Relationships

Every ongoing interaction is a relationship, and we talk about all kinds of them: friendships, romantic and sexual relationships, relationships at work and at home, at school and out and about in the world. Dating, breakups, shakeups, makeups; situationships, crushes, love-of-your-lifes. From figuring out what kinds of relationships you want, to navigating change or trouble, if it’s about you + someone else, it’s probably here.

Highlighted content

Advice
  • Mo Ranyart

First off, I'm so glad that your family has shown you so much support. Everyone deserves to have loving support from friends and family if and when they choose to come out to them, and it's great that your family's standing behind you right now. Their acceptance and support of your bisexuality is a...

Article
  • Jamie J. LeClaire

When it comes to sex and dating beyond the binary, not only are we given no blueprint, no representation, and no guide whatsoever, but we’re also working against the heteronormative messages we’ve all been indoctrinated with by media and culture from birth. Here are five ways I’ve learned to safely and creatively navigate dating spaces as a nonbinary person.

Advice
  • Sam Wall

We do frequently get questions about how to ask someone out but, as with so many things since the pandemic started, we're having to adapt our standard advice to reflect our current circumstances. So, thank you for asking this question! Let's start with the obstacles of not having a way to contact...

Article
  • LaSara Firefox Allen

Being single or otherwise on your own during the pandemic can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be awful or without benefit to you. There are probably lots of things you can do right now to help yourself cope and make the most of this time. Here are seven ideas to get you started.

Article
  • Ellen Friedrichs

Because of the global COVID-19 pandemic, in many households, the strains of closed schools, lost jobs, health issues, and close quarters mean that tensions are high, tempers are short, and privacy has become a luxury. If you’re a young queer person who is now isolated with trans- or homophobic family members, you probably know that better than anyone. Here are a few ideas to help you stay as physically and emotionally safe as possible during these difficult days.

Advice
  • Sam Wall

I feel you, Mandy! I'm a woman whose adult height is five feet and when I was 16 I weighed about a hundred pounds soaking wet. I suspect (but cannot prove) my parents were a little more protective of me than they would have been if I was a boy, but I have to give credit where credit is due. They...

Article
  • Cass Ball

Last summer, when I was half a year into being newly single and telling myself and my friends that I was “just doing me” or “dating myself,” I realized: I wasn’t actually dating myself if I wasn’t putting in the work. Since then, I’ve been working on developing tangible strategies for dating myself. I am sharing these strategies with you, hoping that they may help illuminate the beautiful, confusing, nearsighted path back towards yourself.

Advice
  • Sam Wall

I'll be honest, Tre: dating apps can be a great option for some people, but you're far from the first person to come to Scarleteen brimming with frustration over your experiences on them. While they can put us in the orbit of cool people who'd we'd otherwise never meet, they can also pressure us to...

Article
  • Lisa Laman

The options for people on the Autism spectrum looking to go out on a date are few. This lack of options can help to compound problems people on the Autism spectrum already have with dating. Navigating social hurdles, like avoiding over-talking, while being on a date is, on its own, a plenty daunting prospect. Realizing that the options for a backdrop to a date are exceedingly limited is just adding salt to the wounds. Together, these challenges can make a person feel like the prospect of going out on a date at all is far more trouble than it’s worth.

Advice
  • Mo Ranyart

First off, in case it helps to hear this: it's all right to want to break up with your boyfriend. You're allowed to end a relationship for any reason, and "I only want to date women, and my partner is now very clearly not a woman" is a perfectly valid one. Sometimes, a person's gender transition...