sleep with the right people.

Sexual health is much broader than gen itals. It includes health for ALL people. Sexual health even has a place in worker politics.

futuristic male contraception

Maybe in the future While a man drops his electric car off for a quick charge, he also pops into the doctor's office for a recharge of his own: 15 minutes of ultrasound treatment, for 6 months of contraception.

Have a look here to read more

homophobia

Thanks to Kirsty Degabrielle for this great posting:

Hey All,

In a society where many laws, churches, schools, media sources, etc, often discriminate against same sex attracted (SSA) people and send homophobic messages, it is only natural that most individuals (including SSA people) have some level of homophobic thoughts &/or attitudes. The real achievement is in acknowledging this & working towards increasing your own awareness, the awareness of those around you, & challenging homophobia in all its many forms (see IDAHO- Part 1 of 2 email).

Below are listed 4 homophobic levels of attitude and 4 positive levels of attitudes towards lesbian and gay relationships/people. They were developed by Dr. Dorothy Riddle, (a psychologist from Tucson, Arizona).


WHERE DO YOU SIT ON THE SCALE? DO YOU HAVE ROOM TO MOVE?


HOMOPHOBIC LEVELS OF ATTITUDE

1. Repulsion: Homosexuality or bisexuality is seen as a "crime against nature". Same sex attracted people are sick, crazy, immoral, sinful, wicked, etc. and anything is justified to change them (for example, prison, hospitalisation, negative behaviour therapy, electroshock therapy).

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2. Pity: Heterosexuality is more mature and certainly to be preferred. Any possibility of "becoming straight" should be reinforced and those who seem to be born "that way" should be pitied, "the poor dears".

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3. Tolerance: Homosexuality is just a phase of adolescent development that many people go through and most people "grow out of". Thus, same sex attracted individuals are less mature than heterosexuals and should be treated with the protectiveness and indulgence one uses with a child.
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4. Acceptance: Still implies there is something to accept. Characterised by such statements as "You’re not a lesbian to me, you’re a person!" or "What you do in bed is your own business," or "That’s fine with me as long as you don’t flaunt it". This perspective denies the social and legal realities with which same sex attracted people live, and ignores the pain of invisibility and stress of closet behaviour. "Flaunt" usually means saying or doing anything that makes people aware.
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POSITIVE LEVELS OF ATTITUDES

5. Support: Work to safeguard the rights of same sex attracted people. People at this level are aware of the homophobic climate and the unfair treatment that same sex attracted people experience.
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6. Admiration: Acknowledges that being same sex attracted in our society takes strength. People at this level are willing to truly examine their homophobic attitudes, values and behaviours.
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7. Appreciation: Value the diversity of people and see same sex attracted people as a valid part of that diversity. These people are willing to combat homophobia in themselves and others.
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8. Nurturance: Assumes that same sex attracted people are indispensable in our society. They view same sex attracted people with genuine affection and delight, and are willing to be allies and advocates.

No Diet day

This is an email sent to me that I am passing on to you about diet/body image and the harm it can cause.

Hi All,

I just wanted to let you all know it is International No Diet Day on Thursday May 6th.

This is a good time to think about promoting positive body image amongst young people!

One way of marking International No Diet Day is to encourage any young women you work with to complete the YWCA of Adelaide's poll about promoting positive body image. You can find this on their website www.ywca.com.au

They are also launching a t-shirt challenge, a competition providing people with the opportunity to design a t-shirt promoting positive body image! Might be something that could be incorporated into an art class! Food for thought!

Anyway if you want any more info feel free to give me a buzz on 8552 9214 on a Wednesday or Friday!

Have a great week!

Emily :)


Emily Zesers
Youth Wellbeing Program Officer
Southern Fleurieu Health Service
Division
SA Health
Government of South Australia

Tel: (08) 8552 9214
Mobile: 0447 017 078
Email: sciyouth@iinet.net.au

Job Opportunity at SHine

Hey everyone: Another job opportunity has arisen at SHineSA. If you like the idea of working in sexual health this may be your opportunity.

The position is for the Manager of the Northern Primary health Care team: Click here to find out more.

International Day Against Homophobia IDAHO

Dont forget everyone its time to start planning IDAHO is almost here: MAY 17th

It may seem that these days sexual orientation and gender identity is getting less and less of an issue and people who live their gender identity and their sexuality differently from the majority enjoy comfortable and secure social and political spaces to do so.

When you have a closer look though, you will witness that there is increased homophobia and transphobia in a majority of places; and the XXth century was actually one of the most homophobic periods ever in History.

Everywhere homosexuality and gender variance is being discriminated against ; in more that 80 countries in the world, same sex relationships are criminalised and in 7 of them, death penalty can be enforced.


