boundaries

Reclaiming your sexuality after sexual abuse can be complicated. Your previous partner has left you with a whole mess of shame and trauma. None of this is your fault, he is the one who chose to hurt and manipulate you, I’m sorry that you had to go through that and are now facing the work of picking…

Why are certain types of touch so important to our relationships? How does culture and identity affect how we think about touch as a form of social communication?

I’m so sorry to hear that your friends’ behavior has got you feeling this way, Liv. From the sound of things, even if they’re not doing it on purpose, they’re souring what otherwise sounds like something that’s been pretty nice for you and is also obviously a formative life experience. A first…

Why is it that scenes of rape and other sexual violence in media can be so upsetting to some people and not others? Are there ways to be less impacted by these scenes, or avoid them altogether?

Approaching consent through a disability lens opens up new opportunities in all kinds of relationships.

If you want to explore various aspects of kink — or whatever you want to call it — there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, and it can be fun and one way to build rich, fulfilling relationships.

The good news is that you do not have to be sexually active until you’re ready. Virginity, aside from being an idea rather than a physical thing you can lose, is not something you need to race to “get rid of.” There are no prizes for being the first person in your school to have sex, and no…

What to do, and what to avoid like the plague, when you’re crushing on someone hard.

You’ve got a few layers to this question, so let’s peel them off and look at them one by one. Let’s get “is this normal” out of the way first. Normal is a deeply unhelpful concept when it comes to sex. We can talk about how common certain behaviors or desires are, although even then that may not be…

I can spot one big thing that’s making sex unpleasant for you, and it has zero to do with your brain or body being “wrong”. It’s got everything to do with your boyfriend. Before I go into why that is, there’s something else that needs addressing. You mention someone abused you as a child, and I’m so…