About Scarleteen


What do some of our readers and supporters say?

"Someone had told me Scarleteen was the best place on the internet for sexual health info, and I see now that they were completely right. It's the scariest feeling in the world to not know what's going on with your own body, and even worse to feel like you have no one you can talk to about it. I am thanking Jeebus, the Easter Bunny and Hare Krishna that people like you exist."

"Thanks for the legit advice, thanks for the facts and information, thanks for just BEING here. Really. Thank you, thank you, thank you, so much."

"Since discovering Scarleteen I feel so much more in control and less passive about my sexuality. Scarleteen has empowered me to communicate more with my boyfriend about issues I felt too embarrassed to talk about previously and that I thought I had no right too because, hey, everything with him was fine! I've realised now that what I thought previously was the right decision for me maybe wasn't, but I don't feel bad about that, I actually feel happy and positive about my future sexual relationships!"

"I'm a 18 year old female who lives in Chile, a country that has little to no effective sexual health and responsibility policies: the morning after pill has just been banned, abortion is illegal, and frankly people just don't talk openly and frankly about sex. I've learned a lot in your site, and you guys have made it possible for me to make informed decisions about my life and sexuality. You're helping people all over the world: you are, in some unfortunate cases as mine, the only source of unbiased upfront honest and reliable source of information for hundreds of girls that don't have anyone to turn to. For that, you have my most sincere gratitude."

"I'm a mom. Thanks so much for this site. You guys have made it so easy to talk to my daughter about "all this." Thanks thanks thanks thanks THANKS! Oh, and thanks."

"This site is wonderful. I don't know what I would do without it. I am a rape survivor and when I first came to this site I was experiencing severe depression. My main purpose for visiting was to find a way for myself to cope with what had happened to me. I could never really talk about being raped to anyone, but keeping it all inside was driving me crazy. I got online hoping to find a site of rape survivors telling their stories and maybe I would find away to cope with this. It was then that I found Scarleteen. Since that day, My life has drastically changed. Everyone on this site has showed me that it wouldn't be easy for me, but if I took small steps, I could beat this. I could get past it. And I did. Now, I visit this site every day. I know if I have a question about anything, I can rely on Scarleteen to help me find the answers I need, and If I am feeling down and hopeless, I know that everyone at Scarleteen will be there for me to fall back upon, and when I need it, their words and advice will help me find my way back to my feet."

"I have found a wealth of information and a fresh perspective on sex and relationships! The positive attitude displayed on this site has helped to eliminate some of my guilt and doubt on the subject matter. The information here is realistic, practical, and 100% informative. I plan on sharing it with my partner when I get a chance. Thanks for the information you provide, and for encouraging a positive, safe and caring attitude towards sex."

"Just a quick message to congratulate yourselves for a brilliant site and for the service it provides to our future world leaders. I work for the NZ AIDS Foundation as a health promoter in the HIV prevention area. I have not seen a better, more informative, non-judgmental site to date for our youth. You people are worth your weight in gold. Keep up the good work and thanks for another place I can direct our youth to for valid, robust information."

"You guys make me feel like a real person and make me feel confident. Thank you so much."

"When I first came to Scarleteen, I was confused, uninformed, and terrified after contracting an STI. I was 18 years old and had only one sexual partner. I was dizzy with questions, and I couldn't talk to anyone about what I was going through. The intelligent staff at Scarleteen not only shed light on the STI and the treatment available, but lent a caring, informative, and thoughtful hand. Scarleteen is a venue that promotes healthy self-image, a healthy lifestyle, and a healthy sex life. I can think of no other site that could be a better safe haven for teens all over the world. Thank you, Scarleteen, for changing my life, and the lives of many other teens, for the better."

"I felt really stupid since I never had partnered sex and this site just makes me feel so much better. I didn't think a site about sex would make me feel good about not having sex... I've recommending the site to a couple of friends who feel similarly awkward about the intercourse they have or haven't had. It all just makes me feel better about what I like to do and what I don't want to do. Thank you so much."