Intolerance, prejudice, hate, ignorance and fear still largely prevail in individuals, groups, States, international institutions, etc…
This is why this international day to fight against homophobia and transphobia and for sexual freedom was created.

Go here to find out more and get some ideas on what to do for IDAHO

If you go HERE you can get the IDAHO newsletter emailed direct to you.

Cities ranked by penis size

While this article that ranks average penis size for each of the USA 50 states is quite funny. It just goes to show the fixation we have for genitals and size.

Anyway go here to have a look for a laugh.

Condom Case Competition

Hey EVERYONE This is cool.

As part of the Australian Government’s ongoing National STI Prevention Program: Sexual Health Campaign,
a competition aimed at young people to design limited edition condom tins is now open.

As you know, the campaign aims to raise awareness about the risks of infection and encourage safe sexual behavior, including using condoms and seeing a doctor about testing after unprotected sex.

To encourage condom carrying, we are asking young people to design a condom tin that will appeal to their peer group. This competition will build on the achievements of the campaign to date by encouraging interaction and participation from the target audience and further promotion of campaign messages.

The competition is open for a period of four weeks and entry is via the campaign website www.australia.gov.au/sti. Entrants can use the design tool provided to create and upload their design or they can use their own design software. Visitors to the site can view all of the submitted entries and vote for their favourite design.

Two winning entries will be chosen by our panel of judges including visual and performance artist Ben Frost, Australian rock band Bluejuice and expert on dating, sex and relationships, Samantha Brett. The judges will choose one winner from all of the entries and a second winner from the top ten designs as voted on by the public.

The winners will each receive $1000 and have their design produced on condom tins.
The competition is being promoted directly to universities and design colleges, and to the general public through online advertising, public relations and promotional activities.

We would appreciate your assistance with promoting the competition by embedding the ‘vote/enter widget’ on your homepage, blog or facebook page. This can be found by clicking on ‘enter’ on the white competition box on the website www.australia.gov.au/sti. Once you are in click on ‘Share’ at the top of the page and click on either ‘embed on your blog’ or ‘share with facebook’. The widget is an interactive way to promote the competition and enables people to vote for their favourite designs or enter the competition. Alternatively, you can provide a link to the campaign website www.australia.gov.au/sti.

AFL on homophobia

Stars of the AFL come out in support of gays
SEAMUS BRADLEY
April 11, 2010
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/stars-of-the-afl-come-out-in-support-of-gays-20100410-rzz2.html

Go here to see more pictures

Top footballers are to front a campaign against homophobia.

AFL football may have a reputation for blokiness, but dozens of top players and coaches have launched a campaign to promote tolerance of homosexuality.

The ''inclusion and diversity'' campaign boasts some of the biggest names in football, including Neil Balme, Joel Selwood and Brownlow medallists Jimmy Bartel and Adam Goodes.Almost 30 players and coaches have signed up to the Players' Association project, to be launched officially next month.

The sportsmen and coaches have been photographed holding handwritten signs calling for acceptance and understanding of homosexuals.
Adelaide player Brett Burton is pictured with a placard that says: ''We all have our little differences - celebrate them!'' Geelong football manager Neil Balme's reads: ''Homophobic His-story!'' Bulldogs ruckman Will Minson wrote in ''Nil bastardum carborundum'', which is mock-Latin for ''don't let the bastards grind you down''.

NEW UNDERBELLY

As you prepare to watch this upcoming season of Underbelly you might want to reflect on thia comment from the ASSERTSA newsletter No 3 from July 2009:

Underbelly “Uncut”

By Abby English

I recently took some time out to watch the recent TV programme “Underbelly, Uncut” on DVD. I was curious about all the media hype surrounding the series and the alleged “glorification” of criminal activity in Melbourne’s “underworld”. I would agree that the series was riddled with violence and perhaps glorified to some extent, however, I was more interested in the portrayal of sex throughout the series.

Now, before I go any further, I will add that overall and with an air of suspended disbelief, the series was generally enjoyable. As a TV show to entertain, (loosely) based on real events, it wasn’t too difficult to watch. The use of attractive actors to portray actual people (criminals, most of whom are now dead or in prison) as interesting, colourful, fearless and shameless is enough to maintain interest. However, I found there was another level to my viewing that stemmed from my professional life that had me critiquing the sexual/relationship content of the series.

Many TV shows use sex as a selling point, and let’s face it, sex is a part of life, so sex scenes come as no surprise. But the role of sex in this series grabbed my attention. It seemed that when a gang member had been out either killing or maiming, he (and it was mostly “he”) went to a place where there would be women not only willing but impatiently waiting to be noticed and engaged by “him”, before heading off for energetic long lasting loud and orgasmic sex.

