It might help too to remember that sometimes our values - like in this case, what you think about having sex before marriage - and plans for life do change. That's a normal and common result of developing and having different life experiences :) So, you might want to give yourself a bit of space and...

Welcome to the boards! This is an excellent question :) There isn't the same right answer for everyone - it depends on your own personal circumstances and needs. The underlying question is, how important is it to you to avoid becoming pregnant, and what level of contraceptive protection would make y...

Hi Memekid, It's very common to have a lot of mixed feelings about something like this. It's pretty hard and confusing when something isn't right in our home or with a parent or guardian, and we're thinking about taking steps to do something about it. The way your mother's been behaving isn't okay, ...

I'm sorry to hear you're still having some hard feelings about those encounters, but very glad that you've been able to stop doing something that was making you feel bad. Per the health parts of this: now you've been sexually active, it'd be wise anyway to start with your routine sexual healthcare a...

I'm really glad you're feeling a bit better. Enough sleep and enough personal space are definitely important. And kitten-playing sounds perfect. I know that some people need to not feel like crying the whole time, just to get some kind of small emotional break - so if that's you, then yep, I get it....

I'm really sorry about your father, Atonement. I've learned from both personal experience and from hearing a whole range of people's bereavement experiences that having a difficult relationship with a family member doesn't necessarily make that bereavement any softer. Often, having had a complex or ...

In my household, we have disability in the mix - including some pain and physical restriction on my partner's side - so the way we talk about our bodies includes that. We're definitely not a centre of "bodies are AWESOME and ours are the BESTEST we love them!", because in common with a fai...

Obviously, what anyone chooses to do about a particular person or behaviour in your own community is entirely up to the people whose community it is. To clear up a few things, though: - no-one other than the woman described in this situation can know whether those sexual encounters were assault or n...

Hi, wintergreen, welcome to the boards! Any reason at all is absolutely 100% okay for questioning your sexuality. There aren't some reasons that are any more or less legitimate or acceptable than any others :) Besides, you said it yourself: you're questioning. You're wondering about it, you're maybe...

Hi, Volleygirl. I'm really sorry that both you and your friend are in this situation. When people cry by themself at night, usually that's because they want to keep it private. So, I'd strongly suggest keeping that information to yourself, as a kindness and a courtesy to both him and his sister (bec...

Hi Loona, in addition to the lovely support and good suggestions from capablehippy, can I ask, have you ever spoken with a doctor or therapist about any of this? What you're describing sounds like a significant level of distress, and some things where some professional mental health help is usually ...

It's my understanding that the usual frameworks for addiction don't really apply to porn consumption (even though "porn addiction" has become a bit of a buzz phrase). It's certainly possible to consume porn in an amount or way that's harmful to one's life; that would fit more within a comp...

We will not answer ANY questions about pregnancy fear or anxiety in our direct services from users who are not pregnant or who are not or have not otherwise been directly involved with an actual pregnancy. Please do not post this kind of question. If you are seeing this text, and your thread is loc...

Just adding a bit to clarify your queries about the usual waiting time with Nexplanon, before you can rely on it as a contraceptive: the usual advice is, indeed, one week. Anything that says several months is nonsense. For sure, it can take a few months for side-effects to settle down completely aft...

I definitely have a pattern here, and it's also a 2-sides of the same coin thing! (I'm not including assault here, because the frameworks we use at Scarleteen have sex and assault in wildly different places, and it's also in my own experience that assault wasn't in the same plane of existence as sex...

I'd just add to what Karyn said that for health reasons, it's important you let any healthcare providers know that you've had intercourse if they're asking about anything to do with sexual/reproductive health, and also to start with your routine sexual healthcare - including STI testing - if you hav...

Hi LovelyStar, al's right, there are helplines that you could call if you wanted who would give you non-judgemental support and be people to talk with if you wanted. We're also very happy and able to talk through some of these big feelings you're having with you here, if you'd like. I'm so sorry you...

Hi, MusicNerd. I'd definitely be happy to be one of the people here to talk with you about how you're feeling; as you asked about support groups, perhaps you might also like to know that I'm a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by a family member, so there's definitely a strong element of peer-couns...

To minimise disruption to your cycle and to give you contraceptive coverage sooner, the usual advice is to start taking the pill within 7 days following the start of your period. "Sunday start" - choosing the Sunday in that week - is a thing because it can help people remember which day th...

You know, I've always thought, personally, that one function of Pride flags and symbols is to be defiant of anyone who finds them offensive. I think some of the awkwardness you're feeling in your new village is probably about being The New Person, generally. It typically takes a while for a village ...

(I promise this is Orlando-centred, it gets there) What I got today, completely out of the blue and completely unexpected, is that I miss my mum - she died a few years ago - and I WISH I could talk to her about this. That's really from nowhere - I've had a bunch of life stuff since she's been gone w...

I know you're in Celsius (we use Celsius a lot over here in Europe, too :) and 32F is freezing point!), and I can only say that 30 to 33 C, as a core body temperature, is within the range for hypothermia, not the range for normal core body temperature. http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Hypothermia/Pages/...

Also, andvr, something isn't right with how you're measuring or reading your temperature, or with how you wrote it here. 30C - 33C isn't a normal body temperature, it's much too low: anyone with that temperature would have significant hypothermia. Shifts in basal temperature throughout the cycle are...

There are plenty more heterosexual people than there are queer people in the world, so it makes sense, numbers-wise, for more transmission to be through heterosexual intercourse. Textbooks are likely to talk about broad demographics like that to try to counter the very false notion that HIV is a &qu...

I think it Is absolutely incomprehensible, to the vast majority of people. That's immensely hard to deal with, but i also try to take heart from it: that so many people would not only never do it, they can't even comprehend. I understand, when trying to grasp something in it, going to the place wher...