What’s OK? Helpline Releases Impact Briefing to Share Top Youth Sexual Behavior Questions & Website Trends

Insights Reveal Sex, Consent, and Boundary Topics Impacting Teens with Problematic Sexual Behaviors

NORTHAMPTON, MA, UNITED STATES, May 29, 2026 /⁨EINPresswire.com⁩/ – Stop It Now!®, a leading national nonprofit dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse, has released its first-ever What’s OK? Impact Briefing, which includes 2025 statistics of the most frequently asked types of questions submitted to their teen helpline and most visited blogs. Launched in 2020, this developmentally appropriate resource and helpline for youth worldwide ages 14 to 21 was developed to prevent youth-on-youth sexual abuse. WhatsOK has collected valuable data that offers a rare, unfiltered look into teens’ concerns about their own and other’s potentially harmful sexual behaviors.

WhatsOK allows youth users to anonymously ask questions via text, chat, phone, or email about sexual thoughts, behaviors, and relationships that they might feel are harmful or even abusive. Questions are answered by trained professionals using trauma-informed, developmentally appropriate language and approaches.

“Research shows more than half of self-reported child sexual abuse cases in the U.S. involve child-on-child sexual harm–that is a sobering wake-up call,” said Jenny Coleman, MA, LMHC, Director of Stop It Now!. “In 2025, 51% of self-help users who contacted What’s OK? were reaching out before they harmed someone. The helpline meets young people with honesty, empathy, and accurate information, which reduces confusion, shame, and risk before harm occurs. Our Impact Briefing offers critical insight for parents, educators, and youth-serving professionals focused on preventing harm and supporting healthier developmental paths.”

Here are “Top Youth Sexual Behavior Questions from WhatsOK Helpline Users” from the 2025 WhatsOK Impact Briefing: 1. “I looked at CSAM (child sexual abuse material) when I was younger, does that make me a pedophile?” 2. “I feel sexually attracted to a younger child, am I a bad person?” 3. “I started watching porn at a young age and now I feel addicted, how can I control my behaviors online?” 4. “Is it okay for me to have a sexual fetish?” 5. “I know it’s wrong for me to look at CSAM, but I feel like I can’t stop. What can I do?” 6. “I masturbate a couple of times a day, is that too much?” 7. “I had a sexual thought about someone a few years younger than me, does that mean I’m a pedophile?” 8. “I did something with my younger sibling when we were kids. Do I deserve to be arrested?” 9. “I watch hentai/lolicon but I don’t think I’m attracted to kids. Is that okay?” 10. “I think I did something bad. Do I need to tell someone and how do I talk about it?”

“Teens don’t always know how to navigate their sexuality or evaluate social norms,” Coleman said. “The WhatsOK? service additionally informs our resource and course development for adults and caregivers, such as our training series, Circles of Safety. Offering both self-paced and live virtual trainings, Circles of Safety teaches adults how to prevent child abuse in youth-serving environments, such as schools, foster care programs, after-school programs, camps, daycares, and homes.”

Questions submitted to WhatsOK reveal a reality that often surprises adults: teenagers are already wrestling with complex sexual thoughts, engaging with explicit content, and asking high-stakes sexual questions to prevent sexual harm (self-help questions)—many of which they are afraid to talk about with adults. Young people need confidential, nonjudgmental spaces to ask hard questions and get accurate information when traditional support systems feel unsafe, unavailable or overwhelming.

To view the full report, go to WhatsOK.org and to learn more about Circles of Safety training, visit StopItNow.org.

About Stop It Now!® Founded in 1992, nonprofit Stop It Now!® prevents the sexual abuse of children by mobilizing adults, families, and communities to take actions that protect children before they are harmed through helplines, online resources, training and advocacy. Stop It Now! offers hope to adults, families, survivors, bystanders and professionals with an emphasis on protective actions that hold adults accountable for protecting children and creating safe, healthy spaces. The organization operates the confidential Stop It Now! Helpline (1-888-PREVENT), for individuals with questions and concerns about child sexual abuse, and What’s OK?, an online platform where teens can anonymously ask sexual health and boundary-related questions. To donate and for more information, visit stopitnow.org or whatsok.org. Follow Stop It Now! on Facebook and Instagram and WhatsOK on Instagram and TikTok.

Nubia DuVall Wilson Cielo Consulting Visit us on social media: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stopitnow/ https://www.instagram.com/whatsokofficial/ https://www.facebook.com/StopItNow https://www.tiktok.com/@whatsokofficial