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

A couple of years ago, I learned to knit and I got really really interested in knitting. Anytime I was sitting still (and sometimes when I was moving) I was knitting. But then, after a while, I sorta stopped getting that urge to knit everytime I sat still. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy knitting. It…

Looking at what you’ve posted, and given he knows that not only does anal sex not feel good for you, it causes you pain, I’d be inclined to agree that there’s probably something very unhealthy going on here interpersonally. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to give someone tips on how to do something…

I’m afraid that there isn’t a whole lot I can do for you, Guyman. You’re right: it is totally normal right now for you to feel strong sexual desires, and to get pretty excited when you’re around people that you’re attracted to. It’s also certainly more profound because of your age. It does settle…

What if it’s not about her coming out of her shell, but about the fact that she is NOT strongly attracted to girls, or attracted to girls at all? A person’s gender identity doesn’t determine their sexual orientation. In other words, very “girly” girls can be and are attracted to women (or people of…

Know what is really NOT a good way to find out if you’re able to be a Dad at 15? To wind up being a Dad at 15. You seriously do NOT want to be that guy. Heck, even if you have a partner who terminates a pregnancy you caused, that’s an awful lot to put her through for nothing. It’s very unusual for a…

When someone asks me a sex readiness question, one of the big things I look for is that the onset of sex in a relationship is about more than one person mostly or solely initiating. In other words, I hear you telling me that he says you can stop if you want to, and that tells me he’s probably the…

“Where the heck do the eggs go?” is a pretty common question around here, whether someone on a hormonal method is asking, or someone NOT on a method is asking. After all, when an egg isn’t fertilized it’s got to go somewhere, too. And when someone understands that we are born with WAY more ovum –…

The technical term for “blue balls” is vasocongestion. It really isn’t about balls at all, and it happens to people of all genders. Here’s the deal: when any of us gets very sexually aroused, one thing that happens is that our whole pelvic area tends to fill with blood. That’s how penises get…

Reprinted from S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-to-Know Progressive Sexuality Guide to Get You Through High School and College , © 2007 Heather Corinna/Marlowe & Company. Illustration by Molly Crabapple. Want to print out copies for yourself? Click here to download one in PDF format. Enjoy!

The Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) is a means for women to observe the three primary fertility signals: cervical fluid, waking body temperature and cervix changes so that you can be as in-the-know as possible when it comes to your own fertility and menstrual cycle. Find out the basic how-to so you can make the mystery of your own fertility cycle become a lot less mysterious.

This is a Canadian website that contains information on a variety of topics like Scarleteen does. It also has resources for adults, parents, teachers and health professionals, as well as videos and games.

I came across an interesting study on the state of sex ed in Illinois today. Illinois, like most states, receives money from the federal government for abstinence-only sex ed. Some highlights of the study include:

We get a LOT of questions like this, every single day, and have for as long as we’ve been online. Here are just a few more recent ones: I have been with my boyfriend for the last three years, and just last May we had sex for the first time. I was a virgin, he was not. We have had sex on a few…

Not having sex shouldn’t cause anyone to have a nervous breakdown. And if you feel like your mental health hinges on being sexually active with a partner, that’s not a good thing – or healthy for you or a relationship – and something you’d want to address with a mental health professional. Mind…

You can certainly do your best to help keep your immune system doing it’s job to fight off anything you may have been exposed to, just by taking sound care of yourself: eating right, getting enough activity and rest, limiting or avoiding substances that can tax the immune system like caffeine…

You know, KY is really one of the lower quality lubricants out there. If you’re using the jelly, it really isn’t going to help much, but even their liquid lubes aren’t as good as a lot of others in my opinion. An excellent lubricant is not only as good as “natural” lubricant, sometimes it’s even…

It’s very typical for condom use to contribute to longer lasting erections. Because they do reduce sensation somewhat – especially if you’re not putting a little lube inside, or using the thinnest condoms – and because the ring at the bottom of a condom also constricts the base of the penis, that…

Before I say anything else, just know that you get to feel whatever you feel, and that there isn’t anything wrong with either not feeling ready for – or just plain old not wanting – any given sexual activity. Anything I say from here on out is not intended to influence you to make any one choice…

My body hair first became a problem for me when I was 10. One summer day at the pool, I looked down – there was pubic hair showing out of the bottom of my bathing suit. I was absolutely horrified. I had never heard of anyone having such a problem. I knew that it was normal to have pubic hair, but surely this was abnormal. I felt like such a freak.

Unprotected sex of any sort (even without ejaculation) has both a pregnancy risk and an STI risk. So yes, you do have a risk from this contact. Pre-ejaculate (which happens throughout the course of an erection) isn’t something that anybody is really going to feel happening and it can contain sperm…

Unless you’re masturbating with something that isn’t sanitary – such as a toy or object that can’t really be sanitized, or with unwashed hands – masturbation can’t cause disease or infection, just like you, say, putting your fingers in your mouth isn’t going to cause disease or infection unless…

Research on pre-ejaculate is still a bit on the slim side, but based on what the experts know and report so far, urinating before sexual activity does likely reduce or remove the risk of active sperm being in that fluid. That’s not something we can guarantee yet, but that is the general consensus at…

How do some of our readers, users and supporters feel about Scarleteen? They’re really, really into us. We try not to get too big a head about it, but over the years a whole lot of people have had a whole lot of really nice things to say about us. You can read some of therm here!

It seems to me that we have four likely possibilities here when it comes to the pro-domme websites. 1) Your boyfriend is simply curious about and/or turned on by BDSM. Pro-domme sites are often free, and tend to have photos as well as information about BDSM. Some even have some bonafide, all-out…