Gay Marriage

This is an awesome link supporting gay marriage. It is linked to facebook so it is up to you if you decide to join. When I checked it last there was just over 19000 signitures of support.

Sexual Health Rights - A Global Challenge

Ever wonder what Sexology experts/sexual health practitioners/educators talk about when they get together: Have a look at this - the World Association of Sexologists XIXth World of Sexual HealthCongress .

Here is the intoductory blurb:

"The conference theme, Sexual Health & Rights: A Global Challenge, reflects the 8 priorities of the WAS Declaration for the Millennium and echoes the urgent need for action to ensure sexual health and rights for all. The WAS Congress is held every two years, and brings together the outstanding clinicians, researchers, educators, activists and policy makers from around the globe to share knowledge on the diverse and often controversial issues of contemporary sexual health. Sweden has always played a pioneering role in promoting sexual education, health and equality. Furthermore, a grant from the Swedish Government will enable participants to attend from many developing countries where economic conditions prevent them from participating in this enriching global meeting".

New Domestic Violence stats

This just came through to me.

New research has revealed one-in-five South Australian children has watched physical domestic violence against their mother or step-mother. The findings of a national report also showed 6% of South Australian women have experienced some form of physical or sexual violence in the last 12 months, which is above the national average of 5.8%. There is now concern for children who witness these acts of violence, as living in a violent home has been linked to depression, increased aggression and poorer education.
© Media Monitors 2008

This is so timely as I am curremtly reading 'The Macho Paradox' by Jackson Katz. I will put a quote from the book here.


" For women and men involved in the batterred womens movements, especially those who deal daily with victims, convincing people - especially men- of the urgency of the situation may appear to belabour the obvious. Doesn't everyone already relise how big a problem this is? Dont they know there are survivors in thier own families?

Well not necessarily. A lot of people cannot face the ugly reality - or dont want to. It is important to remember that coming to terms with the extent of the problem can be disorienting, and profoundly disruptive. As a man, once you are aware of the degree to which women suffer from gender violence and all forms of sexism, you cannot simply go about your business and pretend everything is fine. You have to do something about it or lose your self respect. "

Another quote: " If the term 'male basher' silences women who speak out against men's violence, a similar process applies to the increasingly popular convention in media where alleged rape victims are referred to as 'accusers'. This usage accelerated during the Kobe Bryant case ( a top professional basketballer), when media commentators routinely referred to the 19 year old alleged victim as 'Kobe's accuser'. This usageusage subtly but powerfully undermined the credibility of the alleged victim, furthering the mistaken impression that it was a 'he said -she said' case.Language matters. Imagine if every time people said Bryant's name, they referred to him as ' the accused' or 'the accused rapist' Kobe Bryant. Whether it was intentional or not, the widespread practice of calling the basketball superstar's alleged victim his 'accuser' no doubt contributed to a shift in peoples perspective on what happened........Instead of focusing on the merits or deficiencies of the prosecution's case against Kobe Bryant, the use of the term accuser subtly but profoundly turned people's attention to the actions of the young woman.


The Macho Paradox is availalable for loan from the SHine Library

Miss Bimbo Game - I can hardly believe it

Go here: http://www.missbimbo.com/ to have a look at a game that is everything that is abhorrant about young women and media today. You can become queen of the bimbos ; bimbo of the month blah blah. 'Become the hottest, coolest most intelligent and talented bimbo the world has ever known!'

I found this link via the about face website top 10 gallery of offenders.

Makes me think of this poem by Jewel ( pretty) from her book 'a night without armour'

There is a pretty girl

on the

face

of the magazine

And

all I can see

are my dirty

hands

turning the page

SE&X course dates 2009

Here are the dates for the SE&X ( Sexuality,Exploration and Xpression) course for youth workers, community health workers, peer educators and others in 2009.

Course 1

March 4/5 -April 1/2 -April29/30

Course 2

September 23/24 - October 14/15 - November 4/5

OR if you live in rural/remote South Australia and cant get down to the face to face course there is an online version which starts on June 15

If you are interested in either option please contact me: Lud Allen

lud.allen@health.sa.gov.au

or go here for more information

Your Sexual Rights

Have you ever thought about sexuality in terms of your rights? I wonder what they are - or should be. In 1999 the world association of sexology adopted a bill of sexual rights in Hong Kong. Go here on Cory Silvermans blog to have a look. There are 11 of them in all and they encompass so much yet clearly from my perspective many people around the world and Australia are having thier sexual rights curtailed.

