sam w's blog
Scarleteen Confidential: Beyond Birds & Bees
Bonnie Rough echoes many comprehensive sex educators in her assertion that it is often adult discomfort with the idea of children being sexual beings, or an inability to see things like nudity in a non-sexual light, that drives the way they interact with children’s sexuality. She’s honest about the ways in which she, and many other well-meaning parents, can be so focused on how they can prevent negative outcomes of sex that they inadvertently reinforce harmful, sex-negative messages. She poses an alternate question for parents to ponder in place of merely thinking about how to prevent negative outcomes: what are my hopes and dreams for my children in their sexual lives?
Scarleteen Timeline
One of my projects over the last year has been a full content review of Scarleteen. I have now literally read every blog, every article, every advice column we have ever published. Besides our director and founder Heather Corinna, I don't think anyone else on earth has read as much of Scarleteen as I have.
Defending Roe
When I saw the announcement that Supreme Court Justice Kennedy was retiring, paving the way for Trump to appoint another conservative extremist to the court, I got the hot, panic-anger feeling in my chest that I’ve come to associate with life under this administration. This adds to the growing threats already undermining reproductive freedoms and LGBQA protections in the U.S. The things that could happen if -- and unfortunately, but most likely, when -- Trump and his enablers in the legislative branch manage to get a new justice appointed make me ill every time I think about it.
Scarleteen Confidential: Helping Youth Handle Rejection
Young people don’t arrive at their conclusions about appropriate romantic behavior in a vacuum; they’re influenced by a myriad of messages, including input from the adults in their lives. Sometimes that input includes ideas that end up exacerbating issues around rejection and dating. One of the ways we can work towards a world in which acts like this no longer happen, a world in which people, and women in particular, aren’t afraid their “no” will make them a target of violence, is to make a concerted effort to help the young people in our lives learn to deal with rejection in healthy ways. With that in mind, we’ve put together recommendations to assist adults in doing exactly that.
An Interview With Jiz Lee
Jiz is a nonbinary performer, speaker, author, and the driving force behind Coming Out Like a Porn Star, a collection chronicling how different porn performers have "come out" to family, friends, and loved ones. I asked Jiz their thoughts on identity, ethics, and the realities of making porn.
Vibrator Nation: An Interview with Lynn Comella
Have you ever wondered what people mean when they talk about feminist sex toy stores? Do you love learning about feminism, sex toys, and history? Are you just looking for a fascinating book to read?
Creating Consent Culture: Ten Questions With Kitty Stryker
We're some of consent's biggest fans around here, so we're thrilled to have gotten a chance to interview Kitty Stryker about the new anthology she spearheaded, Ask: Building Consent Culture.
Even the Cutest Kittens: The Upbeat Song About STI Testing You Didn't Know You Needed.
When an email came into the Scarleteen inbox with kittens in the title, we were excited, of course (because kittens!) but unsure what to expect. What we got was this gloriously weird video for a cheerful little ditty about getting tested for STIs.
Pulse: One Year After
I came into work on June 12th, 2016, as if it were any other morning. One of my daily tasks is to check all of our social media channels. I opened Twitter to find people talking about Orlando.
A shooter.
A nightclub. No, a gay club.