"I am an ex-nurse, foster parent to a young gay guy, with a daughter facing issues of gender identification - all of which I am fine with. I just found your site a couple of days ago. I cannot express how impressed I am. The accuracy, the no-nonsense approach, the plain English, the respect you show in the way you answer - kudos to you all! I will be using you as a major reference for clients in my counseling work, as you are, without a doubt, the best site I've found."

"I'm a 21 year old woman who has been coming to Scarleteen.com for years now anytime I've had a question or concern. Scarleteen offers information that allows young people to understand their options in birth control, sexual intercourse of all types, and the role of their self esteem and personal choices in all sexual issues. Scarleteen has been there to give me unbiased answers that allow me to make my own choices. The beauty of the site is its capacity as a hub of peer commentary, physiological information, sexual health reporting, and fostering of individual opinions and values."

"When I was 16 and a sophomore in high school, I was in an abusive relationship where I was forced to not use protection, and I had terrible anxiety about pregnancy. This website saved me. I texted the live help center at least three times a week with questions and fears, and I was never made to feel like I was unsafe. I hadn't yet told my mom about my situation in my relationship, but the people at ScarletTeen knew the ins and outs of the abuse I was suffering. They helped me through my abusers institutionalization, and eventually suggested therapy so I could get mentally strong enough to leave him. So I just wanted to send an email to thank you for everything you're doing. Your services were instrumental in getting me out of that situation and I realized I never was able to thank you for educating me on everything my Christian school failed to teach me, and in turn saving me from a terrible future withmy abuser. I'm now in a healthy, happy relationship and I still attendtherapy regularly, and neither of those things would have happened had I not found your website three years ago."

"I don't normally do this kind of thing but I had to say thank you. I love this site so much. I just cried while reading "an immodest proposal;" it sounded like a slam poem in my head and was so relevant to my current situation. I'm a 17 year old girl realistically considering sex and I just wanted to say how much I adore Scarleteen, for all the incredibly comprehensive information it's hard to find elsewhere. Thank you so much."

"As a mother of 3 kids aged 12, 14 and 16, I applaud you for creating a place for young people to ask questions and find answers they need but are too embarrassed to ask."


Scarleteen is a progressive, independent sexuality and relationships education media and support organization and website. Founded in 1998, as of 2022, Scarleteen.com is visited by a few million diverse people each year -- thousands of whom we speak with directly in our direct services and in-person outreach each year -- most between the ages of 15 and 30. It is often the most popular and most widely used site specifically providing sex and relationships information and support for young people worldwide and has been so through most of its tenure.

We are founded, owned and run by a person and a team who are largely queer, who are women or gender-nonconforming, who are or have come from the working class, who are diverse in their ethnicities, who live with disabilities and who frequently are not or have not been considered generally respectable by people generally concerned with respectability.

Scarleteen and its founder and director, Heather Corinna, have been the recipients of many awards for our work, including: The Champions of Sexual Literacy Award for Grassroots Activism from the National Sexuality Resource Center/SFSU; The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, Western Region's Public Service Award; the Our Bodies, Ourselves' Women's Health Heroes Award; the Joan Helmich Educator of the Year Award; The Woodhull Foundation's Vicki Award; the Steinem-Waters Award, the Golden Brick Award and the World Association for Sexual Health's (WAS) Award for Excellence and Innovation in Sexuality Education.

Most of our users find Scarleteen through search engines or when provided a link or verbal referral from friends, other websites or magazines; parents, guardians and other family members; healthcare providers/clinics or other sexuality/sexual health education programs and resources. Nearly every day, young people and adults who care about them let us know how valuable they find our services.

