Bodies

For all the body positivity of our modern era, we still don’t hear many public conversations about periods. In many parts of the world, people are and have long been cut off from resources and education about periods: and the more marginalized the person, the more cut off they’ve usually been. Let’s have an honest discussion about what periods are, some of the unique challenges that transmasculine people who menstruate can grapple with, and how to address them.

Other people had to have been struggling with this, right? There was no way I was the only one. But if that was true, then why didn’t I – or anyone else I knew, for that matter – know about it? Why had I wasted years of my life pushing people away, feeling miserable, and not even understanding why? I’m going to make sure that nobody else has to go through what I did.

Ads on TV often give the impression that bladder leaks only happen to old ladies who’ve had a bunch of kids. However, urinary incontinence (UI) affects people of all ages, genders, and activity levels. There are many different types of UI, but one of the most common types affecting young people occurs during physical activity and athletics – hence the term “athletic urinary incontinence.”

When I tell someone that I help people with problems related to the abdomen, pelvis, and pelvic floor, I often get a curious look. What is the pelvic floor, after all? How do we care for it and the tissue around it? Here’s a thorough walkthrough of the anatomy of your pelvic floor and perineum and how you can keep tabs on this area of the body.

This edition of Pelvic Problems covers one of the most common problems that pelvic health physical therapists encounter: the non-relaxing pelvic floor (NRPF). This can cause a variety of symptoms, ranging from constipation and difficulty peeing to pain with sex and sitting. Fortunately, there’s a lot that can be done to help people with non-relaxing pelvic floors!

With her book Curvy Girl Sex: 101 Body-Positive Positions to Empower Your Sex Life (Fair Winds Press, 2017) Elle Chase gave us a guide for methods, positions and sex hacks for fat lovers with a range of different body types, centering all kinds of people who have long had their sexuality marginalized, denied or erased. In a conversation with Scarleteen, Chase talks about the book, how the media is changing its portrayal of fat people, the relevance of the word “plus size,” and her personal experiences with her own body acceptance and sexual journey.

If we have the idea that puberty or pregnancy are the only big body changes we’ll experience in life, and we come to perimenopause or menopause not understanding that they, too, are another big phase with some big change, it can be a real shock. However and whenever you might get to menopause or the menopausal transition, knowing about it in advance will always make the experience better. Whether you want to find out about it way in advance, you’re in or approaching some form of it now – like POI or with hysterectomy – or you want to know more to support someone in it in your life, here’s a place to start.

When you gain weight and want to talk about it – whatever your feelings about it are – with partners or others you’re in intimate relationships with, how can you do that, especially in a world where so few people are equipped with the skills to talk about weight in healthy, sensitive, supportive ways?

What’s harm reduction? What are some basic harm reduction principles? What are some basics ways to minimize or reduce harm with sex, recreational drug use and the pandemic? Here’s a place to get started.

Good news! You’re not the only person who’s experienced this - pubic hairs are definitely more stubborn than other hairs on our bodies! The hair that grows in the pubic area is thicker than other types of body hair or head hair, not to mention, the skin around the vulva and the scrotum are really…