?

Your First Gynecologist Visit

Want to know what to expect at your first gynecologists' or reproductive health exam? We've got the lowdown for you here.

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.

Abreast: The Basics of Boobies

What are breasts made of? What's normal for nipples? Is something wrong with me if my breasts aren't sensitive? Can women who aren't pregnant lactate? Do I need a bra? Why aren't my boobs bigger? Sit back, take a load off and have a read for these answers and more.

From OW! to WOW! Demystifying Painful Intercourse

At least once every couple of days, a woman posts or writes into Scarleteen reporting that vaginal entry -- usually heterosexual intercourse or manual vaginal sex ("fingering"), 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.

The FBI Files: Vaginismus

Many women who have difficulty with first intercourse or vaginal entry are often quick to suspect their hymen isn't “broken.” However, in some instances in which the woman is aroused, lubricated well, and has a patient and sensitive partner, but she still suffers great pain or discomfort with attempted entry, that isn't the case at all.

Blinders Off: Getting a Good Look at Abuse and Assault

A basic lowdown on interpersonal abuse and assault: what all the terms mean, why strangers are the least of our worries, what a cycle of abuse looks like, how you can start seeing abuse for what it is, where it is, and how to protect yourself and others and make abuse stop.

10 common Myths, Misunderstandings and Big Ol' Lies About Emergency Contraception

It's amazing that with something as safe, simple, affordable and revolutionary as emergency contraception that it STILL isn't being used by millions of women who could use it, and who would prefer to avoid an abortion or an unwanted pregnancy. In part, that's because so many doctors and clinics still do not inform and educate women about EC. Here's some EC clarity, on the house. Pass it on!

Honorably Discharged: A Guide to Vaginal Secretions

Vaginal discharge and secretions are a normal, healthy part of your reproductive system. The vagina -- which is not the whole of your genitals, that's called the vulva, but the flexible tube behind the vaginal opening and inside the body -- is a passageway between the outside of the body and the internal reproductive system. The pH balance of the vagina is acidic, with "good" bacteria, by design, which helps keep infections away. 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.

10 of the Best Things You Can Do for Your Sexual Self (at Any Age)

If we look at our sexuality one way, it looks a million times simpler than it actually is. If we look at it another way, it appears a million times more complicated. While it's important that we bear everything in mind we need to in terms of infection and disease, birth control, our relationships, our bodies and the whole works, now and then we need to remember the bare bones and the human element of the thing, and keep the essentials in the forefront of our minds.

Love Letter

I'm writing this because someone told you that you can't understand or experience love at your age. If no one did yet, they probably will soon enough. I'm writing to tell you that if you've heard that, I just don't think it's true.

Does Your Relationship Need a Checkup?

Does your relationship need a basic checkup to be sure it's healthy and well? Here's a list for doing just that.

Supermodel: Creating & Nurturing Your Own Best Relationship Models

What's a "boyfriend" or what's a "girlfriend?" It all depends on what you and yours decide it's going to mean and what works best for you.

Hello, Sailor! How to Build, Board and Navigate a Healthy Relationship

You probably hear the term "healthy relationship" a lot. People can make it sound like it should be easy-peasy to figure out what is and isn't healthy, but with people and relationships varying as much as they do, and a world that often romanticizes things that aren't healthy at all, it can be trickier than it looks. We go in-depth to help you get a handle on making and keeping your relationships healthy and happy.

The HPV Vaccine FAQ

A vaccine -- Gardasil -- is available to help prevent the spread of some types of HPV. The Centers for Disease Control report that clinical trials in over 11,000 young women have shown the vaccine to be 100% effective for young women in preventing cervical precancers caused by the targeted HPV types, and nearly 100% effective in preventing vulvar and vaginal precancers and genital warts understood to be caused by the targeted HPV types.

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.

M.I.A or, Dude, Where's My Period?

We get a lot of questions at Scarleteen from folks who are worried about periods that are MIA (missing in action, for us civilians). Sometimes there's a pregnancy concern, and sometimes not; but even if you're not sexually active, a missing period can be worrying.

Eight Myths About Washable Menstrual Pads Dispelled

After a few years of being the postergirl for alternative approaches to menstruation – writing articles, being interviewed, doing workshops, selling washable pads to women and getting involved in too many party conversations on the topic to possibly count – something is starting to give. The truth is, I’m starting to get a little bit tired of being nice. I’ve lost my patience with trying to pussyfoot around the issue until women are willing to talk about their own blood. And so, as a form of cleansing for me and education for you – should you choose to engage in it – I have penned the following set of arguments dispelling the myths about washable menstrual pads and your period. So there.

Blogs, Polls & Advice...

Who's on top?
Too Easy, My Aunt Fanny.
Did I have sex? Did I lose my virginity?
A Birth Control Pill Five by Five
Working It Out When Hooking Up Isn't Working
Sex, period.
How have your experiences been with sexual/reproductive healthcare?
I got herpes and other infections from anal-to-vaginal sex before: how do I play it safe now?
How good is your communication with partners with any kind of sex?
Lying, and other kinks in relationship communication
Should I have his baby to make him stay?
How safe (free from danger & harm) do you feel identifying your gender around people of a different gender?
Your body is never the problem: a letter on clothing, style, and creepy old men
When you have had any kind of sex with a partner, how often have you REALLY wanted to have sex?
Have you had an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy?
When it comes to my gender, I:
A Very Important Note on Menstrual Suppression
My period is late (or is it?)
Having trouble reaching orgasm? Masturbation is your friend.
I'm 14: Is it normal to want sex?
How can I stop feeling so guilty?
When the Big O is a No-Show
Spotlight on Scarleteen: Two new articles!
Love, Growth, Fear & Other Kinds of Big-Scary-Wonderful
Am I normal? Who cares?
My culture insists on virginity: did I break my hymen with masturbation?
How can I trust that someone else will like my body when I hate it so much?
One Bloody Mess: Myths & Realities of Bleeding with First Intercourse
Pornography, Strip Clubs & Other Feminist Relationship Quandaries
Sex is ... Irritating?

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