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I’m sorry to hear that sex has been a disappointment. Let’s see if I can help shed some light on this for you. A partner cannot be a mind-reader. No one can, but being someone’s sexual partner doesn’t magically imbue them with that skill. There’s just no way your boyfriend can know what you’ve been…

Everyone is different when it comes to hormonal/menstrual cycles, and there certainly are people who experience more intense effects of physical and psychological changes throughout their cycle than others. Experiencing changes in your mood, how your body responds to different kinds of touch, and…

What I’m not hearing in this is what you want. You tell me he’s been touching your body more and more, but you didn’t say anything about if that’s something you want and have been enjoying. I hear the things he’s been saying, but I don’t know what you’ve been communicating to him yourself. The…

Patsy Niklas is someone I consider myself privileged to know in person. Until recently, she worked as the program manager for YEAH (Youth Empowerment Against HIV/AIDS) in Melbourne, coordinating volunteer training and taking care of the organisation’s social media. Now she works with the Foundation for Young Australians on their Young People Without Borders project, helping young Australians get involved in volunteering and activism. In addition to all that, she hosts a weekly show about sex and relationships on Melbourne’s youth-run radio station, SYN.

If you’re someone who takes part in end-of-year giving, we’d like to ask you to consider giving to Scarleteen . As you may already know, Scarleteen was one of the first online resources for young people about sex and sexuality, and remains the leading, most visited online resource expressly created…

You did nothing wrong. The idea someone “asks for” something they don’t want, something that they experience as a violation, is a trope that I wish would go the way of the dodo bird. Understand, I’m not upset with you for saying that; I’m upset with the culture that sends messages that make you…

You tried to do something sexual you thought was super-sexy but the other person thought was weird, silly or downright gross. Something one partner of yours thought was the hottest thing ever turned out to be something that, when you tried it with another person, bored the pants not even off of them, but right back onto them. Your biggest turn-on is someone else’s buzzkill. In any of these situations or many others like them, you might feel like you were bad in bed or someone else might think that about you. Here’s the biggest thing to know about that, before I say anything else at all: When sex is consensual, we all have the right to be our own idea or someone else’s idea of who or what is “bad” in bed. Sometimes; anytime. That’s because we’re human.

Nothing. In other words, since it sounds like you’re asking for a personal answer here, and I am someone who could have become pregnant, and am someone who engaged in those sexual activities when I was a teen, the answer is that I didn’t do anything per preventing pregnancy and those activities…

People do say that people are ready for sex – and not just the first time, either – at different times, different ages and in different situations. And that’s absolutely right. Whether we do or don’t want any kind of sex at any given time, with any given person, in any given situation, and also…

- (from the website:) Female genitalia have long been a source of fascination, recently of celebration but generally of confusion. Today it seems that creating images of the vagina is the sole preserve of pornographers, erotic artists and feminists. Step in British artist Jamie McCartney who has…

Lunapads rebranded as Aisle. (from the website:) Lunapads International is a women-owned and operated social mission-based business based in Vancouver, Canada. Our goal is to help individuals have healthier and more positive experiences of their menstrual cycles, and by extension, their bodies…

Free online yoga classes, for healthier bodies and healthier minds! Besides increasing strength and flexibility, yoga has proven itself as a great stress-reduction tool. Do Yoga With Me has videos for all levels of experience and fitness- all you need is some comfy pants and a clear spot on the…

_ (From the website:) Everyone deserves a relationship based on equal love and respect. We have the right to say no to things that make us uncomfortable. We have the right to spend time alone or with other friends. We have the right to choose whether or not we want to stay in a relationship. Dating…

_ (from the website:) Straight for Equality is a national outreach and education project created in 2007 by Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) National to empower new straight allies who, unlike a more traditional PFLAG member, don’t necessarily have a family connection to…

(From the pamphlet:) Straight for Equality is an invitation and opportunity for people who want to stand up for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) equality but are not sure how. Through education, Straight for Equality will empower straight people in supporting and advocating for GLBT…

The National HIV and STD Testing Resources Web site (aka HIVtest.cdc.gov and FindSTDtest.org) is a service of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This Web site provides users with locations for HIV and STD testing and STD vaccines around the United States. (from hivtest.cdc.gov)

About loveisrespect.org: Break the Cycle and the National Dating Abuse Helpline are collaborating to bring you loveisrespect.org. By combining our resources and capacity, we are reaching more people, building more healthy relationships and saving more lives. We designed loveisrespect.org to: -Create…

From the “About” section: Sex, Etc. is on a mission to improve teen sexual health across the country! Each year, five million young people visit Sexetc.org, and over 45,000 read our national magazine to get honest and accurate sexual health information. We’ve helped teens with answers to their…

From the University of Illinois Counseling Center, a great piece about body image, societal expectations, and making healthy choices that are right for YOUR body.

Everyone has a sexual orientation and a sexual identity. Here are some basics and not-so-basics about what orientation is, some of the ways we can talk about it, how to figure yours out, and finding support.

I just want to start off by saying that you seem to be a self-aware and secure person in your sexuality, from the limited information that you included. Many people who are concerned with their lack of sexual experience have feelings of insecurity. That insecurity is more often what tends to be the…

Do you feel anxious about the idea of getting tested for sexually transmitted infections and diseases? Some of our readers certainly do. Some never had adequate sex-education and did not realize that sexual activity with a partner – and not just anal or vaginal intercourse – can pose STI risks in…

Your question isn’t silly. Privacy around any kind of sex is a big concern for many people, whether they live with parents, housemates or partners. Many people feel that masturbation is a very private thing, and don’t necessarily want to shout it out to their parents that they are going to go…

…was the major overall theme yesterday in our anonymous texting service’s inbox here at Scarleteen! Was some misleading info about dry humping + pregnancy starring in some big TV show we must have missed last night? Seriously though, dry humping is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It’s “dry”…

Ten years ago, I knew about using lube, about making first-time intercourse comfortable, and about pregnancy prevention options, but it seems I didn’t know much about sexually transmitted infections. My partner at the time — I’m still with him — offered to get tested for STIs before our first meeting in person. I turned him down. I think I must have decided that he didn’t have an STI. Someone told me once that I was more powerful than electricity. If that is true, which I highly doubt it is, I must be truly powerful indeed, to conduct blood and urine analyses over the phone or Internet, and with no scientific or medical training at that!