Do you work with young lesbians??

Do you know of the fantastic magazine LOTL - Australias Lesbian magazine?

ShineSA has this as one of our publications in our public foyer that is on display for all visitors to read. In this months mag 'Play Girls' the feature articles are:

• Girls & Girls come out to play: It promises to be the girly event for 2008


• Gifted: Two talented lesbians make speciaol gifts to treasure


• Queer eye for the straight drive: Does yuor set of wheels say more about your sexuality


• Witchy woman: Dont see in the new year without the one you desire by your side


• Sexy summer seafood: A shared secret of celebratory recipee


• The faith healer: Kim Brett believes christianity and homosexuality can be reconciled


• Reflections for the new year: Sensual and tranquil images of beauty and strength


• Northern exposure:Two parties not to be missed are north of Sydney -Girlfest and Tropical fruits


• Heatwave: Summer gay day offers new outdoor treat for lesbians

As you can see this mag offers lots of cool stuff -pics/articles/info - all sorts.

Check out the website on http://www.lotl.com/

New Book - Boys Adrift

Here is the summary of this book. Please read it with care and a critical eye! Do you agree? Is what Dr Sax says plausable? ( The following summary was copied from (https://www.lib.uwo.ca/blogs/education/2007/09/new_book_boys_adrift_the_five.html )

New Book: Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men

Family physician, research psychologist, and acclaimed author of Why Gender Matters, Leonard Sax reveals the truth about what's driving the decline of American boys--and what parents can do about it. The call number for Boys Adrift is LC1390.S29x 2007 .

Something scary is happening to boys today.
From kindergarten to college, they are less resilient and less ambitious than they were a mere twenty years ago.
As for young men, it turns out the film Failure to Launch is not far from the truth.
Fully one-third of men ages 22-34 are still living at home with their parents--about a 100 percent increase in the past twenty years.

Boys nationwide are increasingly dropping out of school; fewer are going to college; and for the first time in American history, women are outnumbering men at undergraduate institutions three to two.

Parents, teachers, and mental health professionals are worried about boys.
But until now, no one has come up with good reasons for their decline--and, more important, with workable solutions to reverse this troubling trend.

Now, family physician and research psychologist Dr. Leonard Sax delves into the scientific literature and draws on his vast clinical experience to propose an entirely original view of why boys and young men are failing in school and at home.

He argues that a combination of social, cultural, and biological factors is creating an environment that is literally toxic to boys, ranging from environmental estrogens to the over-prescription of ADHD drugs. And he presents practical solutions--from new ways of controlling boys' use of video games, to innovative (and workable) education reforms. ( the 5 factors are: 1) feminization of education; (2) video games; (3) increased prescription of psychotropic medications that affect the motivational systems of the brain; (4) exposure to endocrine disrupters; and (5) lack of heroic role models.

About the AuthorLeonard Sax, M.D., Ph.D., is a family physician, research psychologist, and acclaimed author of Why Gender Matters. He is founder and executive director of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education in Montgomery County, Maryland (NASSPE). Dr. Sax's scholarly work has been published in a wide variety of prestigious journals, including American Psychologist, Behavioral Neuroscience, and Journal of the American Medical Association. He is a popular speaker and has been a featured guest on CNN, PBS, Fox News, NPR's "Talk of the Nation," "The Today Show," and many other programs. He lives in Montgomery County, Maryland.

In the review of this book in the journal JAMA - The Journal of the American Medical Association Maureen E. Lyon, PhD, Reviewer Center for Cancer and Immunology Research Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine Children's National Medical Center George Washington University School of Medicine Washington, DC

States that:

" Boys Adrift is at its strongest in providing practical advice to parents about how to increase their sons' academic motivation; how to set appropriate limits on video game use; and how to protect their sons from the potential harm of psychotropic medications and environmental estrogens. Boys Adrift is at its weakest in supporting the thesis that there is an epidemic of unmotivated and underachieving young men".

GO on : search the internet - find out more - get a copy: Find out if you think we have an 'epidemic' on our hands. What are your thoughts about the young men that you work with??

Disability and Sexual Health Awreness Week

DisabilityFun Day

A day for People with a disability, Workers, Carers and Parents to have fun while learning more about Friendships and Dating.

