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You’re facing down a process that, according to a bazillion sitcoms and teen dramas, ought to fill you with dread: introducing the person you’re dating to your parents and trying to peacefully navigate their feelings about your budding romance.

I’m an HPV vaccine evangelist. Every opportunity I get, I stand on my metaphorical soap box and preach to everyone who will listen about why it’s so important to get vaccinated against HPV. But it wasn’t always like this.

Your question came in well before COVID-19 was on the horizon, but ever since it reared its virus-y head, a LOT of people are finding themselves in your situation. If someone experiences sexual attraction or desire, there is going to be a point in their lives where they feel sexual urges they can’t…

On Friday, the Japanese Supreme Court voted to uphold a law that requires transgender people to be sterilized before their gender can be legally changed on official documents. Law No. 111, first implemented in 2003, set forth requirements that need to be fulfilled before Japanese trans people could…

A young writer powerfully talks about what it’s felt like to experience some of the blatant and painful anti-trans bias and rights violations of the Trump administration.

Bonnie Rough is thoughtful in addressing fears parents have about all the ways in which sex ed can go wrong and offers excellent ways to navigate those fears.

Hey friend, Thank you for writing in with your question; I completely identify with the anxiety of searching for acceptance from your faith community when your life choices are at odds with religious dogma. It’s a hard place to be in. I want to say two things unequivocally that I think can both be…

As we approach this new annum and everything that lies in store, instead of thinking about the ephemera one could manifest into being, I want to ask how we create the space to make our queer love and joy stand out and shine.

From Heather Corinna, founder and director of Scarleteen.com, and Isabella Rotman, cartoonist and sex educator, a graphic novel guide that covers essential topics for preteens and young teens about their changing bodies and feelings. Friends Malia, Rico, Max, Sam and Alexis talk about all the weird…

This groundbreaking feminist classic dismantles the way we view rape in our culture and replaces it with a genuine understanding and respect for female sexual pleasure.

An all-inclusive, uncensored, must-have guide for teens who are living in this world, who identify as transgender, nonbinary, gender non-conforming, gender fluid, or are questioning their gender identity or how they express themselves, and for their cis-allies and advocates.

This book is written for anyone—but especially educators, parents, fellow students, coworkers, and employers—who have helplessly looked around in the midst of some type of sexual injustice wondering, “What can I do?”

A comic that follows the daily adventures of two best friends — Andy, a trans genderqueer individual who is both tough and loving, and their BFF Scout, an all-feelings-all-the-time mistake-maker — as they navigate friendships, roommates, and romances within their community.

Real-deal consent requires clear, open and honest communication. And if we’re going ahead and actually being sexual together in some way, that also means an ongoing, nuanced and pretty highly situational process of communication, not just one or two super-quick, super-basic exchanges. Not only is communication as a process essential to keeping it consensual, it’s a big part of sex actually being any good for everyone involved.

You are not being unreasonable. I don’t think his response and behavior about the lube is fine. I don’t think it’s okay for him to tell you that not having sex isn’t a big deal for you, or to tell you how important sex is to your relationship for both of you. I don’t think it’s fine for him to be…

We had the means to help, and the motivation. So we did. But we didn’t want to provide just any old sex ed, or to cut-and-paste other people’s content. We wanted to do it better. It was important to us that the sex education we offered be as real as we could make it.

Scarleteen turns 20 years old today. Twenty. For two decades, we’ve delivered our unique and innovative brand of sex education, despite many financial, legal, political and practical barriers and battles. That kind of tenure for anything on the internet is unheard of, let alone for a grassroots, feminist sexual health, sex and healthy relationships initiative and alternative education project for young people, and one that was (and still is) queer, working class and woman-led. Centering and serving young people, sexuality and relationships like we do, with inspired quality, care and vision, and doing so independently — and for free — for so long is so rare. Very few organizations and resources have consistently delivered all of what we do, as well as we do, and to as many as we have, for this long.

What’s that shiny graphic there? Why, that’s just a lovely little commemorative doodle we asked artist-in-residence Isabella Rotman to do for our TWENTIETH FREAKING ANNIVERSARY. For real, we turn 20 on Saturday. TWENTY.This queer, scrappy, irreverent little sex education engine that (sometimes barely, but still) could…well, somehow actually did.

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…

What is sexual sin anyway? Impurity Culture’s Hannah Boning offers her unique perspective on the bible, sin, and sexuality.

I can understand why you aren’t feeling loved and wanted. It sounds like your partner is acting in a distinctly unloving way. I have some thoughts about ways you can approach conversations with him, to see if he’s willing to change his thoughts and actions here, but unless he is willing to make some…