New site - safer sex

Check it out. It's a similar layout to Somazone. I've signed up for free weekly TEXT messages on safer sex.

Safer Sex is based on the Somazone website (http://www.somazone.com.au/) and offers young people:

- Information about contraception, sexually transmitted infections and sexual health.
- An anonymous and professional Q&A service that provides clear, unbiased, non-judgemental answers to any questions they may have about sexual health. The answers are provided by a panel of health professionals.
- A safe space to share their stories and experiences.
- A searchable database of Australian youth-friendly health services and organistations.
- The ability to sign-up for free sexual health SMSs.

I wonder what young people think of sites such as these - has anyone eva received feedback on them??? I know I find them helpful.

Chris.

Help with a question

Hi everyone.

I have been working with a group over the last few weeks and each week we do question time - kids write a question for the box which we answer the following week. I wouldn't mind some help with this one;
Is it OK for year 7's to watch porn?

I still haven't read the Porn Report yet Lud but I will have to get it, it seems like a really balanced report on an inportant topic compared to a lot of the emotional conversation flying around. I have had a look at the report's website to seek some views on findings concerning minors watching porn but the info here is limited.

I am grateful that I have the opportunity to discuss this topic and here are some of my thoughts;
Obviously there is the law perspective - being 18 or over to view explicit materials.
It's highly likely that kids under 18 will view porn so I don't want to close the conversation by saying NO.
I would like students to feel OK about talking in the classroom forum (or in other ways) about porn which they may have found to be disturbing to them.
I would like to recognise that porn that is viewed which portrays violence, non-consensual sex, sex with children, "unhappy scenes", sex with animals etc is not OK - that sex is something we do with people - not TO people.

It's been quite clear to me that some in the the class have already viewed porn so I think the question warrants a rigorous response.

How do I make my reponse age appropriate?? Can it be age appropriate? They are 12!

I would love to receive some feedback, have others discussed the topic of porn with groups???

Make Poverty History

Poverty contributes to so much inequality in our world. Inequality contributes so much to low sexual health outcomes. Maybe joining in this can make a difference: Check it out here: See if the make poverty history tool kit actually works.

Its time

I attended this forum last week ( see the program below): What struck me afterwards was that its time that more men became advocates and activists in the process of stoping violence. Vested interest or not violence is not a response that should be acceptable to anyone.

This first abstract from Alan Jenkins is the content that really got me thinking:

'Alan Jenkins
Alan has worked in a range of multi-undisciplinary teams addressing violence and abusive behaviour for 25 years. Rather than tire from this work, he has become increasingly intrigued with possibilities for the discovery of ethical and respectful ways of relating. The valuing of ethics, fairness and the importance of protest against injustice has led him to stray considerably from the path prescribed in his early training as a psychologist, towards a political analysis of abuse. He is currently a director of Nada, an independent service that provides intervention in family abuse, violence and workplace harassment. He manages the Mary St. Program for young people who have sexually assaulted, along with their caregivers and members of their communities.
Title: The ethics of intervention with men : a parallel journey for workers
Intervention practice aims towards the cessation of abusive behaviour, restitution to those harmed and reclamation of a sense of integrity with a capacity for engagement in respectful ways of relating. This work invites men into the territory of ethics and requires a parallel ethical journey for intervention workers. How might we engage with the politics of our practices and the dilemmas this brings forward? How might we promote ethical self-critique when we work with men? Can we engage with shame without shaming men who have abused?

IT’S TIME: Creating a future free from violence - men’s responsibilities

Program
Bob Pease - Working with men as partners in violence prevention
Brighton Secondary School Boys Choir
Alan Jenkins - The ethics of intervention with men: a parallel journey for workers
Brooke Friedman & Bo Rankine - Tough Guise (with respect to Jackson Katz)

Concurrent Workshops

Tony Fletcher - "Men" and the issue of "change" – philosophically, theoretically and practically
David Tully & Sharon Lockwood – Community education around sexual violence: what’s gender got to do with it?
Major Sumner - Aboriginal culture & western society: things that work and things that don’t work
John Hartley - The fires of our ancestors are burning

Concurrent Workshops

Kathryn Stone & Anne-Marie Martin - Measuring success & change: sexual and other violent offending
Marg Rowntree - Resurrecting (sexual) violence prevention: a public health approach
Damien McInerney and Jacqueline Riviere - Factors implicated in the experience of domestic violence in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities

Panel Discussion – Sharon Lockwood
Bob Pease, David Tully, Alan Jenkins, Tony Fletcher
Pulling it all together

ETHICS

Hello everyone: Its been a long time since I posted and I apologise:

However I have been doing some things that I would like to blog about.