The Effects of Genital Image and Body Image on Sexual Functioning in Women - A survey

I came across this study from the University of Sydney: You might be interested in passing this on or completing it yourself.


The Effects of Genital Image and Body Image on Sexual Functioning in Women

This study will evaluate the association between genital image, body image and sexual satisfaction in women across the reproductive spectrum.
Coping with psychosexual issues for individuals and their partners can be difficult. Disappointment, isolation and poor quality of life can occur if sexual issues are not understood. Perceptions of one's physical self plays a significant role in one's sexual self-esteem. The more discomfort one has about their body the more avoidance one may experience in expressing their sexuality.

Genital image is an important component of sexual functioning that is poorly represented in the literature. Indirect evidence for the concept of genital image can be found in the media that document the recent increase in women seeking cosmetic surgery for their genitalia.

This research will investigate further, the intimacy issues for women by evaluating if genital image concerns influence comfort during sexual activity. The research aims to evaluate the type of framework or prevention intervention that is necessary to enhance quality of life for women who have genital image concerns. One way of achieving this is helping women become more knowledgeable and comfortable with their genitals.The study invites participants to complete questionnaires on-line which will take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete. Participate in the online survey now

Men as perpetrators of violence

Violence as a mens issue is often rarely said. It is most often considered a womens issue. Why is this when by far the majority of crimes against women children (and men) is perpetrated by men? ( is it because men dont have to worry about this so much - that men are supposed to act strong and violent?

In one short look at my local news I came up with these headlines:

Man found guilty in battered baby case:

Man charged with driving car at Raymond street school students

Man convicted of child porno case

Man convicted of murder

This is appalling and makes me angry. Its time all men woke up and started addressing the priviliged position that we have in society. STOP violence against women and children

IPPF Sexual Diversity Toolkit

I just had a look at this tool kit. It is a bit compicated but may be of use to you in working with your organisations. It is very interesting.

This tool kit includes an index used to assess agency readiness to work with sexually diverse populations.
Product Detail:
It also includes a guide of indicators useful for planning service provision or advocacy; and a survey to measure provider and staff attitudes and knowledge around working with sexually diverse populations.

Placement

I received this email awhile ago. I thought maybe one of your organisations in South Oz might be interested in taking advantage of this.Here it is.

Dear Lud,

My name's Nelfio and I'm a fifth year medical student at the University of Adelaide. In 2009 I will be doing a placement called INternational Primary Health Care for six weeks. The first three weeks will be based at the university and will involve lectures and seminars on issues regarding
international health,primary care, STDs, HIV, rural health, etc.

In the second three weeks we are able to undertake a placement related to an area we have covered in the first three weeks. I was wondering if you might know of a placement (that would be considered rural in S.A. eg: Gawler, Mt Barker, Barossa, etc) that might be interested in having two students in the second half of 2009. Maybe youth work? Social work? Helping at a youth organisation? Talking to some of the children about what we do? Basically we're interested
in anything relating to primary care, social health and international health. Just wanting to find out if you might know of anything that might be available.
Sorry if you're not the right person to ask about this - maybe youcould suggest a contact that might have some ideas otherwise. Thank you so much for your time and I hope you don't mind me e-mailing you
Kind regards,
Nelfio Di Marco
5th Year MBBS,
The University of Adelaide

I asked Nelfio if he would like me to post this onto the youthnetwork blog and this is his reply.

That would be fantastic!
Just my e-mail nelfio.dimarco@student.adelaide.edu.au would be great!
Just has to be a placement that is considered rural: i.e. a placement in a place with 100,000 people or less.
Thank you so much for all your time and effort. Much appreciated.
Happy for you to go ahead with that. Thanks again

So if you are interested or can support Nelfio just contact him on the above email

Youth suicide

This link is to the ABC news website. The story is telling the world what us as Youth and Social workers what we already know.
It talks about suicide amongst same sex attracted youth.

Have put the link up for you to look at. Its in the title

Hi everyone

Ok here it goes.
I have been involved in Lud's experiment of online training for Shine. Through this he has invited me to post the occasional Blog.
I thought my first Blog should be letting you all know who I am and what I do.
My name is Jeremy and I live in Whyalla South Australia ( just incase you didn't know where it was).
I am married with 2 children. 1 boy and a girl. These kids with my wife are the only reason I continue to exist or so I thought.
Two and half years ago I started working in a program called Youth Pathways. This program is aimed at school retention. As you all know school is often the last thing on a persons mind when they are caught up in this cyclone called life. My role is to mentor and support the students into some form of education.
I am qualified Youth Worker and am in the process of gaining my formal Counselling qualifications.
I love my job and it was through this that I became aware of Shine and the work that they do. When Lud said that they were doing a remote online training session I was in like a flash. It has been frustrating at times ( hasn't it Lud ), but overall I think it is successful.