Lunch and entertainment for all between12:30pm – 1:30pm

Come along and join in the fun.

To help us with catering please RSVP to ShineSACourses@health.sa.gov.au or phone 83005317 by Friday 25th January 2008.

This event has been organised by SHine as part of SHAW Sexual Health Awareness Week

When: Friday 15th February

Where: SHine SA, GP Plus Building64c Woodville Road WoodvilleParking off Bower Street. Includes disability parking.

10:00-12:30 People with a disability, Parents & Carers

1:30-3:30 Workers and Teachers

New Procedures

This was an email I was sent recently

Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to let every everyone know about the new system which started Monday-3-12-07.
Women who require their first Antenatal appointment at a Public Metro. Maternity Unit, will now need to call
1300 368 820 to geta reference Number before their first appointment.
Clients will receive a "Reference Number" and need to bring that number with them to their antenatal appointment.
Clients who require specialist Care will not be required to call this new service.
Clients from the Southern area will not have the choice of birthing at AWCH now.

New Pregnancy SA Infoline for appointments
03 Dec 2007

From 3 December 2007, women who require their first antenatal appointment in a public metropolitan maternity unit need to call their GP or the Pregnancy SA Infoline on 1300 368 820.

The new Pregnancy SA Infoline connects women to their closest public maternity service where an appointment can be made. At this first appointment antenatal staff will discuss suitable birthing options for each woman.

Country residents who plan on birthing in the country should continue to contact their local GP or health service to make their first antenatal appointment. Alternatively country residents who plan on birthing in a metropolitan public hospital should contact the Pregnancy SA Infoline on 1300 368 820 to book their first antenatal appointment.

Women requiring specialist perinatal care will not be required to call the new service and referral to these services can be undertaken in the usual way.

The telephone service will be available from 8.30am to 5.00pm, Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays.

A single point of telephone contact will improve coordination between birthing hospitals across metropolitan Adelaide and will make it easier for women to book their first antenatal appointments.

using the voki program

Get a Voki now!

This avatar program is free

Get a Voki now!


I can see lots of applications for providing sexual health (and other) information in a non threatening way. What do you think?

Go to the 'get a voki now' link and try it out.

All questions are good questions

This question from sexploration reminded me that all questions are good questions when it comes to sexual health. Thank goodness this person had someone, somewhere to ask this. Far to often we are embarrassed or shamed about our own bodies. Lets get a bit freer with our hang ups - lets support young people to question.

Q: The last time I had an orgasm, I got hives right after we were done and they went away in about five minutes. Is that called a “sex flush”? When I brought it up to my ob-gyn she didn’t seem too concerned.
A: You probably did not have hives. According to the National Institutes of Health, hives, or urticaria, are usually raised, reddish welts that often itch and do not typically go away after just a few minutes.
Hives can be caused by allergies, and medical literature documents semen allergies, though these are thought to be rare. One can also have allergies to latex, some oils and a few other accoutrements that you may have handy around your bed.
But since the reaction was very short-lived, you probably did have a sex flush caused by blood rushing toward the surface of your skin, your clitoris, your chest. This can be especially pronounced in light-skinned people and those who blush easily.
If you become uncomfortable from this reaction, or it worsens with time, consult another doctor.

How much do you know about working with a hetero person and HIV

A fact sheet for health professionals has been developed from a study called the 'straightpoz study'. Men and Women living heterosexually with HIV.

This has fantastic information for us as workers. I recommend having a look. It includes such things as:
Who are HIV positive straight people?
Whats important to knopw about this client group?
What does my client need to know?
What can I give my client NOW?

Also if you want hard copies of the fact sheet I am told they will be sent to you. (I presume only in Australia)
You can obtain them from: (the following was sent to me in a forwarded email)
Asha Persson at the National Centre in HIV Social Research. Please place your order viaemail to Asha Persson by the 1st of February 2008. All orders will be processed on this date. Please specify number of requested copies. Kind regards, Asha Persson, PhDResearch AssociateNational Centre in HIV Social Research
Robert Webster Building University of New South Wales
Kensington NSW 2052
Phone: (02) 9385 6414
Fax: (02) 9385 6455
Email: a.persson@unsw.edu.au

