How to tell if sex ed info is reliable online?

[nokatprotested]

Why is it so hard to find good information about sex and pregnancy on the internet? There are so many websites and too many opinions floating around on basic sexual ideas daily. What are some ways I can protect myself, and other people, from believing false facts.

For example, my boyfriend and I had dry sex and I immediately regretted it. Soon after, of course, I started doing research about the risks involved with dry sex and within a few hours I was completely convinced I was pregnant with 6 different STDS! Later on, I found Scarleteen.com and Sexetc.com and both have been lifesavers. I'm now fully confident that I am not, and never will be, at risk while doing sexual acts with clothing on.

So, how can I tell the difference between a reliable sex ed website and a group of imbeciles trying to scare teenagers or the blind leading the blind?

Thank you for being here for teens everywhere to come and get reliable information and relief from the stresses of sexual relationships.

P.S. Where does this website get its information? I know your sources must be reliable considering this is the second best sex ed website on the web according to multiple sources. I'd like to check out some of the information you give out myself.

[Heather]

Cheers for that lovely thank you! We're glad to be available.

It's hard to find good information on the internet, period, especially if and when someone doesn't have good research skills, just like -- though even more so -- it's hard to find good information in a library if you don't know how to do that.

We have a piece on the site about exactly this right here: Legit or Unfit? Finding Safe, Sound Sex Educators & Support Online

And you can find out more about us, how we do what we do, and our staff, etc., here: http://www.scarleteen.com/about_scarleteen

There is no one place or a few places we get or validate our information. I, personally, have a very large reference library in my office, and both in print and online, have a vast array of places I seek out for information, so making a list here would take a mighty long time!

When this has been your job for almost two decades, you tend to just keep a whole lot of this stuff -- including the ways you look up information and where -- in your head. But that first link I gave you makes the process anyone, including staff here, can use to find credible information pretty clear and streamlined, so it should make things easier on you when it comes to what you seek out for yourself.

That said, our staff who isn't me tends to do a lot of their sourcing from the thousands of pages we have compiled here since the late nineties, all of which have been researched and fact-checked very carefully. And all of those pages are available to you right here on the website.

As an extra tip: one big flaw I personally and routinely see in how a lot of people who find ...well, crap, before they find places like here or Sexetc., is using search terms that are slang, or that are only or mostly used in anecdotal information, rather than in scientific study or in sexual healthcare services. For example, someone searching for "blow job" is likely to find less reliable information than someone who uses a search phrase like "oral sex penis" or "fellatio." (And someone using the former is also more likely to find a lot of sexual entertainment rather than sexual information.) Someone using internet-invented terms like "implantation bleeding" is less likely to find sound medical information than someone who uses medical language like "spotting at conception." Make sense?

Too, if it helps you to feel confident here, the few studies that have been done on the credibility and accuracy of websites like ours have placed ours first or second every time (Planned Parenthood and ourselves are usually swapping spots, depending on the study and the focus -- they have clinical branches/medical services and we don't, but we also have far more sexuality information, rather than a focus that's more narrowly based in sexual healthcare). Sexetc also often appears close to the top of the lists in those studies, as well.

[Heather]

Speaking of the library, by the way, librarians are highly educated in doing research well, not just in the stacks, either. So, if you have a library near you, and want to hone your research skills, online or off, you might go to the library and ask if they offer any one-on-one coaching or classes with research skills.

Even if they don't, if it's a slow day, chances are awfully good a librarian may have the time to help you out. And since freedom of speech is pretty much EVERYTHING to librarians, you might even be able to ask them to specifically help you when it comes to looking for sound sexuality or sexual health information.

[nokatprotested]

Thanks you, Heather, for the information. While you're here, on a slightly unrelated note, could you please explain to me why exactly sperm cannot travel through clothing? I've been searching all over this website for a detailed explanation other than, "It's just not possible, they can't jump around like fleas." I trust this information is accurate since this site is so reliable, but I just don't understand why there's absolutely no possibility for a single sperm to make it through thin clothing.

[Heather]

I am literally running out the door - and now using my phone, which makes linking tricky - so if you use our search function to look up "Human Reproduction: A Seafarers Guide" and "Who's Afraid of Sperm Cells?" you'll find those two pieces, which explain that well!

I'll be back to work in the morning if you've still questions about this after reading those!

Pro-tip: a single sperm cell can't create a pregnancy even with intercourse. It takes, at a bare minimum, a few hundred to do the job even if/once inside the vagina.

[nokatprotested]

Hello, Heather, you told me to ask if I was still confused after reading those links and yes, I am. All I gathered from the links is that sperm is temperature sensitive..? But that doesn't quite help me to understand the facts that support the conclusion that no, sperm cannot get through fabric. Sorry if I'm missing something obvious! I just want to fully understand sperm and how to protect myself and others from the "big bad sperm." lol

[Eddie C]

Hello there, Nokatprotested!

For a pregnancy to be possible there MUST be a direct contact between genitals. Why? Because sperm cells need all their fluids to survive and move. When someone with a penis is wearing clothes and they ejaculate, you can probably feel the wetness of the spot but that's it. Clothing won't let sperm cells go throught it. It would be like if you pour some body lotion on your jeans. You will see a wet spot once you clean it but there won't be any lotion on the other side.

I hope this helps you to better understand.

[xJulie130x]

I was reading this thread because I have been dealing with anxiety and even confusion around my pregnancy scare. Does the same concepts about sperm apply when it's on a finger? Are they unable to move if I accidentally got pre-ejaculate on my finger and then touched myself?

[Eddie C]

Hey, Julie.

Would you mind starting your own thread? That would help us to give you the space and attention you deserve and would make things easier for us too. Thanks!

[nokatprotested]

So basically you're saying that although sperm may be able to fit between the fibers of cotton clothes, the fluids around the sperm is too thick to get through any type of clothing, including thin cotton (other than lace), so the sperm cannot move without the liquid? But what if the girl has her own fluids on the fabric? Would that not allow the sperm to just travel from his liquid to hers and straight in?

[Johanna]

As Edith said, they need their own fluids. Sperm cells are very particular, they are not content with just any fluid. They need ejaculatory fluid to move around in.