Search

Good on you for doing so much research, but if you’re using the birth control pill, then you’re not ovulating, nor most fertile at any given time. The combined pill suppresses ovulation, so there’s no sense in charting when you’re on it, because there isn’t anything TO chart: your fertility status -…

Bleeding for more than two weeks at a time is a good reason to see a doctor, at least to make sure you haven’t become anemic (iron deficient) due to blood loss, and to rule out pregnancy as a cause of the bleeding if that is a possibility. It is most common for a period to last 4-6 days, but…

There are a few likely possibilites for this. One might be plain old vasocongestion – when a person becomes sexually aroused, the whole pelvic area fills with blood, which is how erection happens in penis, and vulval engorgement – swelling of the clitoris and vulva – happens in those body parts…

Heather Corinna is a longtime advocate of what she calls “sex education for the real world.” Corinna, a former Minnesotan who is the founder of scarleteen.com, a website that aims to deliver “the best contemporary teen sex ed on the net,” was in the Twin Cities recently to promote her new book, “S.E…

Anon: first things first. Obviously, on top of giving oral sex when you don’t even want to, you’ve also been doing it unprotected. So, the very first thing I’d advise you strongly to do is to go into your doctor or sexual healthcare clinic and get a full STI screen, including a screen for your mouth…

Generally, people who get periods can expect the unexpected with their menstrual cycles for the first 5 years of having them. Even then, it’s still common for young people to have erratic cycling into their early twenties. That means you’re normal. Even if your period has been totally well-behaved…

The short answer is that it is techinically possible, but is not likely. The longer answer is that there are a lot of variables, and we still need more study to be done on this to give a better answer. Do we know that pre-ejaculate fluid can contain sperm? Yes, we do. We also know that there are far…

Most topical antibiotics state on the label that they aren’t to be used on mucous membranes, alas. But you can certainly check the label on any topical antibiotics you have around the house to see. So, with a genital injury – I’m assuming you mean you have an injury around your vaginal opening? –…

Since sex is more than just physical – it’s also psychological, emotional, intellectual, and when you add another person into the mix, social – it’s normal to experience partnered sex and masturbation differently. They’re different things! And certainly, upping the emotional intensity of things…

Ideally, after something like this, you’d want to flush your eye out with a lot of water, as an immediate measure. But more ideally, you don’t want to get semen in your eyes. That absolutely poses a risk of infection – as well as hurting like nobody’s business – including sexually transmitted…

There is no data to support that caffeine reduces the effectiveness of birth control pills or other hormonal birth control. However, since the pill can cause breast tenderness, and caffeine can make that worse, if you’re having any issues with that, you may want to cut back on the java some. Too…

Hey, Katie. Well, in most people with vaginas there is a “skin thing,” at least at the beginning, and that’s the hymen. But it rarely is “popped” or needs to be “broken” by sex. The hymen is made up of thin folds of tissue that, when we’re young, mostly covers the vaginal opening. It’s right there…

Lucky for you, the solution to this is really easy. You’re right: using a latex condom when you know you have an allergy would be a Very Bad Idea. And as well, lambskin condoms don’t protect against STIs (not to mention that lambskin = eew). STI protection is really important, and ideally, you want…

I just want to start by debunking something first, okay? There really is no distinction to be made between “some” intercourse and “full” intercourse. In other words, an inch or so in, is as much of intercourse as a few more. Given how much penis sizes can vary, as well as the fact that the nerve…

My guess would be that rather than missing “extras,” you’re missing basics. If any genital contact feels blah to you, or just like someone was patting you on the back, my first suggestion would be to make sure that when any kind of sex happens – even masturbation – you’re really feeling aroused…

Just so you know, while certainly, it’s more common to begin some sexual activity before your age (which you had), there still are plenty of people who have not had sexual intercourse at your age. And given that the age of first marriage has been increasing, in terms of folks waiting for all sex or…

Blank - that which is not allowed meaning, form or articulation. Noise - that which heightens, builds itself. Blank Noise put together are two words that contradict themselves. We experience eve teasing daily. It is a sexual violation but we ignore it. At the same time, we structure our lives to…

Hollywood and the fashion, cosmetics and diet industries work hard to make each of us believe that our bodies are unacceptable and need constant improvement. Print ads and television commercials reduce us to body parts — lips, legs, breasts — airbrushed and touched up to meet impossible standards…

Hi there, metronidazole (Flagyl) is the most common treatment for bacterial vaginosis (BV). While many people who contract BV don’t show symptoms, when they do, the discharge that usually occurs is milky-greyish and fishy-smelling. that doesn’t really fit with the description you gave. However it is…

Madison: I’d suggest you start by taking a look at our sex readiness checklist which I’ve linked at the bottom of my response to you here. It’s a really excellent tool for getting a good overview of all the aspects of sexual readiness. Now, a lot of people who are ready may still not check off ALL…

Thirty-seven-year-old Seattle resident Heather Corinna’s mission is to make sure teenagers have accurate sex information that speaks directly to them. In 1999 [sic], she started her pioneering site Scarleteen.com, which gets 10,000-30,000 visitors a day, and has just come out with S.E.X.: The All…

What do you really know about HIV and AIDS? How sure are you that what you know is correct or complete, and how much do you think it matters that you know about HIV and AIDS at all?

Anon, it’s never wrong to not want to do any given sexual activity. Everyone has their own wants, needs and preferences, and you get to have yours just like anyone else. While it can take a little adjusting for sexual partners to find middle ground in terms of what both want and prefer, a partner…

Yes, she could. As well, the same – and sometimes slightly higher – STI risks are present during menstruation as any other time. For most people who can become pregnant, pregnancy is substantially less likely from intercourse that happens during menses than from intercourse at other times. However…

There’s no “cherry” that needs popping in your vagina. Seriously. And virginity is a cultural idea or concept: it’s not a physical state of anything. In other words, the bodies of “virgins” and the bodies of “non-virgins” are often impossible to tell the difference between. Sometimes that term…