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I was about 14 I started to realize that only one of my breasts was developing. That’s weird, I thought. Oh well, puberty is weird, bodies are weird, it will all work out eventually. I was about 17 when I realized it probably wouldn’t. Damn. Somehow I had ended up with one D cup breast and one A cup breast. Imagine, if you will: at this point I am a dancer. I am a teenage girl. I am sexually active. I am utterly mortified. Sort of.

I started to grasp that AIDS hit very diverse people from lots of different backgrounds, but AIDS had no face for me. No real face, I mean. Only a face hidden in a shadow, or behind glasses, with a wig or a base cap and a weird, computerized voice, without a name. But it did get a name for me. And a face.

Using a condom is generally easier than it looks (especially if you can relax about it), but the first few times, it can be tricky, especially if you’re nervous about knowing how to use one.

I’m 16 and I used to be pregnant.

Saying no to sex when you want to is a given. But what if you CAN’T say no? What if, the next day, you don’t even remember being asked, or how you got to where you are, or who you were with? Worse still, what if you DON’T wake up at all? Find out about date rape drugs and what you can do to protect yourself and your friends.

We get a lot of questions from teens who are wondering if they can prevent pregnancy after intercourse, whether the concern is due to a broken condom or from not using any method of contraception in the first place. Regardless of how it happened, there is something that can reduce the risk of pregnancy if used within 120 hours (or with an IUD, eight days) of your risk. That something is Emergency Contraception.

You’re forgiven if you think that even a little difficulty in this department means that you should start stocking up on Viagra. There are a number of falsehoods about ED floating around from schoolyards to saloons.

There’s nothing wrong with masturbation. Come on, say it with me: “there’s NOTHING wrong with masturbation.”

Am I blue? Find out what “blue balls” are really all about: the facts may surprise you.

When I was a teenager, having sex wasn’t really part of my rebellion. Having GOOD sex was. Now, I know that I’m kind of not supposed to even say this stuff out loud, especially within earshot of anyone under 18… or 21 or 29 or whatever this week’s proper age for sexual activity issued forth from…

I’ve recently been unable to put down The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade by Ann Fessler. (It’s a tough month for my bedside table, which has had to bear the physical and emotional weight of that book, as well…

A vaccine is available to help prevent the spread of some types of HPV for people of all genders. Have a click to find out more about it.

In this fascinating work, Hanne Blank shows why everything we think we know about virginity is wrong.

(Thanks for the AU link, Stephen.) …a Federal Government-funded study revealed teenagers are crying out for better advice on sexual intimacy and relationships. The groundbreaking study, funded by the Australian Research Council, shows that while an increasing number of youngsters are sexually…

The dramatic declines in teenage pregnancy rates noted in the United States between 1995 and 2002 were largely due to improved contraceptive use, not to abstinence, a new study shows. The article goes into far more detail but I just want to point out that this is evidence that teens can and do make responsible choices when choosing to be sexually active. Indeed, contraceptive use accounted for 86% of the drop whereas abstinence can only claim 14%.

The morning after pill is now legal in the U.S. for over-the counter use, without a prescription, for those over 18. But what does that mean to you? Following is an in-depth question and answer page about the decision and how it will be applied for all women, about Plan B, and about pharmacist refusals and how to manage them. Please circulate this information and/or link it as widely as possible, (with attribution to the author, please). The FDA press release from the day of the decision stated:

Well, for women 18 and older. Minors will still need a prescription to obtain emergency contraception in most states. Despite the restriction, this is a step in the right direction that was a long overdue. For more information about emergency contraception and how it works, check out this article on…

The vaccine, Gardisil, is only approved for women and girls right now but its maker (Merck) is looking into its use in boys and men. Hopefully it will be available to males soon since they can also be infected and transmit the virus to their partners. A few things have to be cleared up yet, such as…

It’s hard enough to stomach this administration’s claims of a “War on Terror,” when fighting that war (as if that wasn’t ironic enough already) involves taking water and work away from civilians, and thousands of deaths and injuries for Iraqis and American soldiers alike. But when, today, the Supreme Court negated federal protections for abortion clinics against violence, when the Bush administration supported a “pro-life” group with a validated history of a wide scope of clinic violence, including bombings (again with the irony), all one could really ask oneself was…

Studies, and reports on them, like this amaze me. Of course, the pro-life blogs and sources are all over this already like white on rice. Of COURSE a lot of women suffer long-term trauma with abortion, and of course it’s longer-term than miscarrying (pity they didn’t also include women’s…

At least once every couple of days, someone posts or writes into Scarleteen reporting that vaginal entry – usually intercourse or manual vaginal sex, and usually (but not always) with cisgender male partners – is painful, uncomfortable, or unfulfilling for them. Whatever sort of vaginal entry we’re talking about – with fingers, a penis or a dildo, with partners of any gender – not only doesn’t have to be painful, it really shouldn’t be. More than that, any kind of sex shouldn’t be about a lack of pain, but about the presence of pleasure.

Today, a Scarleteen user (thanks, puppysrcute!) posted the following at the boards: What do you think about this? To which, I replied: That, in general, we don’t have the long-term, solid data to have any idea if this is wise or damaging to women, and until we do, I’m not (and Scarleteen by association) going to endorse it, even as an option for women who do simply want to choose it as preference, not as doctrine or by pressure to do so.

Teen pregnancy and parenting are hard, so if you’re thinking about trying to make it happen, here’s some food for thought.

I don’t believe it! Who saw it coming? How could this happen? (Yeah, I’m no more convincing with playacting than the administration is.) In a completely unsurprising turn of events, following Bush’s failed (though one has to wonder if it wasn’t supposed to) attempt to bring the conservative-but-not…