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It has NEVER been safe to try and terminate a pregnancy with a wire hanger, for crying out loud. PLEASE hear that. Abortions with wire hangers are remnants of the horror stories – true ones, sadly – from the days when abortion was illegal. Many women had to have backalley abortions at high cost…

Don’t be afraid to ask Heather Corrina (sic) The adolescent years are a time of blossoming sexuality, yet for many young people, finding unbiased judgement-free information about sex and sexuality can be difficult. From what I remember, my own sex education involved a lot of leaflets and a video…

The NuvaRing is a HIGHLY effective method of birth control. As you’ll see here, the NuvaRing has only a 8% failure rate with typical use (and less than 2% with perfect use). This is lower than the birth control pill (9%) and the external condom (15%). The real question is how much of a risk you and…

Roman Catholic bishops in Connecticut have recently passed an ordinance allowing hospital staff to offer emergency contraception in its 4 of 30 state hospitals to assault victims, just days before a state law is to be passed requiring it. The church had been considering fighting the law on grounds of it being unconstitutional, but backed from that decision, citing that church teachings are not clear on the matter, and there is “little understanding of how Plan B works”.

First off, kudos to you for being such a great cousin! Signs of when a person with a uterus is about to start their period vary greatly from person to person. Some people have tender breasts and cramps as you described, others have headaches or nausea, while others really have no pain or discomfort…

Whether you orgasm or not, sex without a condom leaves you open to both STI transmission and pregnancy risk (assuming your partner is not using another form of contraception that would protect against pregnancy). Pre-ejaculate (sometimes referred to as “pre-cum”), the fluid that is released by men…

It sounds to me like it’s time for you to think about what you really want right now in this relationship and then have a good ole’ fashioned sit-down talk with your partner here, honey! First off, what exactly is it that you want in this relationship? Forget for a moment what he may or may not be…

I want to be accepted for who I am, not what I am. I don’t want to be straight if it’s just a VIP pass for friends.

Take a big breath. It’s all going to be okay, and there’s just no reason for you to be so scared. For starters, it’s totally normal for ejaculate to run out like that after intercourse where the partner with the penis ejaculates without a condom. That’s plain old gravity: when you’re laying down or…

It really depends, because there are a few possibilities, and it could be any one or all of them. Most commonly, that’d just be a person with a vagina’s usual vaginal discharges. At nearly any given time, we have vaginal discharges and cervical mucus which are part of our monthly fertility cycle…

(Anonymous’ question continued) I will try my hardest (as in I will work as long as I can) to help her reach orgasm, but she just can’t seem to. Not once have I managed to make her climax during vaginal or oral sex. The most recent time She came very close, but just as she was about to peak she went…

It’s not a bad thing when it isn’t a bad thing for you. NO consensual sexual activity is a bad thing, per the activity alone, when everyone involved WANTS to be doing it, and feels good physically and emotionally doing it. But you’re right: there are a lot of negative attitudes about anal sex and…

It sounds like you’ve got your body pretty confused here! Let’s talk a little bit about how the pill works, because that may clear things up a little bit. Birth control pills are essentially doses of synthetic hormones. What this does is sort of re-order the way your body is functioning with regard…

Generally speaking, when you start missing pills in the middle of a cycle (especially if you miss lots of pills) some weirdness with your withdrawl bleed is to be expected. By not having those extra hormones in your body, it’s impossible to guess what was going on with your natural hormone levels…

I can tell you with no reservations that masturbation did not and cannot: • Cause hair loss • Cause any sort of stammering or other speech impairments • Have any effect whatsoever on your fertility Really, it won’t. It can’t. If it could, more than 95% of the population would be bald, infertile and…

First of all, good for you and your partner for educating yourselves about safer sex and wanting to be as safe as possible! The first step in having safer sex is deciding on and using some form (or forms) of birth control. The second, really important step then is making sure that you are using your…

This is one of those questions where the only “right” answer is that it’s not wrong if it isn’t wrong for you. But I’ll give you more than that to work with. If it’s wrong, it’s a wrong thing that the vast majority of the population does at one time or another, most starting so young that we don’t…

If he’s only asking for sex, I’m sorry to tell you that it’s pretty safe to assume he isn’t interested in asking you out. He’s expressed his interest: it’s sex. And if you’ve interest in having a boyfriend, and his only interest is in having someone to have sex with, that’s a recipe for disaster…

Sometimes, when we perceive pain before it happens, we feel pain because (primarily) of that perception. It’s called a perceived pain event when that happens. Suffice it to say, that happens a LOT to a lot of women with first intercourse because of all the stories we hear about how terribly painful…

First things first: with ANY new partner – as in, someone we have not been with for six months or more, and practicing all aspects of safer sex with – we really, truly should be using latex barriers (condoms, in this case) with fellatio. I know, I do, that at 14, it often seems really unlikely…

I’d divide your questions into two groups here: the things you need to ask someone else, and the things you need to ask your girlfriend (and listen to her about). Let’s start with the first group. Per spermicides, in general, if you can avoid using them, you want to avoid using them. Not only are…

It’s not naive to be without information because no one gave it to you. As far as the ovulation cycle, I sure can! Start by having a look at this: On the Rag: A Guide to Menstruation. The way to know if you’re ovulating – or, more accurately, to be able to make your best guess – is to start…

We hear a lot – for sound reasons – about how intercourse by itself isn’t very satisfying for a majority of cis women. What we hear less about is that it’s also not always satisfying for men. But just because we hear less about it doesn’t mean it’s not an issue for plenty of men. No one sexual…

Before I say anything else, let me just say that I’m so sorry you had to have this experience. Sadly, very few women who have had even the smallest measure of sexual experience will go through life without at least one person responding like this, but it’s particularly painful when the person saying…

Joe, I’m going to be pretty straight with you, here. The “circumstances” aren’t determining your behaviour. You are both, every time you don’t use condoms properly and consistently, making an ACTIVE CHOICE to take the risks that are causing you this stress. You have every possible ability to make…