Writing Themselves in Number 3 - WTi3

For those of you who don't know, the Writing Themselves in Reports are THE definitive source of information regarding the sexual health and wellbeing of young same sex attracted people in Australia. The first report was released in 1998, the second in 2005 and NOW its time to collect information for the 3rd report. YES Help young same sex attracted young people have a say. This information is IMPORTANT. The first two writing themselves in reports influenced (on a grand scale) policy and action Nationwide.

Do you work with same-sex attracted kids aged 14-21 in Australia?
If you do please encourage them to write themselves into Australian history by filling out the third national Australian survey on same sex attracted youth at www.wti3.org.au
This is THE survey that makes a REAL difference to policies and services; support it. The survey is open NOW and closes in April 2010.

I AM PASSING ON THIS EMAIL TO YOU THAT I RECEIVED

Dear colleagues, National STI Prevention Program

The Australian Government is launching a second phase of activity for the National STI Prevention Program: Sexual Health Campaign early in January 2010. As you know, the campaign aims to raise awareness about the risks of infection and encourage safe sexual behaviour including using condoms and seeing a doctor about testing after unprotected sex.

Phase 2 will build on the achievements of Phase 1 with further promotion of campaign messages to target audiences. The first stage of tracking research indicates good awareness, particularly for a campaign without television advertising. The creative executions developed for Phase 1 will be used again for Phase 2 to provide cumulative benefits in awareness and recall.

The campaign will include advertising primarily in magazines, online and in washrooms of pubs and clubs, as well as public relations activity to directly engage with young people and encourage more active involvement with the campaign.

We will update you with more details as the campaign progresses over the next six months. We appreciate your ongoing support of the campaign.

If you would like to view the advertising materials or order campaign resources please go to https://statemail.sa.gov.au/OWA/redir.aspx?C=b6b0dba36fca445097786241b848b1f8&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.australia.gov.au%2fsti

If you have any queries about the campaign you can contact a member of the campaign team at https://statemail.sa.gov.au/OWA/redir.aspx?C=b6b0dba36fca445097786241b848b1f8&URL=mailto%3asti.campaign%40health.gov.au

Yours faithfully
Horizon Communication Group (on behalf of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing)

Time to get cracking

"Time to get cracking": The challenge of developing best practice in Australian sexual assault prevention education
Susan Evans, Chris Krogh and Moira Carmody

Published by the Australian Institute of Family Studies.ISBN 978-1-921414-17-6, ISSN 1833-7864 (online), ISSN 1833-7856 (print)
Dr Susan Evans, Christopher Krogh and Associate Professor Moira Carmody are at the Social Justice & Social Change Research Centre, University of Western Sydney, Australia

This paper is a MUST for people working in ANY field. Sexual Assault effects all of us.

In this paper, three of the authors of the standards discuss a number of challenges that programs are likely to face in the effort to formulate best practice in sexual assault prevention education. The discussion is based on findings from interviews conducted with 32 prevention educators and program writers during a research project in which questions were asked about program development. Some of the challenges include: the distinctiveness of the prevention education role, conceptual underpinnings in programs, program development and evaluation, working in schools, choosing a pedagogical approach to work with young people, and program adaptation for the purposes of cultural relevance. In addressing each of these challenges, connections are made between what interviewees said and what is communicated in the standards. The aim of the paper is less with positioning the standards as the final word on best practice, and more with arguing the need for further debate, discussion and action to develop best practice in sexual assault prevention education.

GO HERE to have a read

SOMAZONE

when is the last time you visited the excellent website somazone?? When I logged on recently the lates questions that young people had asked were:

1. How long would you have to have had chlamydia untreated to be infertile?
2. How does your vagina smell like fish?
3. Can you catch thrush in your mouth from kissing someone?

If you havent visited somazone before I suggest you have a look: Here is their blurb:

Somazone (www.somazone.com.au) is an Australian website developed by young people for young people. Somazone provides fast, free, anonymous access to quality-assured health information.
Somazone is a program of the Australian Drug Foundation (ADF) and aims to empower young people to address their physical, emotional and social health needs in a way that is relevant and non-judgemental.

Totally Awesome - Joy Nash

Another great site is Joy Nash on myspace. This girl is cool. She speaks the unnamable word 'fat'. Look at this video of hers and then visit her site. There may well be some resources in there that you can use when working with young women around body issues. Thanks to Rashelle Baans for delivering this to me.

Bad Questions to Ask a Transexual

This is a video from Calpernia Adams. It is a fantastic resource for identifying the type of questions that are rude, personal and just plain intrusive, that trans people are subjected to daily. Have a watch. You may have asked or heard someone ask these questions in the past.

If you want to see or read more about Calpernia Adams go to her website here :

Thanks to Craig Murray a community sexual health worker for putting me on to this.

Education on Tyra Banks Show

As a sexual health and education educator myself it was great to find this video. I found it on the Kinsey Confidential page of the Kinsey Institute website. If you are working with yioung people and dont feel comfortable enough to explain the vulva, labia majora, labia minora,vagina, clitoris, and urethra; you may want to use this video.

Growing up fast and furious:A conference

Preliminary notice. Save this date: Sydney, March 19, 2010


The Australian Council on Children and the Mediaand the Children and Families Research Centre,Macquarie University present:
Growing up fast and furious:Reviewing the impacts of violent and sexualised media on children
Saturday 19 March 2010, 9am - 5pm
NSW Teachers Federation Conference Centre37 Reservoir Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010

An Australian Conference on Children and the Media, with international researchers, Prof Rowell Huesmann (long term impacts of violent media) , Prof Ed Donnerstein (Internet violence and cyber-bullying) , Distinguished Prof Craig Anderson (violent video games), and Prof Louise Newman (Victoria, sexualisation of children), Dr Wayne Warburton (NSW, violent music videos), Dr Cordelia Fine (Victoria, advertising) and Prof Elizabeth Handsley (SA, regulation and classification).

In this important and timely conference leading researchers will review the evidence related to children’s experiences with a range of violent and sexualised media, examine their marketing, and discuss appropriate regulatory responses, including how well our classification systems reflect current research.

Don’t miss this unprecedented opportunity to see several of the world’s leading researchers on children and the media speaking together in Australia.

This certainly looks good to me. Hope to see you there.

why are you trying to look like someone else?

Beauty is not how skinny you can be.

I found this on the brillian site about face

This video was made with Sophie ( aged four) and her mother. She wonders " Why would a person want to look like someone they are not?"

PLEASE go have a look and read more on About Face

Real Beauty: Jodi Bieber

(The picture to the left is one of her photographs - not a portrait of Jodi)

Jodi Bierber is a South African born photographer: She has recently released a collection entitled real beauty. Here is what she says about this:

This project is an extention of a Dove billboard advertising campaign in London showing ordinary women in their underwear advocating and speaking up for Real Beauty. Advertising campaigns don’t usually draw my attention, but this one did. A model sitting next to me on the way from London to Paris emphasised the extent to which Photoshop is used to enhance beauty. She was not in the least bit concerned about the rings under her eyes as these imperfections would easily be erased after her photoshoot. A BBC radio documentary spoke about an increase in the cases of black anorexic women in South Africa, as the full figured body which was once more favourable is no longer as desirable as Western body shapes.

This is a fantastic collection. Go here to see more.