intercourse

What's the Risk? Easy Pregnancy Risk Assessments

At Scarleteen, we believe that no one should ever have to be pregnant if they do not want to be. We also believe that all sex should be safer sex - and that means using barriers like condoms, surgical gloves, and dental dams for genital sex. While safer sex usually provides pretty good birth control, accidents do happen. And sometimes, whether we agree with it or not or even whether we intend it or not, unprotected, unsafe sex does take place.

Ready or Not? The Scarleteen Sex Readiness Checklist

Thinking about partnered sex? Do yourself a favor and look through our checklist to get a good idea bout the readiness of you and your partner -- it's more complicated and demanding than many people think, and knowing what you need to get ready can help assure that your sexual experiences with a partner will be as great for both of you as possible.

Why do I feel like I want a baby right now?

Emily asks:

I'm 18 years old, going on 19 and have been with my boyfriend for 2 years who is the same age. I lost my virginity to him and have never wanted any other person besides him. When we first started having sex, I was completely afraid of getting pregnant. I once thought I was pregnant and contemplated throwing myself down the stairs, though now I would never do such a thing. Now that we've been together for so long, and plan on being together for a long time to come, I've been having very strange thoughts.

I'll be in a store, and look at baby clothes or a book store and see baby books and think "Oh, it's baby stuff. I wish I had a little one of my own." Right now, my boyfriend and I live together, he goes to college and works part time and I just work. I have no clue what I want to do yet, so we decided to move and let him go to school since he had it all planned out.

He pulled out, but now I'm late

Candy asks:

Hey, I had my last period on the 8th of April. My boyfriend and I had sex on the April 21st, but he pulled out before he came. Now, I'm 2 days late for my period! I am freaking out big time, could I be pregnant? I checked the net for all the early pregnancy symptoms but none of them apply to me. I've noticed that the past week I've not had a lot of the usual discharge, but on the day my period was due I did have a lot of white discharge and the next day as well. Please reassure me! When should I really panic?

How do you fix "dryness"?

mauiwaui asks:

I'm dry before my boyfriend and I are about to have sex. What can I do to fix this problem?

Neither of us are reaching orgasm, but I need him to.

Frustrated asks:

I'm 17 and I have a boyfriend of 7 months, and we're both very much in love. We had sex 4 months ago and he didn't reach orgasm and I got the sense he was frustrated so we stopped trying until last weekend. We both really wanted it but the same situation happened where he didn't reach orgasm and I feel like it's my fault and that I'm just not hot enough for him. I never reach orgasm during sex but I always enjoy it and I want to have sex but the problem is I don't want to do it if he's not enjoying himself or feels frustrated and I also don't want to come off as though I want sex all the time because I'm his first girlfriend and he hadn't done anything sexual before me - not even kiss - whereas I was not a virgin upon entering the relationship, so I don't want to come off as if I'm a rushing things all the time. After all this, my question is: What can I do to make my boyfriend enjoy sex enough to orgasm? He has never finished during sex and I get the feeling he's frustrated with it and would rather I suck him off but I always want sex when we're fooling around and I love him so much I want us both to be able to pleasure each other at the same time.

What do you want to know about periods and sex?

Ellie asks:

If you're due to start your period and your boyfriend fingers you, can fingering stop you from coming on your period or make you a little late?

He won't do anything sexual that's about my body: what can I do?

Jessica asks:

My boyfriend does not satisfy me sexually. He only lasts about 10 minutes, he won't rub my clit because he doesn't want fluids on his hand and he won't eat me out because he thinks it's nasty, but he thinks that I should give him head. We have been together for 2 years and now it's really affecting me. What can I do?

I can't orgasm from intercourse and we can't stop fighting about it!

Jade asks:

I can never orgasm when having sex with my boyfriend. Not with vaginal, anyways. I only have a couple times and that's because we were doing other things. But it takes me a looooooooong time, and I think he just gets tired after awhile even though I know he tries. And then I get frustrated with MYSELF, and I know that upsets him cause he thinks I'm blaming him and he gets mad at me and we get in a fight. Ugh. I can orgasm fairly quickly when I do it myself? I don't get it. What's going on and how do I fix it?

Can birth control cause dryness?

adele27 asks:

Can my birth control be drying me out? My boyfriend and I have tried to have sex 3 times and we can't get it in. Should I switch my birth control?

I'm not sure if I want the pill or not!

Confuseddd asks:

I'm really torn on what to do. I'm a 17 year old, sexually active girl and I've been thinking about getting on the pill. My boyfriend and I use condoms every single time, but he wanted me to get on the pill because he says it feels better without one and also because pregnancy is something we both don't want. It took me forever to get up the courage to make an appointment at Planned Parenthood, and when I finally did, I canceled 5 hours before my appointment. I just couldn't go through with it. I think I want to get on the pill but I'm scared my mom will find out since I have to take it everyday, and I also don't want all of the side effects like mood change and weight gain. My boyfriend now says that I can do whatever I want, and that after getting used to condoms, he thinks that they feel the same as not using one. That's great and all that he's putting the decision completely in my hands but it also doesn't help because I have no idea what I should do. Is it okay for me to just use condoms? Is that safe enough, if we use them properly? Will the pill be too much of a hassle if I have to hide it, and does it really cause you to gain weight and get all sensitive? I don't know what to do at all. I want to be responsible with this but I just want to make sure I'm not choosing the wrong thing by sticking with only condoms.

A cornucopia of "Can I get pregnant if...?"

Scared asks:

Does precum contain enough sperm to get you pregnant if you have sex when its present? Also, if the guy pulls out and the cum gets all over your vagina and the a few minutes later he re-enters you, is that a pregnancy risk? My friends have told me that it's impossible, but I don't know. I'm scared, please help!

Where can we get some dance lessons?

Maddy asks:

I've had sex with my boyfriend for the first time a few months ago, and we've been having problems with positions. I like when he's on top, but he has trouble holding himself up for a long amount of time because he's heavy and doesn't want to hurt me. However, I've been having trouble being on top because I can't seem to find a rhythm, and I find it hard to get the up down motion. I really want to please my partner, and not have him doing all the work every single time. Please help!

Parents have sex?!?

Ana asks:

How often do parents have sex?

Condoms and positions?

Dragons asks:

Does it make it harder to get pregnant if the girl is on top and the guy is using a condom? My girlfriend and I are ready and we both wanted to know.