Are you a Cool Aunt? Tell us about it at coolaunt.org

When I was nine, I was pretty sure that “oral sex” meant talking about sex out loud. When I was ten, I didn’t get kissing so I tried it with a girl from Baptist church camp. And when I was fourteen, I argued with my friend Molly about what exactly you blew on during a blow job.

I looked for the answers to my questions about sex in Penthouse forum and Judy Blume books – but I sure could have saved myself a lot of confusion and contradictions if I’d known just one person who wasn’t afraid to talk straight to me.

Now that I’m all grown-up, I’m absolutely resolved that the young people in my life – my kids, my friends’ kids, my nieces and nephews – will know that at least one person in their life is there for them. Me.

I’m not alone. Maybe you’re like me – the “Cool Aunt” – or perhaps you had someone while you were growing up who wasn’t ashamed to have frank, open conversations about sex, and was happy to give you honest answers to questions you were embarrassed to ask other people.

So – we’re launching our First Official Cool Aunt Count to help us find out how many there are, what role they play, what resources they need, and more. Get counted– it only takes a minute.

We’re thinking that Cool Aunts are who young people turn to when parents, teachers, ministers and other mentors can’t or won’t deliver answers. They may be a casual presence in a young person’s life – but, it turns out, they are the ones countering fear-mongering forces that stigmatize sex and confronting abstinence-only education myths at a time when years of shaming young people about sex have led to a dramatic rise in the rates of STIs and teen pregnancies.

NSRC wants to understand the whos/hows/whats of Cool Aunts out there, and to make sure that every Cool Aunt has access to accurate information and resources they can use to have the conversations that matter to young people. It takes just a couple of minutes to answer a few questions and help us understand and reach out to you and Cool Aunts in every city and every state.

Thanks for helping us show just how important Cool Aunts are.