Heather Corinna

Although I think of myself as South Asian, I was born overseas and have always lived in a Western country. Our family still carries many of our traditional values from back home and we have a large community here. I came out to my parents around 3 years after having my own realizations. The impetus for this was that they had started to look for marriage partners for me.

It’s up to you to decide if this was sex and if this had anything to do with virginity. What I can do to help you with that is give you some definitions, backgrounds and perspective on those terms, some advice on making sexual choices in alignment with what you really want and feel ready for and…

It’s fine to start on day two. Really, it’s okay to start at any time in your cycle. It’s just that the pill will become fully effective more quickly if you start at certain times rather than others. If you start within the first six days of a period, your withdrawal bleed (the “period” that happens…

I don’t know what “just being a guy” means. I’m not messing with you, it’s just that boys and men, like girls, women and everyone else, vary so much. There’s just no one way guys are or behave. For sure, if he identifies as a guy, he’s going to be a guy no matter what, but who that guy is and what…

What do or might you want to do, not want to do or aren’t sure about when it comes to sex with a partner? Take stock with this awesomely in-depth list.

My family is supportive of my life, as long as they get to ignore the queer part. I know they can’t handle it so I don’t talk about it with them. As for my community of colour, the only one I’ve ever really been a part of is my mom’s church family, and I know they wouldn’t be able to handle it either.

I was one of several guests on a radio show in Baltimore on Friday. The topic of the show was apparently going to be about sex education and social justice, but turned out to be more like fear-mongering and a whole lot of projections around teen sexuality mixed with focus on parents and teen sexuality. One of the most troubling things was a statement that rape survivors “compulsively have sex.” This is a very common stereotype. It’s one that can be incredibly damaging in several ways. It’s also one which has long since been dismantled by rape survivors, people who work in the field as advocates for survivors and educators about rape.

Long story short? You asked her. She says she doesn’t. So, you either believe her or you don’t, ultimately. She also seems to be expressing great frustration and distress that you’re not extending trust to her and believing what she tells you. We can trust someone whether they’re right next to us or…

Why was I staying in a house that was falling apart all around me more and more? Why did I keep trying to convince myself I could fix everything when I knew I couldn’t, or that my landlord would suddenly do all kinds of things he’d never done? Why did I keep focusing on the small things that I loved about the house when the big things were so awful? Why was I staying so focused on what this house could be, rather than focusing on the way it actually was and was most likely to remain? One of the big things that got me to these realizations about my house were conversations with some of you about your unhealthy, abusive or otherwise crummy relationships.

Being queer and South Asian isn’t easy; being queer and mixed is harder, because any community can put it down to the OTHER identity group. That said, my Indian grandmother has been incredibly supportive, and no one has written me hate mail or disowned me. I’m very grateful for the internet, and for the time I’ve spent in larger cities. Both give me a sense that there’s someplace I might sort of fit in.