myths

You've been having unprotected sex. That means you have been at risk of pregnancy and well as sexually transmitted infections. The pregnancy risk is moderate to high, depending on your fertility, and your partner's sexual habits (as in, if he has ejaculated recently before unprotected intercourse...

Sara: so long as you took the test properly, at this stage of the game, there's earnestly no reason to be concerned you're pregnant. With emergency contraception, it's normal to have both or either some menstrual cycle kookiness for a little while, and/or some unexplained vaginal bleeding. That...

Good on you for doing so much research, but if you're using the birth control pill, then you're not ovulating, nor most fertile at any given time. The combined pill suppresses ovulation, so there's no sense in charting when you're on it, because there isn't anything TO chart: your fertility status -...

The same way anyone else does. Which is to say, any vast number of different ways. Sex isn't just vaginal intercourse. Sex is any number of combinations of things people of all stripes do together to seek mutual sexual pleasure, and what those things or that combination are varies for everyone, even...

When I was fourteen I became convinced that masturbating would kill me.

Many people engage in oral sex, and find it a pleasurable of sexual activity. So long as you engage in it responsibly, it's just as normal, healthy, safe and natural as any other kind of genital sex. Here are the answers to some of your most common questions -- no secrets, no flashing lights and sirens, just the lowdown on going down.

You're forgiven if you think that even a little difficulty in this department means that you should start stocking up on Viagra. There are a number of falsehoods about ED floating around from schoolyards to saloons.

Am I blue? Find out what "blue balls" are really all about: the facts may surprise you.

At least once every couple of days, someone posts or writes into Scarleteen reporting that vaginal entry -- usually intercourse or manual vaginal sex, and usually (but not always) with cisgender male partners -- is painful, uncomfortable, or unfulfilling for them. Whatever sort of vaginal entry we're talking about -- with fingers, a penis or a dildo, with partners of any gender -- not only doesn't have to be painful, it really shouldn't be. More than that, any kind of sex shouldn't be about a lack of pain, but about the presence of pleasure.

After a few years of being the postergirl for alternative approaches to menstruation – writing articles, being interviewed, doing workshops, selling washable pads to women and getting involved in too many party conversations on the topic to possibly count – something is starting to give. The truth is, I’m starting to get a little bit tired of being nice. I’ve lost my patience with trying to pussyfoot around the issue until women are willing to talk about their own blood. And so, as a form of cleansing for me and education for you – should you choose to engage in it – I have penned the following set of arguments dispelling the myths about washable menstrual pads and your period. So there.