The “101”

It’s typical that during the process of growing up and adolescence, young people think about sex and possibly start sexual activity. The exact point in time when a young person’s interest in sexuality and sexual activity “takes off” is unique to that person. So you shouldn’t feel any hurry to initiate sexual activity—definitely wait until you are ready.

Still we want to ensure you have some basic information about sexual activity. The general term “sexual activity” includes a variety of body contact activities, including touching, kissing, masturbation, fellatio (oral sex), vaginal intercourse, and anal intercourse.

Sexual activity is a normal body function. It is a healthy activity when the person or people doing the activity are doing so voluntarily and in a way that prevents diseases and unintended pregnancies.

Sexual activity can involve just one person, two people, or more than two people. It can involve people of one gender, two genders, or all genders.

“Safe sex” means doing things to protect oneself and your sexual partners from physical and emotional harm. So that includes things like having clean bodies, using condoms (there are internal and external condoms available), using a contraceptive device, and all participants in the sexual activity consenting to participate.

Sexual activity can be harmful to one’s body when the person or people do not take protective measures. Some consequences of unsafe sexual activity on the body are sexually transmitted infections (STIs) (these are also called sexually transmitted diseases, STDs), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), human papillomavirus (HPV), viral hepatitis (Hep) and pregnancy. Engaging in sexual activity can also have negative emotional consequences if the person or people have had the sexual activity without protection or when one or all participants were not ready for it or did not agree to it.

There are treatments for the physical and emotional consequences of unsafe sexual activity.

A healthy decision would be to wait to participate in a sexual activity until you are fully knowledgeable about the benefits and risks associated with it and feel emotionally and physically ready to do it.

Learn More

Crush’s Sexual Health Information Wow, there sure are a lot of websites with information about sex and teens! Crush provides this information using animations and videos to keep you entertained as you learn.

STI, HIV, and Hep Information Find reliable information about sexually transmitted infections (STIs), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and viral hepatitis (Hep).