We provide:

  • Online static content: Scarleteen contains nearly 12,000 web pages of original comprehensive sexuality, health and relationship articles, guides, factsheets and in-depth advice answers, extensive external resource lists for each topical section of the site and a blog on our website alone. Our content has been written by adult, emerging adult or teen educators and writers, is highly inclusive, and is always fact-checked and informed by current, medically-accurate information.
  • Interactive services: Our message boards are staffed and highly moderated to provide a safe space which provides accurate information. Our users use them for questions and answers from staff and volunteers on sexuality, sexual health and relationships, for emotional support and to engage in safe, respectful peer-to-peer discussion. Our staff and volunteers use them as one way of finding out directly from young people what they need and what their lives, thoughts and feelings are. We also have a text/SMS service for help and information via mobile phones, an online live chat service, and maintain an active, largely-followed social media presence.
  • Referrals: We make user referrals to other sexual/reproductive healthcare services, such as STI testing, contraception, and pre-natal or abortion care; for mental healthcare, LGBTQIA support, general children and family services, and sexual abuse and other crisis care. Staff can be available to users to make screening/intake phone calls if they feel nervous about first calling themselves or if they are not sure a service is bonafide.
  • Other outreach: We also provide offline teen outreach and staff training, primarily through sexual/reproductive health clinics, community and school groups and teen homeless/transitional shelters in and around Reno, Nevada and Chicago, Illinois. Additional outreach, training or education is provided nationally at colleges, universities, schools, community centers and conferences to students, parents and to fellow teen and sexual health workers and educators. Scarleteen regularly donates copies of our sexual health guide, S.E.X. (DaCapo Press), to young people, parents and clinics in need. Scarleteen is also frequently asked to speak with the media about teen and young adult sexuality, sexual health and sexuality education, and has been included in numerous articles in print and online on both topics.
  • Mentoring and leadership: Scarleteen provides ongoing mentorship and guidance for our volunteers, and participates in and supports youth leadership events and initiatives outside the organization. Scarleteen is considered by many to be an influential leader in progressive and inclusive sexuality education, and we have directly participated in and supported activism to influence and change public policy, like teaming up with the ACLU to fight the COPA.

Our Model & Our History

When Scarleteen was first created, we had to start from scratch. When we went live in 1998, around a year after the first abstinence-only mandates began, there wasn't anything like it, online or offline, we could look to in building our model. Scarleteen was created out of an expressed need from young people themselves: young people had written Scarleteen's founder letters asking for sexuality information and support through a website they maintained about adult women's sexuality, and there was scant little online Heather could refer them to that provided comprehensive sex education and support for young people.

Scarleteen was created and built based on what young people asked for, through existing experience in alternative education, writing, activism and advocacy, health and sexuality Heather and a few initial volunteers shared, with an understanding of human sexuality as a potentially positive and beneficial part of life. We sourced sound sexuality, relationship and health data and perspectives from reliable, reputable resources and got feedback, support and help from progressive thinkers working in the field of sexuality. To date, that remains our central approach, but we now benefit from a larger network of sexuality resources and individuals working in sexuality who generously provide feedback and advice, from increased cultural conversation about and support for sex education, and from a larger and more diverse group of young people who share what they want and need with us each day.

Founder Heather Corinna continues to direct and manage Scarleteen with the help of our small but mighty team of international volunteers, the majority of whom are under the age of 30. We also benefit from the generously donated skills and talents of guest writers, educators and consultants.

Our educational model and philosophy is and has always been guided by both unschooling and the Montessori method. Our content and approach is original and strongly youth-driven but is also in alignment with current guidelines for comprehensive sexuality education for adolescents such as those suggested by SIECUS (US), UNESCO (International), the National Health Education Standards (US) and Sex and Relationships Education (UK). We also meet the standards suggested in the new American School Health Association's National Sexuality Education Standards: Core Content and Skills, K-12. It is in alignment with the core of most current, quality comprehensive sex education curricula, such as Our Whole Lives, Advocates for Youth's Life Planning Education program, F.L.A.S.H., and is in particular accord with the newly-released It's All One curriculum, developed by the International Sexuality and HIV Curriculum Working Group.

Scarleteen and its accomplishments have been recognized by organizations as SIECUS, UNICEF, Planned Parenthood, The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, Family Health International, Advocates for Youth, the International Association for Adolescent Health, The Boston Women's Health Collective, The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality and many more. Our content has been used or provided in many clinics, outreach programs, by numerous sexuality educators, healthcare providers, counselors and therapists and other youth-serving workers and agencies. Scarleteen is one of the few sexuality and relationships education and support resources online that is national or international and that is specifically intended and created for young people.