Ever wonder who you support? Anti abortion/homophobia

The following is taken from crikey.com.au

Borders passes the hat for anti-gay, pro-life charity

Crikey intern Alesha Capone writes:

Employees of the bookseller's chain Borders are expressing concern that they were required to promote a Christian charity which is allegedly anti-gay and pro-life.
Gloria Jean's coffee shops are located inside several Borders' stores. Last month, Borders' employees were asked to page customers, every hour, about the coffee emporium's 'Cappuccino for a Cause' day in which 10 cents from every Gloria Jean's cappuccino was donated to the charity Mercy Ministries. Mercy Ministries helps young girls and women with eating disorders, unplanned pregnancies and mental health issues. It was launched in Australia by Darlene Zschech, who is a worship leader at Sydney's Hillsong Church. The managing director of Gloria Jean's, Peter Irvine, is also the executive director of Mercy Ministries. He is also a member of the Hillsong Church. Mr Irvine's co-founder and partner in Gloria Jean's, Nabi Saleh, sits on the church's board of directors. So the part-owner of Gloria Jean's was using his businesses to raise money for a charity he is affiliated with. Well as long as Mercy Ministries does good work, is there really a problem? Perhaps Borders might be interested in digging into Mercy Ministries' background before they plug it over the PA.
Mercy Ministries' website says:
A young woman who is pregnant will attend a basic decision making course which equips her to make an informed decision about the future of her and her baby... our staff will assist a pregnant resident who chooses to parent her baby in making an individualised plan that will prepare her to effectively parent in a safe environment. Young women who choose to place their child for adoption or alternative care return to Mercy Ministries to complete the program.
In other words, although it isn't spelled out, abortion doesn't seem to be offered to the girls as an option.On the anti-gay front, the founder of the charity, American Nancy Alcorn said in 2005, that the church counsels girls to help overcome homosexuality:
We do have girls who have a history of lesbianism, and that's definitely an issue that we deal with... We are cautious to make sure that we're not putting them in an area where there's going be more struggle or temptation because this is a girls' home. In dealing with it in counselling, they have been able to walk in freedom from that.
Although there is no suggestion the Australian Mercy Ministries' groups run this kind of diversion program, a social worker who grew up in Hillsong Church and wrote a book about her experiences, Tanya Levin, says Mercy Ministries is, "... completely anti-gay and completely pro-life. That's why it was established." Ms Levin says she has seen an application form the charity sends to girls who wish to be admitted to its treatment program. She says the application asks if the girls have "ever been involved in witchcraft or lesbianism". She says the girls who receive treatment Mercy Ministries' in-patient program have to attend three Hillsong masses a week and sit in a "special section, where everyone points to them and says, 'Look at the Ministry girls, aren't they special and blossoming into a life like Jesus'," Ms Levin said. While growing up in Hillsong, she said the Church wasn't overtly homophobic, but referred to same-sex attraction as "a lifestyle we wouldn't agree with". Borders was approached for a comment but did not respond before Crikey's deadline.


http://www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20071114-Borders-between-charity-and-Hillsong-church-thin-.html

Transactional nature of sex

I came across this paragraph while reading some reseach about young people in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (Maganja RK, Maman S, Groues A, et al. AIDS Care 2007;19(8).
and it started me thinking about the tranactional process that we and our youth engage in WITHIN relationships. Not only that but there seem to be STRONG gender roles working here etc - Boys will provide material support - girls will provide sex. Not much different than going to a movie on a date, or going out to dinner, or to a party etc etc. What are your thoughts.

"Youth described the exchange of sex for money or other material goods in all types of sexual relationships. While the exchange was explicit in casual relationships, young women voiced material and monetary expectations from their committed partners as well. Young men described their pursuit of multiple partners as sexually motivated, while women sought multiple partners for economic reasons. Young men were aware of the expectations of material support from partners, and acknowledged that their ability to provide for a partner affected both the longevity and exclusivity of their relationships. Youth described a deep mistrust of the motivations and commitment of their sexual partners. Furthermore, young women's financial dependence on men affected their ability to negotiate safe sexual behaviors in both casual and committed relationships. Programs designed to reduce HIV risk among Tanzanian youth need to take into account the transactional component of sexual relationships and how such exchanges differ according to partner type."