Scarleteen Review

Scarleteen is a sex education platform designed specifically for teenagers and young adults, founded and maintained by sexuality educator Heather Corinna. The site's unique positioning is that it speaks to younger people in language that respects their intelligence and autonomy, avoiding both the clinical tone of medical resources and the condescension that often characterizes mainstream sex ed aimed at teens. The founding principle is that teens deserve honest, comprehensive, non-judgmental information about sexuality, relationships, bodies, and pleasure. The content library covers sexual anatomy, pleasure and masturbation, sexual activity and safety, contraception, STI prevention and treatment, relationship communication, consent, sexual coercion and assault, gender identity, sexual orientation, and emotional aspects of sexuality. Articles are written with the understanding that teens are curious about sex, are becoming sexually active or considering it, and deserve information that helps them make informed, safe, and healthy choices. The site explicitly rejects shame-based sex education and stigma around sexuality as normal development. Scarleteen also maintains a feedback and advice section where young people can ask questions and receive thoughtful, non-judgmental responses from the site's team. This creates a dialogical relationship with the audience rather than a one-way transmission of information. The tone throughout is warm, frank, and respectful — treating young people as capable of understanding nuance and complexity rather than needing everything simplified to the point of being misleading. A significant aspect of Scarleteen's mission is harm reduction. Rather than assuming that comprehensive sex education will discourage sexual activity (a claim not supported by research), the site assumes that some young people will be sexually active and provides information about how to do so as safely and respectfully as possible. This includes detailed information about contraception options, STI testing, and communicating with partners. The site is completely free and supported by the non-profit Scarleteen organization through donations and grants. There is no advertising, no premium tier, and no data harvesting. Visiting Scarleteen requires no account creation, and the site maintains strict privacy policies. Design is clean and accessible, with visual emphasis on approachability rather than authority.