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In this Things Teens Ask series, experts from The Conversation answers kids’ everyday questions, and today it’s a teen who wants to know whether girls masturbate. Hi, I have a question after reading a published piece for I Need To Know. Masturbating has always seemed to be acceptable for boys, but less commonly discussed among girls. Is …

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Sexting involves taking self-made naked or partially naked sexual photos, videos or explicit texts and sending them online or via a mobile phone. They are more commonly referred to as “nudes” or “dick pics” by young people. A 2021 survey of almost 7,000 Australian teenagers (aged 14 to 18) found sexting was “ordinary practice” for …

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The median age for boys to first view pornography is 13, while for girls it’s 16. OK, so your teen has watched porn. First, stay calm. by Megan Lim, Head of Young People’s Health Research, Burnet Institute.  Unlike in previous generations, you’re unlikely to discover your adolescent’s first exposure to porn by finding a scrunched-up Playboy …

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Have boys always made stupid sexual moaning noises at girls and I just never realised? Or is this a whole new thing for our girls to have to deal with? Either way, just stop it! Sexual moaning has been on the rise for at least a few years. It involves a group of boys making …

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Yumi Stynes and Melissa Kang have done it again with their new book ‘Welcome to Sex’. Open the book, then prepare to open a meaningful dialogue with your teens. I don’t mean to make sex awkward with our children, I really don’t. I want to be oh-so-cool, covering all the basic ‘what goes where’ information, …

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OMG, teen romance! It deserves an exclamation point. When my kids started having (gosh) intimate relationships it was equal parts life-affirming and terrifying. Probably more on the terrifying side of things, now that I think about it. My four offspring are all through high school now (my youngest graduated last year), so we’ve been through …

Read More about My 5 non-negotiable rules for teen romance