Scarleteen is one of the longest running and most extensive comprehensive sex education sites for teens out there; over the last ten years, millions of people around the world have visited Scarleteen seeking- and hopefully finding- information and answers about sexuality.

Which, in fact, is one of the biggest hurdles that Scarleteen faces today in providing accurate and easy-to-understand information for teens and young adults: our visitors are from around the world.

It’s easy for me, a 20-something living in Seattle, to give advice partially drawing from experiences as a sexually active young adult and adolescent growing up in a middle-to-upper class environment. I had (and still have) health insurance and relatively easy access to contraception (the middle-to-upper class suburb is now a shoebox-sized studio apartment).

But what good does advice like “go to a doctor” do for someone who has internet access, but, cannot, for cultural reasons, dare go to a gynecologist or doctor? What about the uninsured young adult living in poverty? What about the non-native English speakers who frequent Scarleteen’s website- what can we do to help them?

The language barrier is more easily (in theory) solved than the cultural barrier that Scarleteen is faced with. Ideally, we’d have all of our articles (or at least the most essential ones) translated into various languages: Chinese, for one, and Scarleteen En Español. However, the task of finding someone adept at translation to volunteer their time is an incredibly difficult one.

It’s important to mention that Scarleteen’s volunteers are international; we do reside in more than one country, and each of us have our own unique backgrounds.

In the end, Scarleteen can only do so much: we can provide the facts and resources, but our website cannot replace dangerous stigmas and lack of medical treatment with access to healthcare and real-life acceptance and support.

We can build a cyberworld that’s a safe space- but our computer screens and internet connections are woefully inadequate when it comes to human rights.