anatomy

There aren't any "shoulds" here. Not all people with vaginas bleed with first-time intercourse or other kinds of vaginal entry: in fact, most don't. Why some people do -- and for how long they do -- and some don't also varies. As to how many people with vaginas do and don't bleed after first...

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.

I'm so sorry you had to experience a rape. But I'm glad you survived it and very glad you feel able to ask for help and support. The vagina can't really be "broken." A person with a vagina can sustain injuries to their genitals -- via rape, consensual sex, intentional genital mutilation, childbirth...

Let me first talk lay out the basics of UTIs. A urinary tract infection (also called cystitis or bladder infections) is essentially something that happens when external bacteria enter your body through the urethra -- your urinary opening -- and get into your urinary tract and your bladder. That...

Dear Scarleteener, congratulations on being such an active participant in your own health care, and for doing your best to take care of both your physical and emotional well-being. That can be hard to do, particularly when life and school get crazy (as they tend to). I'm hoping that the gynecologist...

My experience with sex-negativity and ignorance in the medical world. Adventures in having an ovarian cyst, coming out in the ER, enduring bad gynecological exams, healing my relationship with my anus and finally finding a good doctor.

(Minny's question continued) Still, I seem to be the odd one out and I find it distressing. I broached the subject with him recently, merely suggesting that I hadn't actively enjoyed the way we'd had sex (not even that I disliked it) and he'd got very worried and hurt and said that I should have...

Honestly? The biggest fantasy driving the bus here is that the length of time your erection lasts has much to do with your partner's pleasure (or yours, to some degree) at all. That isn't to say that you won't likely have sex partners -- some, plenty, even all of them -- who don't enjoy sex that...

One of the biggest problems with all of the information out there about sex is that there are quite a lot of myths surrounding the subject, and it’s very difficult to know what’s safe to believe and what isn’t. First, it is not bad for someone to abstain from having sex of any type for a while or...

Well, if the woman in question took a pen and wrote "I'm a virgin!" on her forehead, that might tell you something. However, otherwise there are not any signs one can look for to determine virginity short of asking the person in question. Virginity is not really a physical issue so much as it is a...