respect

A short, fast, sex ed summary about the bare basics of healthy relationships.

You are not being unreasonable. I don’t think his response and behavior about the lube is fine. I don’t think it’s okay for him to tell you that not having sex isn’t a big deal for you, or to tell you how important sex is to your relationship for both of you. I don’t think it’s fine for him to be...

What is "respectability politics," and how can we confront it in ourselves?

My answer to your question is at once simple and really, really complicated: don't ask your mom permission. You're an adult, you don't need her permission, or anyone's, to explore sex. Truthfully, you didn't need her permission when you were sixteen either. Even when you're a kid, what you choose to...

For two years, I worked in a bookstore that was aimed primarily at children and teenagers. It was a job I quite enjoyed, but I quickly discovered that when you work near books, people always want to tell you their opinions on said books. That's fine most of the time. But I noticed a pattern when parents or adults would refer to The Hunger Games series. They would express dismay over a child wanting to read the book, wondering what they saw in it, and either implicitly or explicitly stating that they thought the book was not good for youth to be reading. What struck me about these conversations was that ninety-nine percent of the time, the adult in question had not even read the book they were criticizing. They dismissed it, either as inappropriate trash or as mindless fiction without ever actually seeing what it had to say.

Hi Freckle Face, There are a couple of things in your question that I want to address. The first is that you are, correctly, noticing that your friends are applying a double standard when it comes to talking about sex with you. Now, to be clear, people have different levels of comfort around...

Okay, first things first. If the bullying of him and you is at this level, then it's time to call in the administration at the school and let them know what's happening. If there's a teacher that you or he trusts, they might be able to help you with the process. But this is one of those times where...

Have you been forgoing time with friends to hang out with your significant other, or vice versa? Either way, read on for help in dealing with this sticky predicament.

Adjusting to a shared living situation where you and your boyfriend will probably have roommates and neighbors close by can be a challenge, but giving some thought to this beforehand, as you're doing, will go a long way towards helping you keep up your enjoyable sex life without alienating the folks...

I'm going to make probably the biggest understatement of the year: gender is complicated. As obvious a statement as that is, it's still true, and I think it's worth repeating. I think one thing a lot of people - even many gender-savvy folks or fellow trans people - sometimes forget is that there are...