New advice column from Heather: Gabbii777 asks: I'm wondering what a good age to have a 'relationship' is? I'm 13 and I've sort of began to have stronger attractions both emotionally and physically to boys. I'm not sure if I'm ready for a relationship and I'm scared that if it doesn't work (for exa...

Hi, SilverGirl! With something like this, you can feel sure that your contraception coverage hasn't been compromised. It probably doesn't say what to do after 4 hours because there's nothing anyone needs to do, although clearly it would be helpful if it said so! That four-hour window covers the maxi...

With regard to the question you asked, kabith - "...how do you influence that conversation? ... How do you handle harmful messages in other kinds of social media...?" Being super-active against this is just not "my" thing, not the best use of my personal energy (it rapidly grinds...

Youtube stuff tends to be entirely outside my radar, but after you posted this, kabith, I went and found out what Laci Green was talking about. Ugh. All of you who've reported this or otherwise campaigned about it have made a big difference, it seems to me. In the last 24 or so hours, it's in variou...

New article! Be Your Own Superhero: Learning How and When to Stand Up for Ourselves by Onionpie: Do you sometimes feel like the people you know who are able to set boundaries clearly and stick to them, assert their own needs, and just generally stand up for themselves, are like some kind of superher...

ICantThink, I hear that you're asking for guys' opinions on this, and I don't want to get in the way of that! Still, maybe my two pence is helpful to you: I remember a number of conversations I and my colleagues have had on the boards with guys who were expressing not feeling ready for sex when thei...

Hi, simome05. People do have very different texting styles and different comfort zones. Some people use texts to communicate quite deeply and personally with a partner, and other people use texts just to keep in touch by saying hi and for making arrangements. I don't think there's anything wrong wit...

Welcome to the boards, 121shooter! There are a few different things you might be feeling inside your vagina. If your fingers are fairly deep, then you might be feeling your cervix, at the end of the vagina. It could also be the wall of the vagina or part of the pubic bone, as the vagina doesn't go s...

I took a gap year between secondary school and university. I felt that my personal world was pretty small and wanted to enlarge it before university - it definitely had that effect and helped a lot at university. I also really wanted and needed a break from classrooms and learning pressure, and want...

Seems isolated forward-thinkers are in good company here! I'd say this was me, too, growing up. I don't want to ramble at too much length (although I'm willing to, if anyone felt it'd be helpful for them and specifically asked :) ), but perhaps saying a little about another different experience of t...

SilentDragon, just wanted to say that I'm hearing you struggling with a combination of things at the moment, and that each of those things are mostly making dealing with all the other things harder; I really, really feel you on that, and sending you the warmest of wishes on finding the best way thro...

New blog post from Karyn, in the Young Sexuality Activists series, profiling Madison Kimrey! Madison Kimrey is, in a word, amazing. You might know her from the letter she wrote to Phyllis Schlafly a few months ago, but that's not the only thing she's done that's so fantastic. She contributes regula...

Kabith, yes, that was what I was trying to say! Reading back, I was less clear than I wanted to be, so I'm glad you could grasp what I meant :) I think it does take some practice, and I think it's a thing that we go on practising and working on no matter how long the relationship has been going. You...

You're very welcome!

You're both updated!

Bourdie - MissTK, but no worries, I found you

If you want to go to a store, calling a friend is definitely a good option :) Getting a period means someone isn't pregnant. The only thing to be aware of, if you take emergency contraception, is that it sometimes causes changes to the menstrual cycle, so it wouldn't be a surprise if your period cam...

Advice column from Sam W: heavyboots asks: I will be a junior in high school next year, and because I've been lucky to stumble on a lot of really great sex-positive resources, I've learned I have a pretty strong interest in sexuality--as in, studying it/doing something in it as a career. However, g...

Welcome to the boards, lovelylor. The morning after pill cannot mess up anyone's uterus or their future fertility in any way. It's a very safe medication, and it is not connected with any long-term or permanent side effects. Some people find that it causes temporary changes to their menstrual cycle ...

Hi, kabith. With your relationship with your partner, I think two basic things are likely to help: recognising that each of you is your own sexual self completely independent of the other and of your relationship, and communication. Navigating a situation like this tends to be quite tricky. When bot...

There isn't really one version of "normal" for this, but it is fairly common for bleeding to not sync up with the placebo pills for the first cycle or two of taking the pill.

I absolutely recognise that the way this has been reported has been mostly very disrespectful and completely ignoring of issues of consent and the fact that women's bodies are not, in fact, public property. It's a crappy thing anyway even before that. I'm sorry it's been so triggering for you - that...

I would really love to hear ideas too! I feel mostly ok about how I describe intercourse, but oral/manual sex is a completely different story. I regularly feel completely stuck for a concise and not odd-sounding way to communicate which way around - eg, which person's mouth and which person's genita...

(I realise I'm about to cross-post with Heather here and we're saying some of the same things, but I think we're different enough to make both posts worthwhile, and hopefully not overwhelming you!) I think you might be taking some weight on your shoulders about this that really isn't yours to carry....

The best thing to do is to look at the information leaflet that comes in your pill pack and see what it says there about what to do if you miss the first two pills in a pack. You can also ask a pharmacist or the doctor who prescribed them for you to look at that information with you and to give you ...

Perhaps Gus is portrayed differently in the film to in the book? One of his habits could totally come off as pretentious, I'll give you that! :) But other than that, I didn't read film-Gus as pretentious or presenting himself in a bluffing intellectual way. And wasn't it Hazel who was originally int...