Tuesday, September 29, 2009

XY Men Masculinities and Politics

It has taken me a long time to find this site: I dont know why! Below are some intro quotes from the site. Get on there and have a look around and join in. I will cetainly be exploring and engaging with this fantastic space.

"XY is a website focused on men, masculinities, and gender politics. XY is a space for the exploration of issues of gender and sexuality, the daily issues of men’s and women’s lives, and practical discussion of personal and social change.
XY is:
A forum for debate and discussion, including commentary on contemporary and emerging issues in gender and sexual politics;
A resource library or clearinghouse for key reports, manuals, and articles;
A toolkit for activism, personal transformation and social change. "

"XY is intended therefore to encourage men to involve themselves in personal and social change towards gender equality. It inspires men to develop respectful, trusting, and egalitarian relations with women, to promote equitable and liberatory ways of living and being, and to join with women in projects of gender equality and social justice.
XY is guided by two further principles: a commitment to enhancing men’s lives, and a recognition of diversities among men."

http://www.xyonline.net/

My PEER Project

For those who work in peer education! I recently received this email from Jonathan Hallett seeking support for research into peer based projects. PLEASE spend some time to help out this important research. While you are at it have a look at the My Peer Website


The My-Peer project has developed an online survey to explore the human resource processes involved in running peer-based programs.
Staffing peer-based programs can raise challenges and opportunities and we are keen to hear from agencies running these programs to find out more about how you recruit peer supporters/educators, the type of training they undergo and the support they are provided.
The survey will take approximately 10 minutes of your time and your responses will go directly to supporting the development of the My-Peer toolkit content.
You can access the survey by clicking on the link below (you may need to cut and paste it into your browser):

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=W1U_2bJhxVtl6u9pVtL_2fExRg_3d_3d
Thank you in advance for participating!
Jonathan Hallett
Research Fellow Western Australian Centre for Health Promotion Research School of Public Health Faculty of Health Sciences
Curtin University of Technology GPO Box U1987 Perth Western Australia
Telephone +61 8 9266 7021 Facsimile +61 8 9266 2958 Email j.hallett@curtin.edu.au

Monday, September 28, 2009

age of medical consent

The Consent To Medical Treatment and Palliative Care (Parental Consent) Amendment Bill 2009 (SA) proposes to amend the Consent To Medical Treatment and Palliative Care Act 1995 No. 26 (SA). This private member's Bill, sponsored by Robert Brokenshire MLC, was introduced into the Legislative Council and received its second reading speech on 23 September 2009.The Bill would:(a) amend the definition of "child" so that it means a person under 18 years of age, rather than 16 years of age; and(b) amend s. 12 (Administration of medical treatment to a child) to clarify that a medical practitioner may only administer medical treatment to a child without parental or guardian consent if reasonable efforts have been made to contact the parent or guardian.

Intersex - Semenya

The following was taken from msnbc.com.

Go here for a further read

"The concern that women with XY chromosomes have a competitive advantage “is malarkey. We don’t segregate athletes by height,” said Genel, speaking from an international endocrinology conference in New York that has sessions on intersex issues.
Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson, past president of the American College of Medical Genetics and a member of the IAAF panel, agreed: “Any elite athlete ... has a competitive advantage, or otherwise they wouldn’t be an elite athlete.”
Simpson, associate dean at Florida International University, said the issue should be simply whether men are masquerading as women. Semenya is clearly a woman, he said. "

I sit here and read all of this storm over Semenya. What I hear is someone being upset because Semenya WON. It is couced in terms of 'She is not a woman' or 'Unfair advantage'

We dont see the governing bodies testing men that lose for LOW levels testosterone

What an INTOLERANT CULTURE we live in.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Cool new site in the UK

Really cool idea of approaching sexual health from a local community level: here is what they say in thier intro blurb..

More and more decisions about health services are now taken at a local level, and decision-makers have to take the views of local communities into account. This means that your voice is more important than ever, and you can have a huge impact on changing and improving sexual health, contraceptive and HIV services locally.
Through this website, you can access local data about sexual health, find out how decisions about local priorities are made, and take action by contacting key decision-makers in your area.
Together, we can improve sexual health in your community!

Go here to have a look - http://www.shoutloud.org.uk/

Monday, September 14, 2009

Global Patterns of Mortality in Young People

Some VERY interesting reading from the Lancet Journal volume 374 issue 9693: I suggest you go to the Lancet and join to read the full article.

Findings
2·6 million deaths occurred in people aged 10—24 years in 2004. 2·56 million (97%) of these deaths were in low-income and middle-income countries, and almost two thirds (1·67 million) were in sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia. Pronounced rises in mortality rates were recorded from early adolescence (10—14 years) to young adulthood (20—24 years), but reasons varied by region and sex. Maternal conditions were a leading cause of female deaths at 15%. HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis contributed to 11% of deaths. Traffic accidents were the largest cause and accounted for 14% of male and 5% of female deaths. Other prominent causes included violence (12% of male deaths) and suicide (6% of all deaths).


Regional differences in age of onset of sexual activity and availability and accessibility of condoms, contraception, safe abortion, antenatal and obstetric care, and HIV testing are some of the reasons for the rise in female mortality with age.4, 35 High maternal mortality rates in some low-income and middle-income countries have been previously described,36 and are the target of the fifth Millennium Development Goal. Prominence of maternal death in this young age-group should be a further incentive for promotion of developmentally appropriate sexual and reproductive health services for young people.35 In view of the high number of deaths due to abortion, to ensure not only that contraception is available but also that all abortions are safe would do much towards reduction of mortality in young women.37 In regions without substantial maternal mortality, rates of female deaths generally remained low throughout adolescence and young adulthood.
In males, injury deaths contributed most to the rise in mortality with age worldwide, but rates and patterns of causes varied substantially across regions. Injuries account for around 10% of worldwide mortality for all ages, but in people aged 10—24 years they accounted for more than 40% of all deaths and about half of male deaths.16, 38 The importance of injury deaths in young people in high-income countries has been recognised.12, 13 However, injury mortality was most prominent in low-income and middle-income countries. This finding emphasises the need for heightened investment in injury-prevention programmes for this age-group.39 Diverse responses are needed because patterns of injury deaths varied substantially between regions. An increase in traffic-related deaths in many high-income countries up until the 1980s resulted in coordinated intersectoral policy responses, with a subsequent fall in mortality.9, 40 Typical preventive measures include investments in road infrastructure, compulsory seatbelts and helmets, and enforcement of legislation for use of alcohol and other drugs when driving.