Heather is an activist, writer, artist, educator, and 'net publisher and community organizer in her mid-thirties. She has been considered a pioneer of both online women's and young adult sexuality, having brought inclusive, informative, feminist, original, creative and radical sexuality content to the web and beyond since 1997.
In 2007, DaCapo Press released Heather's S.E.X.:the All-You-Need-to-Know Progressive Sexuality Guide to Get You Through High School and College, a comprehensive and fully gender, orientation and age-inclusive young adult sexuality guide.
Heather is currently also a sexuality, contraception and abortion educator and counselor for the Cedar River Clinics/Feminist Women's Health Center, and the director of the CONNECT teen outreach and education program. In addition, she has recently completed the facilitator training for Teen Talking Circles. She is a sexuality consultant for the health department of orb28/ New Moon Girl Media, on the editorial board of the American Journal of Sexuality Education and her young adults sexuality advice at Scarleteen is now syndicated weekly at the United Nations Foundation supported reproductive health hub RH Reality Check.
Her work at Scarleteen and in sexuality education and activism have hailed acclaim or attention from numerous publications, including The Utne Reader, The City Pages, Alternet, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Siren, The Industry Standard, The Chicago Tribune, CNN, The Chicago Tribune's RedEye, The Nation, The Minnesota Women's Press, The Boston Phoenix, The New York Times, HipMama, Bust, Bitch, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Oxygen Network, Estronet, Yahoo!, Lavender Magazine, and The Woman's Guide to Sex on the Web. She was an honored speaker in 1999 for the Illinois Library Association, on the topic of freedom of speech and sexuality, a lead speaker at the 2001 Webzine conference addressing independent media publishing, and the keynote speaker and artist guest of honor at the 2003 BECAUSE conference addressing bisexuality and erotic creativity.
Heather was the winner of The Champions of Sexual Literacy Award for Grassroots Activism from the National Sexuality Resource Center/SFSU in 2007; in 2009 the winner of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, Western Region's Public Service Award and the Our Bodies, Ourselves' Women's Health Heroes Award. She was also a lead plaintiff in the ACLU vs. Gonzales case, arguing against the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which could have removed young adults' access to needed sexuality information, and her work with Scarleteen -- and the import of our service -- helped secure an important win for the case.
Her essays, fiction, poetry and artwork have appeared in her own publications as well as in The Guardian, Issues Magazine, PIF Magazine, Maxi Magazine, CleanSheets, LeisureSuit.Net, Other Rooms, Cherrybomb, Sexilicious, Blood Moon, BAACHOR Magazine (in which her essay "The Door Into One Moment, Eternal," was nominated for a Pushcart Prize) and Batteries Not Included. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have also appeared in the anthologies Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape, Viscera, The Adventures of Food, Aqua Erotica, Zaftig: Well-Rounded Erotica, The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica 1 & 2, Shameless: An Intimate Erotica and Penthouse and will appear in the forthcoming anthologies Breakthrough Bleeding: Essays on The Thing Women Spend A Quarter Of Their Time Doing, But No One’s Supposed To Talk About and What We Think: Gender Roles, Women's Issues and Feminism in the 21st Century. Her photography and visual art have been shown at/in 555 Gallery, Sex Worker Visions (New York), Babes in Toyland, Jane's Guide, Michelle 7, On Our Backs, the Bryant-Lake Bowl, Trixx (to benefit the GLBT youth center, District 202), The Independent, The Mammoth Book of Erotic Women, SEAF 2004 and other venues. She has been quoted in other sexuality books, such as The Whole Lesbian Sex Book and The Mother's Guide to Sex, and her work has been used in a number of university curricula.
Heather was previously a classroom educator, and has trained and taught in the Montessori method, as well as running an independent alternative Kindergarten and pre-Kindergarten for four years in her early twenties. A graduate with honors of Chicago's Academy for the Arts, where she studied music and creative writing, she won a National Academy of Poets award before she was eighteen. She continued her education at Shimer College, studying English Literature, Erotic Spirituality and Sociology. A certified Jill of All Trades, she has also had a myriad of odd jobs, including selling wheatgrass and sprouts in Chicago's Farmer's Markets, designing living centerpieces for Hotel Nikko, waiting tables, ringing cash registers, teaching kickboxing and self-defense, landscaping, consulting on women's issues, political canvassing and once donned a lobster suit on a subway car for a promotional campaign.
Heather Corinna is in the last gasp of her thirties and lives and works in Seattle, Washington with a pug on her lap at all times.
CJ has an M.Ed in Human Sexuality Education and is pursuing his doctorate in the same subject area. Currently working at an LGBT health center, CJ previously was a domestic violence and sexual assault educator in upstate NY. CJ works with HIV+ individuals and also works closely with queer and trans clients coming in to the health center. As a sexuality educator and a transgender male, CJ is passionate about breaking down barriers that make it more challenging for queer, trans, and/or HIV+ folks to get the skilled and compassionate care they need and deserve. When not at school or at work CJ is often baking, reading Martha Stewart Living, knitting, or riding his bike around the neighborhood...but usually not all of those things at the same time.
