Fantastic new South Australian book

If you are working with young people and want a good book to access that is easy to read and factual then you might want to try this book. 'Sexpectations'. This book was co authored by Craig Murray (with Leissa Pitts). He is an awesome SHineSA community health worker. I have seen Craig work over many years and he really connects with young people and has been instrumental in getting 'sex positive' on the agenda in South Australia.

Here is what Craig said recently on the booktopia blog.

Sexpectations aims to fill a few gaps in sexual health education. For too long sex ed has started & finished in contraception and sexually transmitted infections, if you were lucky you’d get some info on puberty but so much is still left out. Having said that there are a heap of amazing programs that address all these and more but there’s a lot of folks, young & old, that have missed out on some of the vital info. We hope to talk about sex in a healthy positive way, acknowledging the risks but also celebrating the pleasures of relationships, sex & sexuality.

I know that SHineSA has Sexpextations in the library, so if you are in Woodville anytime soon come in and borrow it. Otherwise get on to the booktopia site and get your own copy.

Drama based respect workshops

I recently heard Christian Cifuentes from the Legal Services Commission of South Australia give a talk on the law and respectful relationships. This guy was fantastic. Below is an ABC clip of one of thier workshops.

legal aspects, relationships,law

I recently heard Christian Cifuentes from The Legal Services Commission of Adelaide. This guy is great and runs a range of programs that can help young people get their head around relationship law etc etc. You can go to their website to view the types of innovative programs that they run. Go here to have a look.

The talk that I attended was full of facts such as:

Under the new law it explicitly says that sexual activity is not consensual if:---
obtained by force or threats;
the victim is asleep or unconscious;
the victim is too intoxicated to agree;
the victim was unable to understand the nature of sexual activity;
the victim was mistaken about the identity of the person they were having sex with; or
the victim was being unlawfully detained.

Christian's talk was full of the legalese necessary to identify exactly what is going on , BUT.... It was also full of scenarios to help us nmake sense of the legalese.

The important things covered in the talk were:

the Criminal Law Consolidation Act

Summary Offenses aCT

Criminal Code Act

Consent to Sexual Activity

Sexual Assault

Unlawful Sexual Intercourse

Indecent Assault

Rape

Online Grooming

Compelled Sexual Manipulation

Sexting

Recieving pornography via mobile devices etc

This information was easy to understand and gave me a greater insight in how to deal with all of the weird and varied scenarios that many of us face in our day to day work

Spinal cord injury/no feeling/erection

This is pretty awesome.

If you have not read 'The Brain That Changes Itself' Norman Doige (2007) then it is worth a read.

Here is one of the things that the book talks about " Bachy-y-Rita continued to invent sensory substitution devices ....he even has a project for a condom that he hopes will allow spinal cord injury victims who have no feeling in their penisis to have orgasms. It is based on the premise that sexual excitement, like other sensory experiences, is "in the brain" so the sensations of sexual movement, picked up by sensors on the condom, can be translated to electrical impulses that can then be transmitted to the part of the brain that processes sexual excitement.

This is pretty far our stuff and may seem far fetched. But after reading this book it certainly seems within our grasp.

GMH : Gay Mens Health

When is the last time you checked out the GMH Newsletter from ACSA ( AIDs COuncil of South Australia)?. This newlsetter is full of great stuff including local and international news of interest. I just pulled this article from GMH:

SBS has sex on the brain...

SBS began it's series Sex: An Unnatural History last Friday, at 10pm. Hosted by Former High Court Justice Michael Kirby and Julia Zemiro, the show will be covering topics like what is ‘unnatural’? How has sex changed in Australia over the last 50 years? What sex will be like in 2060 - will they finally invent something better than a condom for protection?

NEXT WEEK’s episode is quoted as being of particular interest to readers of Blaze… called ‘Taboo’. Later episodes are entitled ‘fashion’, ‘Religion’, ‘Love’ and ‘the Future’

The website has some interesting graphs about sex and comparisons about sexual practices and attitudes, and how they vary between the differeing sexualities of Australians. Check it out here.