The scenes were many and the women mostly willing. Interestingly enough, the most explicit scenes were mostly with characters portraying sex workers or strippers or other women working in the sex industry, usually with female nudity and/or naked breasts exposed. Male nudity on the other hand, was much more discreet. The men seeking sex with these women were mostly married with children and the scenes portraying intimacy with their wives were more tender, subtle and often ended before intercourse or nudity began.

By the time I was half way through the series, I was getting the impression that the “gangsters” thrived on crime and sex, those who had families and partners still had sex with other women, seemingly without guilt, shame or morality (because of the “type” of women they were having sex with outside their relationships?). The women they had sex with appeared always willing and moaned and screamed and writhed like something out of a pornographic movie.

In one episode, a very attractive female character is picked up by one of the “gangsters” at a Casino, they spend some time there, he takes her back to a hotel room where they kiss passionately, she begins to undress and initiate sex, however, he resists, leaving the hotel room, promising to return later. She goes to bed and goes to sleep. He then goes and kills someone, returning later to have sex with the woman in the hotel room, she demonstrates a willingness that indicates familiarity, knowledge of a person that brings trust and safety rather than a stranger whom she met the night before.

After this episode, the woman does not appear in the series again. I was unsure what her role was, to fill 25 minutes of an episode with sex, to provide an alibi for the gangster? It was never made clear, but the message about women, men and sex subtly came along for the ride, she, always willing, always horny, but only a bit player to be used and cast aside when no longer needed.

By the time I was three quarters of the way through the series I was thinking about the unrealistic portrayal of not only sex, but relationships. I wondered what the Australian public might be thinking about these characters and their lifestyles. Were men asking themselves why they can’t have that kind of sex with their partners? Why weren’t their partners so willing and horny? Or how great the freedom of the portrayed lifestyles would be?

Were women feeling inadequate for not feeling so hot and horny on demand like the women in the series? Or might they be thinking how nice it would be to have men/partners lavish them with diamonds and cars, like some of the female characters in the series? Why can’t their partners be more generous in the gift giving department, then maybe they might feel like that kind of sex?

One female character, after “teasing” and “flirting” but refusing to have sex with a “gangster” boyfriend while being lavished with gifts by him is eventually raped by him, as he “waited long enough” and expected sex in return for the gifts. This female character then ends her relationship with the rapist and takes up with another “gangster”, who again lavishes her with gifts, with the promise of more to come.

Again, this female character didn’t seem to have much more of a role, I was unsure what her role was to the overall series or the purpose of this particular storyline. Was she there as a demonstration of the lifestyle? As an object for gratuitous sex? From memory, I believe it was the only rape scene in the series. Was this the purpose? For the second time, it wasn’t made clear.

I wondered if perhaps the two women and storylines mentioned above are related to real events in Melbourne so were included for this purpose, but there was no clear evidence of this. Or perhaps they were there to support one male character who stated that women are a “life support system for a vagina”. What was most notable was the connection to sex of both characters.

Of course my mental meanderings may well just be speculation and opinion, but there was a definite sense of intrigue and desirability in relation to the sex, if not the lifestyle, (might end up dead, most of the male characters did!) that may have captured and held the attention of many viewers. The way sex, and “horny” sex (you know, the bump and grind, loud, tear up the bedroom kind of sex) is used to draw people’s attention to products, TV shows, movies, etc., it is no wonder people may doubt that what they are doing sexually in their own bedrooms is inadequate. Or perhaps their partner is inadequate. Or perhaps they are inadequate. After all, “those” people on TV are mostly “gorgeous” as well. To quote a line from another well known storyline, viewers might have been thinking “I’ll have what she/he’s having!”

Now, I don’t doubt for a minute that in the “real” world, (when many of Melbourne’s criminal underworld figures were being murdered regularly) that strip clubs, brothels, prostitution and drugs formed a large part of the Melbourne underworld that the series is based on. And I don’t doubt that many of the “gangsters” had lots of sex with women working in these industries and that the women may well have been willing participants as a means to an end, to be the “moll” or the “favourite” of certain gangsters might have had its rewards for such women.

What caught my attention is that sex is instant, orgasmic, needs no intimacy and is always “bang bang bang”, rather than slow, sensual and intimate. And the portrayal indicated that this is how it was and maybe still is. Relationships are minimised in lieu of intercourse type sex, foreplay is non-existent and most of the pleasure activities seem to be focused on male satisfaction. And in a subtle, but always present way, there seems to be the understanding that this is good, real and normal and demonstrates the height of sexual pleasure. I found this sad.

Is it any wonder industries like the Australian Medical Institute are so popular?