I attended the 'Its Time: Creating a future free from violence - men's responsibilities' forum last Friday the 22nd August. One thing that really struck me was a key note speaker who spoke about the Ethics in delivering services - not in terms of 'what are my ethics?' but in terms of 'what are the ethics of this person that they are showing them to society in this particular way?' For instance: Is a man being violent because he has an ethic of 'an eye for an eye' or because he has an ethic that 'power shouldn't be taken from people therefore I will take it back".


I might not be very clear to you about this but what it gave me was a way to find 'goodness' to work on with people BEFORE I decide on thier fate. Maybe we DO have similar ethics but dont display them in the same way. Maybe discovering a persons ethics (not thier behaviour) is a way to start sometimes.


What got me started on ETHICS was some research into ETHICS for a lecture that I had to deliver: The main thing that I found out for myself was: ( and this can be described by some formal terminology -go here at the Galilean Library - it is a really easy to read intro to ethics)

The main thing I have been rethinking though is this:
Metaethics: where do my ethical notions come from and what they mean? What do I think is good?
Normative ethics: What principles tell me my moral behaviour —and what does not.
Applied ethics: How do I apply these in a dilemma of moral dimension.

Believe it or not these simple questions along with attending the forum have got me rethinking many things.

If you want to hear a cool podcast on 'Is killing wrong" ( go here - to the BBC Open U ethics bites podcast.

Also if you want to be part of discussing ethical dilemmas in youth work go here to the Youth Action and Policy NSW website - youth work ethics blog. IT IS GREAT

Encouraging

This information from the The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality is very encouraging and positive. I wonder what they are doing that we aren't!!!!!

Trends in sexual health and risk behaviours among adolescent students in British Columbia
Elizabeth M Saewyc, Darlene Taylor, Yuko Homma, Gina Ogilvie. . East York: 2008. Vol. 17, Iss. 1/2; pg. 1, 13 pgs

Abstract (Summary)
Regular monitoring of trends in sexual health and sexual behaviours among adolescents provides strong evidence to guide intervention programs and health policies. Using the province-wide, school-based British Columbia (BC) Adolescent Health Surveys of 1992, 1998, and 2003, this study documented the trends in sexual health and risk behaviours among adolescents in grades 7 to 12 in BC, and explored the associations between sexual behaviours and key risk and protective factors. From 1992 to 2003, the percentage of youth who had ever had sexual intercourse decreased for both males (33.9% to 23.3%) and females (28.6% to 24.3%) and the percentage who used a condom at last intercourse increased for both males (64.4% to 74.9%) and females (52.9% to 64.2%). Among students who had ever had sexual intercourse, the percentage who had first intercourse before age 14 decreased for both sexes. These encouraging results may be related in part to concurrent decreases in the prevalence of sexual abuse or forced intercourse among both male and female adolescents. Protective factors such as feeling connected to family or school were also associated with lower odds of having engaged in risky sexual behaviours. These findings emphasize the importance of including questions about adolescent sexual health behaviours, risk exposures, and protective factors on national and provincial youth health surveys, to monitor trends, inform sexual health promotion strategies and policies, and to document the effectiveness of population-level interventions to foster sexual health among Canadian adolescents.

HIV awareness video - Its the buzz

Another great video that has been around for a few years. But we need more HIV awareness again:

Children See Children Do

This video called 'children see children do ' is fantastic. Go here to see more on National Child Protection Week

Peer Skills Training

Hey - does anyone remember this great course which used to operate across the country? It used to be under the banner of Boystown and Kids Help Line.
It still exists, in QLD(with Lifeline), WA and some other small pockets in the eastern states.

It's a fantastic program - I did the facilitators training many years ago and have seen it in action - very powerful - very useful. Brilliant for exploring relationships.

Here is a quick blurb on it, more can be found here;

The Peer Skills Workshop is a two day interactive learning experience designed to acknowledge and build on the natural listening, helping and problem solving skills of young people. The workshop helps young people develop their relationship skills and increases their confidence in safely assisting a friend or peer who is experiencing a problem.

The Peer Skills Program uses a problem prevention, youth development and community development framework to support its peer work with young people. The Peer Skills Workshop and Peer Skills Facilitator Training Program use an experiential style of learning, underpinned by the principles of empowerment and child centred practice.

I rang the coordinator yesterday and she is keen to get it into SA - many possibilities here but she was also wondering if there would be an agency or organisation that may be interested in being the overseeing body of the program in SA. Any thoughts? I will ring another lady in SA who is working with QLD to get it re-established and let you know what her thoughts are.

Chris.