Kerry Cohen - Dirty Little Secrets

www.plannedparenthood.org

Planned Parenthood is well known internationally as a frank, accessible provider of reproductive health care, women’s health information, and sex education. A section of the Planned Parenthood website is devoted to teen sexual health and information.

www.scarleteen.com

Scarleteen: Sex Ed for the Real World is a grassroots site working to provide sexuality education and support. Heather Corinna, the proprietor, regularly provides blogs about useful examinations of recent studies, news events, and more. There is also a message board and referral service, and the site provides teen outreach and staff training through the program CONNECT.

www.sexetc.org

Sex Etc.: Sex Education by Teens for Teens has a mission to “improve teen sexual health across the country.” The website is chock-full of useful information, from a glossary of sex terms to weekly live chats with experts and opportunities for teens to create their own profile and blog.

www.slaafws.org

Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous is similar to twelve-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous in that it is based in religion and service to God. The site lists meetings and numerous resources, including a “test” to determine whether you likely qualify as a sex and/or love addict. Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous does not provide services for minors. Some cities have meetings for adolescents, but they are not common.

www.whatcontraceptiveareyou.com.au/compare-contraception-options

Condoms are the only contraception that provides protection against both pregnancy and STDs. But this Australian website offers an interesting breakdown of the various other contraceptive devices available. The chart includes what each contraceptive is, how long it lasts, how it works, and what to consider. The site also has a survey to discover which type of contraception works best with your lifestyle.

Michael J. Basso. The Underground Guide to Teenage Sexuality , 2nd ed. (Minneapolis: Fairview Press, 2003).

This is a basic but informative, fact-based question-and-answer guide for boys and girls about sexual development.

Ruth Bell. Changing Bodies, Changing Lives: A Book for Teens on Sex and Relationships , 3rd ed. (New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998).

From the original Our Bodies, Ourselves , here is comprehensive information for boys and girls about sexuality, including quotes, poems, and writings from teenagers.

Kerry Cohen. Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity (New York: Hyperion, 2008).

The author’s memoir about her struggle with the need for male attention.

Heather Corinna. S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-To-Know Progressive Sexuality Guide to Get through High School and College, Illustrated ed. (New York: De Capo Press, 2007).

Corinna, owner of the website www.scarleteen.com, provides every possible aspect of sex education to her readers in a unique, upbeat, provocative style.

Kelly Huegel. GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Queer and Questioning Teens (Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing, 2003).

This book covers everything there is to know for queer teens or teens who are questioning their sexual orientation.

Ellen Bass and Kate Kaufman. Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Youth and Their Allies (New York: Harper Perennial, 1996).

This book is about sexual orientation and intended for youths, but it is also useful for adults who need to know.

Dominic Cappello and Pepper Schwartz. Ten Talks Parents Must Have with Their Children about Sex and Character (New York: Hyperion, 2000).

A detailed, layered book to prep parents for talking with their kids about sex. The best part of this book are the stories and correlating discussion questions included to read with your teens.

Debra Haffner. Beyond the Big Talk: Every Parent’s Guide to Raising Sexually Healthy Teens from Middle School to High School and Beyond (New York: Newmarket Press, 2002).

Haffner provides guidelines for sexual development and health, broken down by ages.

Logan Levkoff. Third Base Ain’t What It Used to Be: What Your Kids Are Learning About Sex Today—And How to Teach Them to Become Sexually Healthy Adults (New York: NAL Trade, 2007).

This book covers information about what teens face today when it comes to sex and sexual health.

Ronald Moglia and Jon Knowles. All about Sex: A Family Resource on Sex and Sexuality (New York: Three Rivers Press, 1997).

This book provides the latest information on every imaginable aspect of sexuality, including tantric sex, human reproduction, and sexual pleasure.

Lynn Ponton. The Sex Lives of Teenagers: Revealing the Secret World of Adolescent Boys and Girls (New York: Plume, 2001).

Ponton’s book examines a number of teen cases to demonstrate the various ways teenagers experience their sexuality.

Justin Richardson and Mark Schuster. Everything You Never Wanted Your Kids to Know about Sex (But Were Afraid They’d Ask): The Secrets to Surviving Your Child’s Sexual Development from Birth to the Teens (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004).

This is a humorous, fun, and thorough guide to dealing with sexuality and your child, starting from toddlerhood.

Deborah M. Roffman. Sex and Sensibility: The Thinking Parent’s Guide to Talking Sense about Sex (New York: De Capo Press, 2001).

This is a more serious research-based but still readable guide to sex and your teens.

KERRY COHENis the author of Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity ; the forthcoming memoir Seeing Ezra , about parenting her autistic son; as well as three young-adult novels, Easy , The Good Girl , and It’s Not You, It’s Me . Her work has been featured in the New York Times and the Washington Post , as well as in numerous anthologies and journals. She has appeared on Dr. Phil , Saturday Live on the BBC, and morning news shows to speak about the loose-girl issue, and she was featured on the WE Network’s documentary series The Secret Lives of Women, about sex addiction. She is a practicing psychotherapist and writing teacher, and she lives with her family in Portland, Oregon. For more details, visit www.kerry-cohen.com.

Copyright © 2011 by Kerry Cohen

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