culture

It's a pretty mixed message to tell someone they're perfect, then tell them that you're only interested in engaging in a certain sexual activity with them if they look a certain way per your liking (shaved, unshaved, what have you). Sex with partners shouldn't have entry requirements based on what a...

Scarleteen is about the realities of teen sexuality: One of the main reasons young adults come back to Scarleteen again and again is that they report it to be one of the few places they know they can come with real questions, and not be faced with judgment for having an age-appropriate sexual life...

Who runs Scarleteen, creates and manages its content, and staffs its services? Our founder, co-directors, volunteers, our in-house and freelance writers and illustrators, sometimes with help from colleagues, peer organizations or projects, consultants, and other friends and supporters of Scarleteen.

You probably know what abstinence-only sex education is, and you may also understand what comprehensive sex education is. But we feel we take it one step further around here, and aim to provide feminist comprehensive sex education, for women, men and everyone in between. So, what's that all about?

The Biblical sin of Sodom wasn't homosexuality or anal sex -- it was rape, greediness and poor hospitality, and the legal basis of sodomy is not about homosexuality, but about oral and anal sex, and often about homophobia.

The majority of pregnancies that occur for adolescents are unplanned. But some pregnancies in the teen years -- around one in five -- are intended. Teen pregnancy and parenting are hard, so if you're thinking about trying to make it happen, here's some food for thought.

I came out of the proverbial closet when I was 15, in high school, and in the student newspaper. A sophomore had decided to print an editorial about the moral degradations of homosexuality, stating that God created Adam and Eve, "not Adam and Steve." I was so enraged by this sophomoric (literally) editorial that I sent a letter to the editor responding on behalf of the gay community, which was published, and which publicly announced my sexual orientation for all the student body to read.

When we look in the mirror as a culture, our tendency toward hysteria always seems to hover in our communal blind spot. We’re not very good at seeing when groups with a political or social agenda are manipulating us with fear, often the unreasonable, irrational fear of the taboo.

A lot of false assumptions are often made when people are talking about BDSM. Let's start with a little glossary to be sure we're all on the same page.