Scarleteen is completely independent, grassroots education and media: we are not affiliated with any other organization, nor do we receive funding or other organizational support or direction from a larger organization, or governmental agency, and we have only very recently recieved some foundational funding.

Our Philosophy

We feel sexuality education for young people is best guided by what we consider our core values and aims:

  • A foundation of equality, respect, dignity, fairness, consent, liberty, freedom of thought and expression and other core human rights.
  • Materials and services which are fully opt-in and opt-out, most strongly guided by what young people are themselves asking for and which is delivered to them with care and courtesy based on current, medically-accurate standards of physical and emotional health and well-being including the understanding and knowledge that development and expression of one's own sexuality is one part of typical human and adolescent development.
  • Content and interaction which seeks to provide developmentally and culturally-sensitive sexuality education and information that reflects the diversity of people and sexuality; that aims to serve all sexes, genders, economic and social classes, sexual orientations and relationship models, types of embodiment and more, including information on contraception, safer sex and sexual health, reproductive choice, masturbation, anatomy, sexual orientation and other aspects of sexual identity, gender identity and equity, pleasure and human sexual response, body image, sexual and romantic relationship formation, communication and negotiation, sexual and other interpersonal abuse, self-esteem and care and compassion in sexual enactment that is not intentionally exclusive to any one group, save privileging those in their teens and twenties.
  • Respectful messaging encouraging critical thought, self-care and care for others, rather than shame or fear, which suggests and supports non-participation in sexual activities until such a time or a situation in which an individual wants to participate in those activities for themselves; until an individual feels prepared to manage and handle them well, including care for physical and mental health, adequate assertiveness and esteem and the ability to recognize and enact the import of mutual consent and benefit.
  • A nonjudgmental and unbiased attitude of acceptance, tolerance and understanding for young people, whether they choose to be sexually active or not, both to best educate and to best support positive self-esteem, self-efficacy, personal identity and well-being.
  • Encouragement to know as much as possible, and from an educated standpoint, to make sound choices based on personal ethics and values gleaned from family, role models, life experience and oneself.
  • Open, ongoing, moderated and guided conversation about sex and sexuality in a safe, supportive and inclusive environment with an aim both to educate and to help foster critical thinking, civic engagement and the ability to engage in compassionate, respectful and honest discussion of sex and relationships with peers, partners and adults.
  • Clear acknowledgment that human sexuality poses both potential benefits as well as potential detriments, and education and communication about sexuality that communicates and recognizes both, providing information that makes risks of unwanted or negative outcomes clear and educates learners on how to reduce their risks as well as how to sustain sexual well-being.
  • A necessary flexibility of thought and approach, understanding that no one kind of education or delivery of information is best for everyone, that information about and the study of human sexuality is still in many ways in its infancy and that human sexuality is highly diverse. We are always ready to adapt, revise or shift how we do what we do to stay as pioneering as we have always been, and to best meet young people where they are, in ways they find and express work best for them.

As with previous generations, many young people in their teens and twenties today have already begun or desire to soon begin enacting their sexuality with others, often with little to no accurate and inclusive sexuality and sexual health information. We know that comprehensive sexuality education has been proven to have positive outcomes, whatever choices young people make, including increased condom and contraceptive use, lower rates of unintended pregnancy, and a decrease in sexual debut that occurs earlier than youth may want or be prepared for. We also know the kinds of negative outcomes that are far more likely to occur without that information and support.

Ideally, sexuality education like Scarleteen will be paired with education, information, support and compassionate communication from parents and guardians, and additional accurate sex and health information from school, community services and healthcare providers. While Scarleteen is intended primarily for young adult use, it can be an excellent resource for adults who care for this population, too. Many parents, guardians and educators have used it to inform and initiate discussion with teens about sexuality. Some homeschooling parents have used Scarleteen as curricula for sex education; colleges add our articles to their sexuality syllabi often. Ideally, we love to see Scarleteen as part of a diverse sexuality education that comes from other venues as well, such as through school sex education and discussions with parents or guardians. But while we strongly support and advocate for in-school and at-home comprehensive and inclusive sexuality education, we also recognize that there are many young people without access to one or both.

