choices

What’s a “boyfriend” or what’s a “girlfriend?” It all depends on what you and yours decide it’s going to mean and what works best for you.

The first thing I’d ask you is if you – and your boyfriend – feel too young to possibly be someone’s parent. I ask that, because one huge risk with unprotected sex is pregnancy. Statistically, in less than one year, 80-90% of people (and remember, too, teens are often far more fertile than us…

You’re considering a method or practice of pregnancy prevention, and want need to decide if you want to use a hormonal or nonhormonal method.

Our giant 25-page guide to birth control options provides in-depth info on contraceptive choices to help you find your BC BFF.

It is okay to have a desire to explore sex with the same gender; it is okay to have a desire to explore sex with people of a different gender. We also don’t need to view any of that exploration as an “experiment,” nor is same-gender sex somehow more of an experiment than mixed-gender sex is. I mean…

(Eoin’s questions continued…) 1) Abstinence-until-marriage is not superior (this will also come up later with respect to “the parents” and other concerns with my girlfriend); is it such a big deal if I have sex with my girlfriend tomorrow, in a couple months, or several years from now, including…

If you feel like – and you seem to be very clearly saying you do – that YOU need to hold off on sex with someone new, for YOU, that’s really all you need to know. You’re the only person waiting needs to be okay with. If it’s not okay with anyone else, too bad for them. Some not-as-yet boyfriend…

Really, the why here isn’t that important. What’s important is the “is.” In other words, you’re doing things you’re saying you really don’t want to do. WHY you’re doing them, or what might have caused you to have a hard time with making the choices you want to isn’t as important as the fact THAT…

No matter what THEIR reasons are for holding off on any kind of sex, all of you need to be respecting the choices each of you makes for yourself. So, if you’re making different choices than they are, the choices you want to make, this discussion with them shouldn’t be going on over and over again…

Risk-taking is a very, very normal (I’m going to say it again in case you missed it: VERY normal) part of adolescent and young adult – and overall human – development. When the risks we’re taking are sound risks to BE taking, which involve the possibility of real benefits, that not only isn’t a…