Heather Corinna

Anyone who knows me or who knows anything about me usually knows that my pre-teen and teen years were incredibly difficult. I dealt with neglect and abuse in my family, starting from about the time I was 10. I was sexually assaulted twice before I even became a teenager. I was queer. I was suicidal and was a self-injurer. I struggled to find safe shelter sometimes. Few people seemed to notice, even though after I gave up trying to use my words, I still used my eyes to try and tell them constantly. I’m 40 now, and in a whole lot of ways, I felt older at 16 than I feel now. Some days, I am truly gobsmacked that I survived at all, let alone with my heart and mind intact and rich. A lot of why I survived is about having gotten support.

There is a lot to unpack here, but I first want to make sure we’re on the same page with some basics, particularly since my sense is you don’t have an answer to this because you’re not asking yourself the right questions. You’re saying you can’t have an orgasm from sex, but want to. But you’re also…

How can you separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to sex educators, sex education services and online sexuality spaces for young people online? We walk you through it so you can be more sure that wherever you’re talking, you’re getting good information in a space that’s safe for you.

From what I tend to observe, when someone like you is worried about what you’ll say exerting sexual pressure, but is coming from the wonderful, thoughtful kind of place that you are, these worries are often displaced. In other words, I’d say it’s highly likely that with how you feel about this…

Sometimes when we’re in a really horrible spot, on top of being supported, an unexpected gift can help, too. So, I got the best gift for you right now I could think of and that I had access to. It’s Kate Bornstein! If you don’t know about Kate already, know that she’s one of the most amazing people…

I’m a little uncomfortable with how you’re framing this. I’ll do my best to fill you in on why. It’s also really tough for me to answer your question given the way it’s framed. I’ll explain that, too. When someone suggests they want sex with someone, and seems to be suggesting that sex would EVER be…

Do I think you should just suck it up, take these photos and share them? No. First and foremost because, depending on the content and level of nudity, doing so could be as consequentially serious as a felony on both of your parts. So it’s clear right from the start and in a way you can’t miss it: I…

This month, as part of Scarleteen’s fundraising efforts, we have the pleasure of having some folks we love guest-writing for our advice section. For your question, I was delighted to be able to ask Hanne Blank to answer it for you. Hanne is one of the smartest people when it comes to sexuality…

I want to first make some short, essential statements. What I’d like you to do is read each of them, maybe more than once, and just sit with them. Try and really absorb them. Understand that when it comes to what those of us who work in these fields know about healthy relationships and healthy…

It’s great that you’re looking for information for your friend. Hopefully, we can offer some both she and you will find useful. This month, we have the benefit of a some extra hands to help with this section of the site, including some wonderful sex educators, writers and activists. For this…