Hey Bubblegumkid -- it sounds like this person does not respect you, and it sounds like you know that already. With this awareness, why is it difficult to break away? Why are you hoping it works out? I want to gently challenge you here and suggest you might know these answers but the answers might b...

Hey Watercog100 -- welcome to the boards! This is actually one of the most common questions folks write into us about. It's highly unlikely the issues you're having right now have nothing to do with something actually being wrong with your body, and more to do with trying to find what works best for...

Hey anonymous3 -- I'm sorry this is causing you so much stress right now. Sore breasts and nipples are a side effect of taking Plan B. You also mentioned that you were pressing on your breast hard, so that could also be causing some pain in your nipples. It could also just be sore for any number of ...

Hey campyglitterlex -- I'm glad you're willing to undertake a process of unlearning with what you're asking about. Deconstructing your own judgements of yourself often reveals a lot. Something else I wanted to ask about was when you said you'd be afraid to tell a partner no if they wanted to do some...

Hey cratosphere -- I'm sorry to hear that this is causing you a lot of stress. Like Sam said, it is highly unlikely that you are pregnant because there was no genital-to-genital contact here. I think reading through Who's Afraid of Sperm Cells? will help ease some anxiety. Though it's good to be car...

Hey Plants -- this resource might help explain that.

Hi Jack -- bodies have odor, and there isn't much you can do to prevent it from happening. It sounds like your room doesn't have a lot of ventilation or air circulation, which is maybe why a smell is lingering. Do you have a fan? Maybe even an air purifier? Sometimes pushing the air around helps wit...

Hey campyglitterlex - there's a lot here that we can talk about, and I know I won't be able to address it all in one go. So I'm going to start with this, and I'm sure it will all continue to unfold from there. Masturbation not meeting expectations is one of the most common questions we get on the bo...

Hey roro89 -- I'm sure it felt good to find something to relate to. There are so many ways to masturbate that I can't even really think of a "wrong" way. Do you want to talk more about you're feeling? Feel free to make your own thread!

Hi Julia -- I wish I had a better answer for why you're so stuck on this even if you're told you weren't at risk. If I had to guess, it would be similar to what I suggested before... there are a lot of unknowns that you are being forced to sit with rather than know exactly what happened. I struggle ...

Hi DomenicoA -- welcome to Scarleteen! Having direct genital-to-genital contact does pose a risk for pregnancy, but if you did not ejaculate near or in her vagina I would say it is highly unlikely that the sexual activity you engaged in together resulted in pregnancy. This resource might be a helpfu...

I'm so sorry that these techniques haven't been so helpful for you. Have you ever discussed mindfulness/meditation? This can be helpful for some people going through similar anxious thinking and often recommended.

Hey Ryan -- welcome to Scarleteen, I'm glad you've found some helpful stuff on our site. No, you can't get a STI from yourself and this is safe for you to do. If you did this with a partner though, this is a way someone could get a STI if one of you had one. STIs don't materialize just from two peop...

Hey Juliaho90 -- I know there's some scary unknowns here, which can set anxiety off big time. There's also no real way to stop thinking about it sometimes. The one thing we can assure you is that the risk is not urgent. In some ways, I think your counselor is right. Researching might get to you, but...

Hey Raffles -- I appreciate how vulnerable you've been here talking about what's been going on at work. When you talked to HR, had the stuff with the parents being upset happened yet? Or the kids being really invasive? If yes, what did she say to that? I do think it would be a really good idea to fo...

Hey Raffles -- up top I want to acknowledge that you were asking advice from folks who have been through something similar. I haven't, so I'm not going to try to give advice per se. I do want to share some thoughts with you though, if that's ok. It's totally fine with me if you don't want to engage ...

Hey kitschen -- I'm so glad to hear this! We love updates! If there's anything else you want to talk about, with this issue or anything else, we're here for you.

Hey autumnbee -- I'm so sorry this happened to you. We're happy to talk through this with you, whatever you need to get out or ask questions about. Something I want to start with -- this wasn't okay, even if he thought what he was doing was ok. It sounds like you know this deep down by the way you'v...

Hey kitschen -- like Nicole said, what you're struggling with is something we have talked with folks a lot on the board. So much so that I'm actually starting to work on resource article all about it! There's so much we can talk through here, I'm just going to pull out one piece with this reply. Som...

Hey rocko -- I'm glad you're feeling better! If you feel like sharing, definitely let us know how you were able to sort how you were feeling out. It would be awesome to have something other users who are struggling similarly can find and read when they need it. No worries if you'd like to keep this ...

Hey candikelp -- welcome to the boards! It sounds like there's a lot you're trying to sort out about masturbation in general. Happy to help! If there's something I missed that you want to talk about, just let us know in your reply. For what it's worth, I don't think your relationship with masturbati...

Hey Estobawk -- I think you did a really good job explaining how intertwined this all is for you. I'm sorry this is all feeling so fraught and hard right now. What I'm hearing is that your discomfort expressing your femininity the way you'd like to or wish you could is a mental blockage to having th...

Hey sen -- I do think it would be a good idea to see a doctor sooner than later. 6 pads in 3 hours is indicating the kind of excessive bleeding more aligned with an internal injury. That's also quite a lot of bleeding for a period too, to put it into perspective. I'd advise the same thing in that sc...

Hey Estobawk -- I'm sorry this is so frustrating. You mentioned your parents and step-mom have been generally accepting and supportive. I also saw you said that you're not comfortable asking them for help with getting stuff like this. Are you able to pinpoint why that might be? For example, are you ...

Hey 42 -- happy new year to you as well! I'm sure Heather will chime in if they have more thoughts on what you asked, in the meantime I'll jump in. I'm glad you've been able to identify some stuff to unlearn/learn, I feel like this is half the battle most of the time. As for what the approach is lik...