Heather Corinna

Heather Corinna (1970) is an author, activist and internet publisher with a focus on progressive, affirming sexuality. She is a self-described 'queer polymath: feminist activist, writer, photographer, artist, educator, internet publisher and community organizer ' and was one of the pioneers of positive human sexuality on the internet.

Early life
Heather Corinna was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1970 and grew up in Chicago and Pennsylvania. The daughter of unconventional parents, she prided herself on being an unconventional kid who, it can be said, challenged authority often. Traumatic events in her early life solidified her resolve to be justice minded in her own unique, unconventional way. Early in life she had fascinations with human sexuality that lead to life experiences well outside of what mainstream and heartland America are comfortable with.

Teaching
Corinna is a graduate of the Chicago Academy of the Arts where she studied creative writing and art. She also attended Shimer College during its time in Waukegan, where she majored in Humanities. In conjunction with faculty member Suzanne Sklar, she focused on the writings of William Blake. During her twenties, Corinna worked for several years as an early childhood educator. After frustrating herself cutting her teeth in teaching the children of affluent and often neurotic suburbanites, she began her own "alternative, vegetarian Kindergarten/pre kindergarten" in Chicago.

Online
Her life-long interest in writing increased in her twenties and she found that her writing "kept veering toward the sexual." Corinna became interested in the internet just as the internet was beginning to take off. At the same time that internet dot.coms were making new millionaires on wall street and people were plugging cash registers into pornographic pictures and cashing in on the prurient interests of world wide websurfers, Corinna was carving out a niche in online adult erotic art with her initial offering, Scarlet Letters.

Corinna went on to begin one of the most linked to not-for-profit human sexuality sites on the web, Scarleteen. She has been a frequent collaborator with other early internet eroticists including Hanne Blank and Jane Duvall. She has recently moved with her trusty pug sidekick to Washington State to be closer to some important people in her life.

Scarlet Letters
Scarlet Letters was one of the earliest adult erotica online magazines and was the first woman-owned, woman-run and women-centered sexuality website. It initially featured erotic fiction, poetry, photography and visual art and has since expanded to include non-erotic content that promotes progressive sexuality.

Scarleteen
Scarleteen is a sex education website where a volunteer staff provides young adults with the answers and information they need to make informed, responsible and sensible decisions about sex.

All Girl Army
All Girl Army is a collective of feminists intended to support and nurture the next generation of feminists. The site's main feature is a Blog Collective that features up to 29 young women, ages 10 to 23.

Weblog
Pure as the Driven Slush is an intimate and frequently updated journal which was started well before the internet blogging phenomenon took off.

Other Publications
Work by Heather Corinna has also appeared in Issues Magazine, PIF Magazine, Maxi Magazine, CleanSheets, LeisureSuit.Net, Other Rooms, Cherrybomb, Sexilicious, Blood Moon, BAACHOR Magazine and Batteries Not Included.

Her fiction and creative nonfiction have also appeared in the anthologies Viscera, The Adventures of Food, Aqua Erotica, Zaftig: Well-Rounded Erotica, The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica 1 & 2, Shameless: An Intimate Erotica and Penthouse.