Lena is a full-time secondary school teacher and part-time community college instructor in her mid-twenties from the mid-Atlantic United States. She has a Master's in German and experience teaching and studying in the US and Germany. Active at Scarleteen for the past six years, Lena Femke focuses on interpersonal relationships, issues of identity, and providing general support. In addition to answering Sexpert Advice, she is the author of To Be Awesome or Just Be: Tips on Making the Most of your Life Right Now as well as a regular blogger, currently developing the new Spotlight on Scarleteen feature. In her free time, she likes to read (books, blogs, and current events!), write, create and decorate, and spend time with family and friends.
Stephanie is an Elementary and Special Education major with a growing interest in sexual education programs being promoted in schools. While researching information with a friend for a sex-education curriculum she ran across Scarleteen and has been attached to the site and it's positive stance on sexual education since. When she's not working and studying, she enjoys spending time with friends and writing. Around the site she's usually found drafting blog entries and replying on the message boards.
Sarah is a doctoral student at a southern university studying communication. Her work in a variety of health care settings sparked Sarah's research interests, which include patient/provider communication and social support. She first began posting at Scarleteen in 2000, and is one of the longest-tenured volunteers at Scarleteen. In her spare time, Sarah enjoys knitting (though not very skillfully), cooking, and reading.
Susie is an epidemiologist specializing in infectious diseases and has been working in public health for the past two years. She earned her master's degree in public health from USC Keck School of Medicine in 2004, where she wrote her thesis on STD health education. She earned her bachelor's degree in 2002 from UC Berkeley, having studied molecular cell biology and Southeast Asian studies. Susie stumbled on Scarleteen in July 2000 and discovered she had a knack for talking about sexual physiology. When she's not at her computer, Susie is either rocking out at a concert, pumping iron at the gym or stuck in traffic. That's because she is trapped in suburban Los Angeles, CA.
To see the whole roster of past and present Sexpert Advice contributors, click here.
Beyond being incredibly valuable to us, our young adult volunteers also get experience of value to them by volunteering at Scarleteen. Here's what a few of them have to say about it:
Scarleteen has been my virtual home-away-from-home for the past six years and counting, throughout many physical moves and positive life changes. I came for the information -- accurate, up-to-date, all-inclusive, and sex-positive -- and stayed for the community -- warm, welcoming, and worldly. It's currently about commitment for me -- I volunteer because, as I've said before, Scarleteen completely revolutionized the way I view sex and sexuality. Now I seek to help others feel that same sense of empowerment.
I like volunteering because I just freaking love it here. More specifically, I love the community aspect of it, the feeling that if all of us volunteers managed to get together in person, we'd probably stay up all night sharing stories, having awesome conversations, and laughing. It's also nice to know that I am far from the only person who cares about the issues we address here. I also love that I learn something new. Every. Single. Day. Whether it's a new fact, a new way of explaining something that makes it easier to understand, or a new perspective on something, I learn something every time I'm here.
I've also gotten started on a pretty awesome career because volunteering here helped me figure out what I was interested in, but that's just an added bonus, really.
I'm volunteering because Scarleteen's ethos of providing feminist, queer-positive, sex-positive and inclusive sex education to youth is what I'm passionate about, what I love to study, and what I need. I don't have access to any other public space where my whole sexual, messy, queer, curious self is encouraged and supported. By volunteering, I'm able to connect with like-minded others who believe that every human being has the fundamental right to honesty, knowledge, care and pleasure. Even though this is an online service, knowing that I am part of a shared project gives me the confidence to carry these conversations and this activist work into my day-to-day life.
Clara Raubertas is Scarleteen's fantastic current web developer. She's a developer, programmer and designer who is particularly enthusiastic about using her technical skills to support feminist and progressive projects. She's available for hire at www.clararaubertas.net.
Other authors and educators who have generously contributed content to Scarleteen include Hanne Blank, Kate Storm, Audra Williams, James Elliott, Emira Mears, Ophira Edut, Caro Buccheim, Malcolm Gin, Janel Hamner, Clare Sainsbury, M. Christian, Kythryne Aisling, Laurel Martinez, and Josh Cuppage.
A huge shout-out to the magnificent Garrett Coakley, developer extraordinaire and dear friend, for his help with the most recent version of Scarleteen, which was a Herculean task. The current version of Scarleteen is fueled by the open source platform Drupal. As well, the primary licensed fonts used in the design are the beautiful work of Diane DiPiazza at DincType, the Canada Type Font Foundry, and and the Flat-It type foundry.
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