Sex can mean many things, it can be something you do alone or with one or pore persons. The most important thing is that the sex you have feels right for you, and that you empathise with what feels right and good for the people you have sex with.

What is sex?

Sex is things we do because of that it feels good and arousing in a sexual way. There are many different ways to have sax, but it’s common to get pleasure from stimulating the genitals in some way. Other spots on the body that can be pleasurable to stimulate is, for example, the lips, neck, anus, and breasts. Only you get to decide what good and pleasurable sex means to you. You can explore it alone or with one or more partners.

What is horniness?

Being horny means that you’re experiencing sexual arousal. Put simply: you want to have sex or do something sexual. It can feel like a tingle in the body and like the genitals and other parts of the body are pulsing. Some are often horny, others more seldom, we all have different sex drives. Some only want to have sex with themselves, other are never horny and don’t want to have sex at all.

Having an appetite for sex and wanting to have sex is both wonderful and good, and wanting to explore one’s sexuality is never wrong, as long as the ones you might have sex with are also feeling well and consent to it. Also, it’s completely normal to have a low sex drive, or no sex drive at all. Only you know how you feel.

What are sti:s?

STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infections, some say STD, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, but it’s less common) are a kind of infection that is transmitted through sex. Common infections include chlamydia, gonorrea, and genital herpes. It’s fairly common to get an STI once or so, and there are treatments for all of them. But it’s still important to that you protect yourself and to not spread it to others. A few ways you can protect yourself and others from STIs are to use a condom, femidom or dental dam.

You are in charge - with your partners.

You are the only one allowed to decide if, when and how you want to have sex. You also have to make sure that others consent to and feel good about the sex you have, if you have sex with others. If someone has sex with you even though you don’t want to, or in a way that you don’t want to, they are the ones to bear the blame and responsibility. It’s never your fault.

It’s illegal for a person over 15 years old to have sex with a person under the age of 15. This means that adults are never, ever, allowed to have sex with a child under the age of 15, not even if the child wants them to. This also means that if someone has sex with you when you are under the age of 15, they are the ones at fault, not you. The law does, however, take small age differences into consideration if everyone has consented. For example, it’s usually viewed as okay if you are 15 and have sex with a partner who is 14, if both of you consent.

Text by Line Janson, Förenade tjej-, trans- och ungdomsjourer

Translated by Dannie Milve, Förenade tjej-, trans- och ungdomsjourer

We’ve borrowed a lot of good information for this text from Umo - www.umo.se!
You can read a lot more about sex there.

Further reading:

Sex

Many ways to have sex

When sex isn't good

Sexual violence

Sexuality and sexual orientation

Read more about sex UMO.se! (In Swedish)