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The more young people are told - usually by adults who know from their own experience it’s not true – that sex outside of marriage, outside long-term, monogamous relationships, or with any more than one partner in a lifetime, will always do them terrible, irreparable harm and make them damaged goods forevermore, the more we get questions about oxytocin, one common staple in that messaging. So, around a year ago, I started excavating.

We hear a lot about generational divides. What we hear much less about are the bridges: how people of different generations can and do connect; how we can support and help one another and each offer the other things of great value.

Heather Corinna, a writer and activist, is the founder of Scarleteen, one of the internet’s best sex ed resources for young people, and the author of S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-to-Know Progressive Sexuality Guide for Getting You Through High School and College. Scarleteen, which Corinna started in…

Worried you might be pregnant? Evaluate your risk, find out what steps you may need to take next, check in with your feelings and by all means, breathe. We’re here to walk you through it.

Toni Weschler is the author of Taking Charge of Your Fertility, which is pretty much THE book for people who want to chart fertility.

I probably can’t help you keep erections or ejaculation from happening when you don’t want them to, since that’s just something largely, and often entirely, outside someone’s control. Hopefully what I can do is help you to worry about it less and accept the way your body is right now more. We hear…

Before I say anything else, I want to make sure that you understand that it’s okay for you to simply not feel like having sex, and to decide to not have it for the time being. You say you don’t like sex, and that’s absolutely valid: We don’t have to like it, at any given time or ever. Now, if you DO…

I cannot stand this show. No sense in being shy about it, because this is a bias I cannot hide, as will be apparent in nanoseconds. But. The last episode (“She Went That A’way”) showed something I found very truthful and real about abortion and support with abortion and reproductive choices.

How about considering this in a different way? If and when you do have intercourse, some of what I’m about to say will probably be a big duh; be things you’ll find out for yourself. If you have already had other kinds of sex, you may know much of this already, but just not realize that as things…

The core of what you’re asking about is a biggie, one whole books have been written about. As someone who tends to be verbose, I could certainly write you a book, but I’ll spare you an encyclopedia, aim for a summary and will probably land somewhere in between. Based on what you posted, I don’t see…

Having sex with another person, regardless of their gender or yours, can always pose health risks, especially if you do not use proper precautions to protect yourselves from those risks. In the case of sex with another person with a penis (or with anyone, for that matter), the risk of acquiring an…

Molluscum contagiosum – a bumpy skin infection – isn’t technically an STI, but can be transmitted through sexual contact. The CDC states that molluscum cases in the United States have been on the rise since 1996.

Although I think of myself as South Asian, I was born overseas and have always lived in a Western country. Our family still carries many of our traditional values from back home and we have a large community here. I came out to my parents around 3 years after having my own realizations. The impetus for this was that they had started to look for marriage partners for me.

When you’re reading, interacting at/with or addressing Scarleteen, especially when interacting with staff, volunteers and other readers or users, we ask that everyone please try not to make assumptions about each other. When in doubt, or when you’re curious about someone’s life, body, identity…

It’s up to you to decide if this was sex and if this had anything to do with virginity. What I can do to help you with that is give you some definitions, backgrounds and perspective on those terms, some advice on making sexual choices in alignment with what you really want and feel ready for and…

Meyli’s question continued: Last night, he went out with a couple guy friends, and they went to a fastfood place for dinner. One of the workers, a middle-aged man, touched him (can I say he grabbed his ass?) innapropriately. He was really freaked out by that, obviously anyone would be. It was a…

It’s fine to start on day two. Really, it’s okay to start at any time in your cycle. It’s just that the pill will become fully effective more quickly if you start at certain times rather than others. If you start within the first six days of a period, your withdrawal bleed (the “period” that happens…

I don’t know what “just being a guy” means. I’m not messing with you, it’s just that boys and men, like girls, women and everyone else, vary so much. There’s just no one way guys are or behave. For sure, if he identifies as a guy, he’s going to be a guy no matter what, but who that guy is and what…

What do or might you want to do, not want to do or aren’t sure about when it comes to sex with a partner? Take stock with this awesomely in-depth list.

My family is supportive of my life, as long as they get to ignore the queer part. I know they can’t handle it so I don’t talk about it with them. As for my community of colour, the only one I’ve ever really been a part of is my mom’s church family, and I know they wouldn’t be able to handle it either.

I was one of several guests on a radio show in Baltimore on Friday. The topic of the show was apparently going to be about sex education and social justice, but turned out to be more like fear-mongering and a whole lot of projections around teen sexuality mixed with focus on parents and teen sexuality. One of the most troubling things was a statement that rape survivors “compulsively have sex.” This is a very common stereotype. It’s one that can be incredibly damaging in several ways. It’s also one which has long since been dismantled by rape survivors, people who work in the field as advocates for survivors and educators about rape.

Long story short? You asked her. She says she doesn’t. So, you either believe her or you don’t, ultimately. She also seems to be expressing great frustration and distress that you’re not extending trust to her and believing what she tells you. We can trust someone whether they’re right next to us or…

Why was I staying in a house that was falling apart all around me more and more? Why did I keep trying to convince myself I could fix everything when I knew I couldn’t, or that my landlord would suddenly do all kinds of things he’d never done? Why did I keep focusing on the small things that I loved about the house when the big things were so awful? Why was I staying so focused on what this house could be, rather than focusing on the way it actually was and was most likely to remain? One of the big things that got me to these realizations about my house were conversations with some of you about your unhealthy, abusive or otherwise crummy relationships.

Being queer and South Asian isn’t easy; being queer and mixed is harder, because any community can put it down to the OTHER identity group. That said, my Indian grandmother has been incredibly supportive, and no one has written me hate mail or disowned me. I’m very grateful for the internet, and for the time I’ve spent in larger cities. Both give me a sense that there’s someplace I might sort of fit in.

You listen to your own feelings and sense of self. You’re the expert when it comes to your own identity. While a sex is assigned to us at birth, and people may have the idea that also determines our gender, that stands in conflict with the fact that sex and gender are different words that mean…