An increasing number of states and schools have now rejected abstinence-only programs -- programs that are misleading, inaccurate and ineffective -- and some federal funding streams are now reopening for comprehensive sex ed, but as of 2009, around half of all 50 states in the US still provided abstinence-only sex education. Internationally, some nations fare better than others, and areas with the highest rates of sexually transmitted disease, unintended pregnancy, maternal mortality and/or sexual abuse also often lack accurate, comprehensive and/or complete sexuality education. In the United States, around 1.5 million students are homeschooled. In 2007 alone, over 6 million students over the age of 16 in the United States no longer attended (and did not complete) high school. Trans gender and other gendervariant youth, lesbian, gay, bisexual queer and/or questioning youth -- around 5 - 10% of all young people -- are rarely included or addressed in sexuality education, even in comprehensive in-school programs. Even with the best in-school programs young people can and do attend and access, the school environment itself creates limitations in sexuality education for students, teachers and administrators.

Young people at home often don't fare much better. A 1995 survey by the American Social Health Association found that only 11% of teenagers get most of their information about STD prevention from their parents or other family members. A 1996 poll found that 82% of the mothers polled believed their daughters had not been [sexually active], but only 70% of the daughters had not been; 70% of the mothers believed their sons had not been [sexually active], but that was only true for 44% of them. A national survey published in 1997 found that mothers of children over the age of 11 rated themselves “unsatisfactory” at talking with their children on several topics: 40% said they were unsatisfactory at talking about preventing HIV/AIDS; 47% on sexual orientation; and 73% on how to use a condom. ("Do As I Say ... Should We Teach Only Abstinence In Sex Education?" Chris Collins, 1997) Another national survey showed that only around 50% of parents had talked with teens about issues like contraception, STIs and safer sex, sexual readiness and negotiation, and that male teens often go without in-home discussion more often that female teens. Unfortunately, many teens go without discussion of sexuality at home at all, and many who do have talks are often not given accurate information as many parents have not had good or recent sexuality education themselves.

Young adults clearly -- and very unfortunately -- cannot rely on school nor their families alone for comprehensive, accurate sex education.

We want the sexual choices young people make to be well-informed choices. We feel belying judgment, affording respect and furnishing teens with the facts and context they feel they need, whether or not they are or intend to be sexually active, supports them in learning to best make and own their own choices and lives. We feel humane, accurate, holistic and interactive education, made as pertinent and appropriate to the wide diversity of young people, greatly aids them in making their best sexual choices. We know that sexual choices made during this time of life can often have a particularly strong impact. Sex education at a time of life when negative outcomes can be particularly hard to manage, and in a time period in which people are often very interested in (and thus best retain) sex and sexuality information is key. But we aim to educate not just for this time of life, but to help provide a sound foundation for a lifetime of sexuality. Whether Scarleteen is a young person's only source of sex education, or whether we play but one part, we want to do what we can to provide young people with the accessible sexuality information, support and discussion they want and need now, and may very well benefit from for a lifetime.


For more information on Scarleteen and our approach to sex ed, see:

Want to get in touch with us?

You can reach us directly about anything pertaining to the site by email here. If you'd like your email forwarded to a specific staff member, volunteer or author, we're happy to forward your mail to that individual. If you want send us something via post, you can reach us at:

Scarleteen
2522 W Lawrence Ave
Chicago, IL 60625

If you appreciate and value what we do at Scarleteen, please consider pitching in to financially sustain us. We are an entirely independent organization without any kind of public funding: we are and have been funded solely by private, individual donations and grants. Since the majority of our users do not have their own incomes with which to donate, fiscal support must come from adults. We are an extremely cost-efficient organization, serving a number of individuals few, if any, organizations can serve with our budget. Staying afloat and continuing to provide all that we do is often exceptionally challenging, so every donation counts and is greatly appreciated, no matter how small. To donate to Scarleteen, click here.