Not even joking, y'all, Scarleteen is an amazing resource that deserves attention and (if you’ve got the cash for it) donations so they can keep providing thorough education about sex, consent, relationships, etc to folks of all ages who need it.
Here’s a rundown of their general policy, from literally the first article I clicked on just now:
As you might be getting from that, they’re pretty intersex inclusive, too. Here’s a sample of something that’s a little more directly about sex-specific stuff in case you’re thinking “well but they said that was just about pleasure tho”:
They have a lot of sections on their site, but number two is Gender:
“That’s probably just like hetero gender dynamics stuff tho…” Nay nay! Here’s a few of the articles from the first page of their “Gender” section:
Scarleteen was a huge help to me as a trans person. They have a live chat that has sex-ed type folks giving real-time answers, and even just the staff+volunteers who happened to be attending to the live chat were able to help me with weird niche trans problems - a decade ago, when trans people, it seemed, damn near didn’t exist. They are EFFING AWESOME and want to help you!!!!
In addition to LGBTQ+ positivity…
They have a disabled section with stuff for chronic pain. There was a link about navigating consent with non-verbal partners. This is an awesome resource, I’ve never felt so included.
Thank you for introducing me to it!
As a parent this is an invaluable resource because lets be real. No matter how close you are to your parents sine things are UncomfortableTM to talk about with your them
So acknowledging that and telling my kid “You can ask me anything but if you’re too embarrassed to ask me something this is a trusted source you can go to” is super important
Yeah, honestly I don’t even think it’s embarrassment as much as just… boundaries and privacy, that means teens don’t want to walk up to their parents like, “Dad, what should I keep in mind if I want to give oral sex to my partner?”
Sexuality is one of those areas where kids should be developing the ability to figure out their own tastes and preferences beyond what their parents have defined for them. it’s also part of them building relationships outside the family home, and generally learning to operate autonomously. It’s great if kids have a good base of support to fall back on, but honestly it’s healthier for parents and caregivers to say, “I’m going to give you the tools and resources you need to explore this on your own, so you can practice independence, though you can come to me any time you want.”
Like, this whole process of forcing kids to rely 100% on their parents for knowledge about how their bodies work and what sexual pleasure is like is in itself really unhealthy and creepy. It commonly forces kids to secretly go to sources of dubious reliability or trustworthiness, which makes them really vulnerable, especially if telling their parents about any problems they encounter means they need to confess that they broke the rules. It is so much safer to let kids know where the good resources are, and that they’re allowed to access them.
