history

25 Years of Scarleteen: Year By Year

Scarleteen turned 25 on December 15, 2023. Here's a timeline of some of Scarleteen’s more notable work, accomplishments and important milestones, setbacks, and well as how we’ve existed within the larger world over the years

Let Her Be Frank: An Interview with Tracy Dawson

Women who had to, or chose to, dress as men to access masculine environments to follow their calling are often overlooked in history. Enter the book Let Me Be Frank: A Book About Women Who Dressed Like Men to Do Shit They Weren’t Supposed to Do by Tracy Dawson, who talks here with Gabriel Leão.

Sex Ed Isn't Scary: Support Scarleteen This Halloween

Sex education and information, and both those who teach and learn from it, or support for young people’s emerging intimate relationships, sexualities, and identities aren’t scary. It’s the lack of them — especially in the current climate — that is. Find out some ways you can help us sustain what we do over the next few days.

Organize Like a Sex Worker: Learning from Worker and Organizer Kate D'Adamo

Kate Adamo is a sex worker who heads up the policy and advocacy work at Reframe Health & Justice consulting, which supports organizations and movements engaging in “practices of care, compassion, and collaboration,” all through a harm reduction framework. Kate shared her thoughts on the necessity of sex workers and their perspective as we fight for reproductive autonomy, and the internalized sex phobia that progressive spaces still need to get rid of.

On Menstruation, Education, and Activism: An Interview with Saniya Ghanoui

Saniya Lee Ghanoui is a historian and critical media studies scholar who focuses on the intersection of gender and sexuality, medicine, and media. Through her studies, she became intrigued by how society created stigma and taboo around the menstrual cycle, which led her to focus on critical menstrual studies investigating the construction and depiction of menstruation in television, the history of menstrual education films, as well as the history of sex education in the United States.

Hot Girl Hangups: Talking Through the Tension Between Bimbos and Feminism

The bimbo is a product of a misogynistic imagination, a sex object and an ableist stereotype. Her image is tied up in ageism as well, being forever young and childlike. Because the outlines of the bimbo stereotype are so bold, and her character so outrageous, she also makes perfect material for drag and other kinds of gender play and parody. And, because gender is weird, people have begun to mess with language so that people of all genders can play with it as well. But is all of this, like, okay?

Birth Doulas: Reclaiming the Birth Experience

Some folks decide that during birth they want a partner to be present; others want a different family member – be they blood relative or chosen family – or someone else entirely to accompany them. Birth doulas can be a great option if you are looking for some additional support, especially around the emotional aspects of labor and childbirth.

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.