Sex: An Unnatural History airs on SBS HD and SBS1 Fridays, at 10pm.

But this isn't the only article of interest. Go on and click here to read more.

Airbrused Advertisements Banned

You may have heard or seen the recent discussion of British MP Jo Swinson and the British Advertising Standards Agency which has banned two ads by L’Oreal (owner of Maybelline and Lancome) showing Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington. The ads were banned for being misleading and unreal. To me this is a goos decision, but why stop here?

To see the aboutface discussion of this issue go here

Meth use and unsafe sex

In a recent issue of medicalnewstoday.com an article on Meth use and HIV infection showed that researchers at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and elsewhere found that methamphetamine use can fuel HIV infection risk among teenage boys and young men who have sex with men (MSM), a group that includes openly gay and bisexual men, as well as those who have sex with men but do not identify themselves as gay or bisexual.

In this study the researchers said that nearly one-third (20) of the 64 participants who reported recent meth use also reported sex with an HIV-infected person, while half reported sex with an injection drug user. More than half, 34, said they have had unprotected sex.

Go here to read more

life time effect of violence

We know that violence against women and children is harmful, cost lives and ruins relationships.

A study in the August 3 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on violence and human rights, revealed that women who suffered gender-based violence, such as rape, sexual assault, intimate partner violence and stalking, had a higher associated lifetime ratio of mental health disorders, dysfunction and disability. The article's background information states that violence against women is a major public health concern, contributing to high levels of illness and death worldwide.

Go here to read more

Great chance to hear a great speaker

If you don't know whats happening with our young SSA people, or you want to find out the latest on the health of young SSA people in Australia this is a must attend opportunity.

Associate Professor Lynne Hillier

Australian Research Centre in Sex,

Health and Society

La Trobe University, Melbourne

‘Same sex attracted and gender diverse young people –

what is going well and

what is not in 2011’

Lynne is the leading author of Writing Themselves In 3 (2010), the third Australian,internationally pioneering national study of the health and wellbeing of same sex attracted and gender questioning young people. (She also lead the research team for the two earlier studies,Writing Themselves In (1998) and Writing Themselves In Again (2004).

Thursday 8 September 2011

6.00pm

Flinders in the City

Room 1, Level 1, 182 Victoria Square

(south-east corner of Flinders St and Victoria Square)

http://www.flinders.edu.au/victoriasquare/victoriasquare_home.cfm

For further information contact Associate Professor Barbara Baird

Email: Barbara.baird@flinders.edu.au or Tel: 8201 3437

softenthefckup

New site for young men, older men all men: Find out some facts and look at what this site has to offer: its here to help and support men. below is one of their blurbs

Down your beers then out-drink and out-fight us all? Sleep in the gutter and play footy in the morning? Yeah. Nice one.

When your mate Matt told you he’s feeling crap, you told him to “harden the fuck up”, or “suck it up, pussy”.

Or you probably didn’t know when your mates actually needed a chat or are feeling crap ‘cos you didn’t ask. I’m not talking about the chat you had at the game last Saturday, or at the pool table at that bar last summer.

Suicide is the leading cause of death amongst young folks and most of them are blokes.

Yeah, wtf right?

after your mates if something seems a bit off. Ask them if they’re okay. If they’re really okay. Ya gut will usually be right, even if your mate doesn’t wanna talk about it. Grab a beer and have a chat.

We’re standing up to be counted. We’re saying it’s time we chuck out that tough Aussie bloke stereotype and bring back the laid-back Aussies. Speak up if you’re not feeling right. Soften the fck up like a real man would.

Tell your mates and your bros. Get on Facebook and Twitter. Share your thoughts or experiences. So go on, be tough and go soft.

It is time to admit something is wrong or isn’t right and take action.