So what am I going to share with you guys. Not real sure as yet. Lets just see where the mood takes us.

Hope to talk to you soon
Jeremy

Sexual Assault Part of School Life!!!!

Its about time we stop accepting any form of assault and abuse as 'normal' (This was sent to me by one of the youthnetwork blog readers)

Sexual assault 'part of school life'

A new report has found sexual assault between school students is being ignored because it is seen as part of normal high school life. The Australian Institute of Family Studies report says school children are often reluctant to report sexual assault from other students because the fear the social consequences and do not think they will be believed.
It says most children find it hard to define when they have been sexually assaulted by another student.

The institute's general manager of research, Dr Daryl Higgins, says teachers are also dismissing sexual assault between high school students too easily.

"I think for teachers it's really difficult to be able to recognise that there's a serious problem on their hands when children at their school are being subjected to, let's say, an assault from a peer at a school," he said.
"It's much easier to turn a blind eye."

The report recommends schools do more to support young people who report assault, like creating safe areas, offering more training for teachers and separating victims and perpetrators. It says while only about 15 per cent of sexual assaults are reported to police, around two-thirds of victims tell someone in their informal support network.
The report says older teenagers aged between 14 and 17 are more likely to tell someone.
It also says situations involving technology like mobile phones, digital cameras and the Internet are difficult to define as assault under the law.

In 2006, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found 14 per cent of females and 3 per cent of males aged 12 to 20 had been sexually assaulted, most of them by people they knew.

This sounds like a really good conference to attend:

Where is the child and youth focus in domestic violence?

One Day Conference

Wednesday 26th November 2008
This one day conference will explore the important and sometimes overlooked perspective of children and young people in Domestic Violence.
Two new resources will be launched - YWCA’s
‘Relationship Things’ for young people and NEDVAG’s ‘Domestic Violence Information’ booklet.
Guest Speakers:

Professor Freda Briggs - University of South Australia
Noel McLean – Acting Senior Sergeant - South Australian Police
Sharron Hollamby - Central Domestic Violence Service
Deb Clark - Women’s and Children’s Hospital
Sharlene Pope - CAMHS Northern Region
Where: City of Tea Tree Gully
Civic Centre, 571 Montacute Road
Modbury
When: 9am - 4.15pm
Cost: Employed: $20.00
Community Members: $10.00
Lunch included
RSVP: 19th November to Maggie
lestm@cttg.sa.gov.au

Sexual Health Awareness Week - 2009- Grants

Hi everyone:

Its time to put your applications in for sexual health awareness weeks grants for 2009:

We are pleased to announce that community grants of up to $500 are available to community groups and agencies for activities that promote awareness of sexual health issues during Sexual Health Awareness Week 2009 (14-21 February).

What is Sexual Health Awareness Week?

Sexual Health Awareness Week (SHAW) is targeted at young adults between 18 and 30 years. It aims to increase awareness of sexual health issues and encourage South Australian communities to start talking openly about relationships and sexuality.

What is the Community Grants Program?
SHine SA recognises that communities need the flexibility to develop their own sexual health promotion strategies and activities that meet the needs of their community, taking into consideration the differing social, cultural and value sensitivities.
And that's what the Community Grants Program is all about. It's been developed to encourage individuals, groups and communities to take greater responsibility for their sexual health.
Focus of Sexual Health Awareness Week 09.

The 2009 campaign will focus on accessing knowledge to encourage young adults to think about keeping themselves healthy in the context of their personal relationships. The key message, Safety, Pleasure, Respect - Now I get it!, emphasises the importance of individuals having the knowledge to make their own decisions in relation to their sexual health, wellbeing and the positive expression of their sexuality.

Go here to get your application form!

Silly Interpretation

It is "unfortunate" that a recent study that found an association between teen pregnancy and viewing of sexual content on TV did not "factor in the impact of various approaches to sex education," Salon columnist Tracy Clark-Flory writes in an opinion piece.
Havea look at this article from 'medical news today here or here http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/128372.php

Posting Apology

I apologise to the regular readers of this blog for the lack of postings in the past month. There has been a terrible tragedy within the family of one of our authors and this has over ridden any other activities.