family

Seeing You With A Perpetrator Hurts. Here's Why.

Grace is a survivor who has something to ask of you: she's asking you not to spend time with people who have abused me or any other survivor you know. And she's also telling you quite a lot about why.

How to Support A Friend or Partner Who’s Dealing With Gender Dysphoria

Gender dysphoria can create a lot of tough mental health days. Our friends and partners play an important role in our mutual support systems, and for people who are dealing with gender dysphoria, having supportive friends and partners can make a big difference. If you have a friend or partner who lives with gender dysphoria, here’s how you can support them.

Scarleteen Confidential: Ten Questions with Scott Todnem about Puberty, Masculinity, and Raising Boys

We encourage parents and guardians to have honest, supportive conversations with young people about sex and relationships. Because we know that can sometimes be intimidating, we're always on the lookout for resources to help with the trickier parts of those interactions, which is why we were excited to read the recently released Sex Education for Boys: A Parent's Guide: Practical Advice on Puberty, Sex, and Relationships by Scott Todnem. Scott chatted with us about how the book came to be, how to model positive masculinity, and the different challenges that come with raising boys.

Beezus Murphy's Mom Had an Abortion: An Interview

"My Mom Had an Abortion" is a comic written by Beezus B. Murphy, illustrated by Tatiana Gill, and produced by the Shout Your Abortion network. It tells a unique and personal coming of age story, while emphasizing the importance of choice. In this interview between two high school students across the country from one another, interviewer Zosia Johnson and Beezus discuss this story, and why Beezus decided to share it.

Some Books and Balms for Nonbinary Folks

As a writer and a reader, books have always been my constant companions: when I feel alone and isolated, they're one of the first places I turn. We've got you here in our direct services at Scarleteen (and if you want to talk to a nonbinary person specifically, you can always ask for, or email, me or one of our other nonbinary team members, like Ruby or Jacob), but if you also like the company of books, here are a few books I like from nonbinary writers, about nonbinary identities and thought, relevant self-care or help sorting things out for yourself, and a couple of my favorite nonbinary or trans balms for the soul.

Self-Care Amidst a Deluge of Anti-Trans Legislation

I’d like to have a frank discussion with you about where these anti-trans bills come from, what you can do to be informed about the rhetoric surrounding them, and how you can affirm yourself and practice self-care while you may hear and feel so many people being non-supportive or outright hateful about trans and gender-nonconforming people.

Love and Asperger's: An Interview with Kate McNulty, LCSW

Two smart, insightful and autistic people who like talking about relationships walk into an interview. What comes out is this fantastically rich conversation between Scarleteen columnist Lisa Laman and Love and Asperger's author and therapist Kate McNulty.

Connecting with LGBTQ+ Elders

There’s this feeling of smallness - that your world is confined to secrets you tell in your diary, or to the few people you know in real life that are brave (or perhaps foolish) enough to come out - that I identify as a part of my theory on queer orphanhood. You spend so much time contemplating your identity that you don’t have time to wonder about people out there. There’s a kind of spiritual displacement in being queer and young.