Unprotected intercourse, with or without ejaculation, poses high risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The pregnancy risk is substantially smaller than had there been full ejaculation, but it still may be a risk. Not knowing when this happened, if it has been less than 120…
Search
- Heather Corinna
When this press release from the American Life League passed by my desk this evening, I couldn’t even wave my usual fist, sigh my usual sigh, or give a good barbaric yawp. Screeds like this often leave me in that space, bizarrely feeling like I’ve been somehow redeposited in time to the McCarthy Era, but this one was a real doozy: I feel like someone dosed my dinner.
- Heather Corinna
Hey, Jessie. You know, it’s normal for anyone, of any gender, and with any level (or lack) of sexual experience to feel attraction or a desire to have sex, and then to change your mind, or feel uncomfortable about pursuing sex, at any time, for any number of reasons. For instance, it may well be…
- Heather Corinna
“In 2005, 47 percent of high school students (6.7 million) reported having had sexual intercourse, down from 54 percent in 1991. The rate of those who reported having had sex has remained the same since 2003. Of those who had sex during a three-month period in 2005, 63 percent – about 9 million – used condoms. That’s up from 46 percent in 1991.
- Heather Corinna
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 -…
- Sarah M.
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…
- Heather Corinna
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…
- Heather Corinna
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…
- Susie Tang
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…
- Heather Corinna
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…
- Heather Corinna
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? –…
- Heather Corinna
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…
- Heather Corinna
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…
- Heather Corinna
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…
- Heather Corinna
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…
- Heather Corinna
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…
- Heather Corinna
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…
- Heather Corinna
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…
- Heather Corinna
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…
- Susie Tang
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…
- Heather Corinna
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…