Many people in long-term, committed relationships, be it marriage or steady partnership -- no matter their age -- have ideas about sex in partnerships they may not even be aware of. Often we base our ideas of relationships and sexuality on what we see in the media or in movies, on what our parents relationship is like, or on what we imagine, in a perfect world, sex and love to be. Talking about what those ideas are, communicating our feelings honestly, and creating clear limits and honoring them make everyone happier and healthier.

You can read everything from the Kama Sutra to The Joy of Sex, watch porn vids until your eyeballs fall out, have a ton of sexual experience or psychically channel Mata Hari or Casanova, but if you don’t know how to openly communicate with your partners -- with your words -- chances are neither you nor your partner are going to have really healthy, beneficial and satisfying sexual experiences, especially in the long-term. So, read up and start talking!

We talk a lot about sexual safety and safer sex here at Scarleteen in terms of your physical health. But what about checking in to see if sex is safe for you and yours emotionally? Taking care of your emotions, looking out for risk factors in advance -- not just when they become an existing crisis -- and safeguarding yourself, your partners and those around you from needless hurt and harm is just as important as doing what you can to prevent STIs and unwanted pregnancies.

What's a "boyfriend" or what's a "girlfriend?" It all depends on what you and yours decide it's going to mean and what works best for you.

I’m going to suggest you look at reciprocity in sex -- the idea that one person gives something, so the other should get something of equal value back -- in a different way than you might be used to. (Excerpted and adapted from S.E.X., the Scarleteen book.)

Relationships can be confusing enough as it is, but if you and your partner don't live in the same area, it can get doubly complicated. If you're thinking about entering an LDR, or if your relationship suddenly turned into an LDR due to changing circumstances, check out this article for some tips and pointers on how to make it work.

A basic lowdown on interpersonal abuse and assault: what all the terms mean, why strangers are the least of our worries, what a cycle of abuse looks like, how you can start seeing abuse for what it is, where it is, and how to protect yourself and others and make abuse stop.

Rape is often framed as about women, but it's not. Something done TO us really isn't about us. It's the things that we choose to do which are about us, which is why it's such an error for rape to be framed as a women's issue or about women: it's almost always a men's issue and really about men. Find out what men need to know about rape and rapists, what you can do to be sure you have consent with sex, other ways to help with rape prevention, and why your help is so important.

The biggest part of the battle with relationship problems isn’t fixing them so much as it is recognizing that there ARE problems, what they are and being willing to address them and work a little to seek out healthier patterns of behavior.

Do you ever watch those reality TV shows where someone gets a total life or personality makeover, and wonder when a TV crew will come along to “pimp” your life? This article offers tips on DIY life improvement. You can take the steps to change and improve your life for the better, all by yourself, and without that pesky camera crew there to catch your most embarrassing and trying moments.

This is not another article about how everyone you meet on the net is an axe murderer. The Internet can be a great way to communicate - that’s why this website is here, after all. Many people successfully find friends, girlfriends or boyfriends over the ‘net , and some of my closest friends are people I first met online.

Never believe: "I love you, it will never happen again." It will happen again. The tears don't matter, the bruises don't matter, the broken bones and ER visits and warnings from friends and relatives don't matter. Those scars that we bury deep inside us, the mental and emotional scars that we try to pretend don't exist -- they don't matter. It will happen, again and again and again, unless someone puts a stop to it.

A memoir of first-time intercourse 17 years after-the-fact, from the founder of Scarleteen.