Here Be Stuff

Looking for accurate, truly comprehensive, queer and trans-led sex ed? Start with Scarleteen’s seven must-reads for the first week of Pride.

Scarleteen has been providing accurate, inclusive, joyful, sensitive, trans and queer-led sex, health, and relationships education since 1998. Here, we celebrate Pride 365 days a year, with our thousands of articles written by and for queer and trans folks, rooted in the diversity, joy, and real life experiences of queer and trans communities. Celebrating Pride year-round means not treating queer and trans experiences as a sidebar or a “special topic.” They’re woven into everything we offer, from anatomy and safer sex deep dives to dating advice and content on consent, dysphoria, communication, and mental health. “Queer sex ed for all” isn’t just our tagline, it’s our whole approach.

If you’ve ever wished sex ed talked about things like, “Do asexual people have sex?”, “Could I be intersex?”, “How do I subvert or opt out of crummy gender roles?”, “What’s gender all about?”, "How do I know if I'm queer?" or “Is what I’m feeling something someone else has experienced?” these articles and series are a solid place to start:

Genderpalooza! A Sex & Gender Primer The Rainbow Connection: Orientation for Everyone Axis of Autism: Being Autistic, Lesbian and Genderfluid Unveiling Amatonormativity: Notes From the Books and the Field Could I Be Intersex? Just the Basics, Ace: An Asexuality Primer Hi, Bi Guy (Series)

Filippo Palizzi (Italian painter 1818–1899)

Excavations in Pompeii, 1870

Oil on Canvas

119.5 × 86 cm.

But it was buried by generations! Yes, it was buried in a volcanic eruption, but it was also figuratively buried. Over the centuries the location of Pompeii was lost, and it was found again by accident during construction projects. The ruins were not conclusively identified as the city of Pompeii until the 18th century (more than a millennia and a half after the eruption!) and it has been excavated ever since. People have been digging there since before the formation of the United States.

Aro and ace activism is healthcare reform, so that no one needs to rely on a spouse for health insurance, so that healthcare is available to everybody regardless of income, so that no one’s lived experiences or basic dignity are dismissed or overridden by doctors

Aro and ace activism is well-funded and expansive public transit, so that you don’t need to have someone on hand to drive you places if you are incapacitated, so that you don’t have to pay for an ambulance if you need to get to the hospital quickly

Aro and ace activism is disability and elder care services, so that no one needs a spouse to care for them, so that no one needs children to care for them, so that marriage is not a bind for disabled people, so that people on disability who want to and can live alone can

Aro and ace activism is community-building, it’s public events, it’s free social activities, it’s mutual aid, it’s activities that bring community members together without socializing relying on just a romantic partner

Aro and ace activism is developing a culture of believing when people tell you who they are and what they want rather than assuming you know them better than they know themselves