Even Olympiads aren't safe

Yes - yet another example of sports people (Stephanie Rice and Eamon Sullivan) being sexualised (with a particular focus on Stephanie of course) and run through the marketing machine - for under wear!

Here's what news.com have written on their website this morning;

Stung by a raunchy Facebook photo scandal in March where she appeared dressed in a revealing police woman uniform, Rice said the Davenport advertisements would be tasteful even though the pair would appear only in their undies.

“The one thing I wanted to make sure was that I wasn’t at all sleazy and I wanted to be portrayed in the right light,” she said.

Media buyer Harold Mitchell said the world-recording breaking pair could turn gold into cold hard cash if they succeed at the August Games.

“We all adore a love story and if this union can survive, they’ll make millions,” he told News Limited's Beijing Now website.

Adore a love story hey! Give me a break!!

At least they are honest about their intentions - HARD CASH for all parties concerned.

The full story can be read here

Chris.

Nasal Delivery Technology Update

Hi,

I thought i'd give a quick update on the blog that i posted a couple of months ago about the "nasal delivery technology!"

Well, they still haven't got back to me with any answers to my questions, so may give them a call soon to find out what's happening.

However, i recently attended a seminar on men's health, the speaker was a doctor specialising in men's health and erectile dysfunction and the question was raised about all the the ads around for nasal delivery technology.

Apparently these companies have been around for a while and have had 3-4 different names, changing it and re-launching everytime they get wiped out by consumer affairs. Each time they get wiped and re-launch under a new name, consumers need to go through the complaints process again!

Another point is that the men may start on the "nasal delivery technology" but when that doesn't work, they are then referred onto an injection technique (which is a minimally invasive technique that doctors use for treatment). These injections cost roughly $50 but it is sold to these men at a massive mark up, somewhere around $1000.

The nasal delivery technology company provides no promises of efficacy or safety and the results are not measureable.

The bottom line is that if a man is suffering from a erectile dysfuction, he needs to see a doctor and be checked over as it can be one of the first signs of other medical conditions and not to be too embarrassed to ask their GP about it.

Sexual infections rise among Gen Y

Hi all,

I came across this article about the statistics and rise in STI's in generation Y, late teens and 20's.

It discusses the reduction in age at first intercourse and the rise in the amount of partners that young people are having. It also talks about the sexual behaviours of young people and their attitudes towards safer sex. It reinforces what many sexual health workers know about the statistics of STI's and the need for comprehensive sexual health education, worth a read.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/health/sexual-infections-rise-among-gen-y/2008/07/02/1214950851362.html

Watermelons

This intetesting article from Mecial News Today talks about viagra like effects from watermelon





"A cold slice of watermelon has long been a Fourth of July holiday staple. But according to recent studies, the juicy fruit may be better suited for Valentine's Day. That's because scientists say watermelon has ingredients that deliver Viagra-like effects to the body's blood vessels and may even increase libido. "

Great article on Penis size

Determining the average penis size for a group of males, let alone for men around the world, is more complicated than you might imagine. Unfortunately most information about average penis size comes from popular culture and not science. Let's start by considering some figures from science.

Go here at Cory Silverbergs blog to read lots more.

sexualisation of children

If you haven't been following the debate on sexualisation of children in contemporary media in Australia you may want to go here to see the senate report released June 26 2008. Or go here to jump straight to the recommendations.

This is an important debate particularly since one of the recommendations is the provision of comprehensive sexual health and relationshiups education for ALL australian children.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NYDC Beauty Editor: Making thin lips look fuller is one of the easiest beauty problems to solve; the right makeup can work wonders on your pout. Tell us how you get soft, kissable lips. We want to know!!! ( advertisement from the 'Dolly Beauty Blog from Dolly online magazine) - I believe this type of blog/advertising/comment adds to the sexualisation of children as Dolly is directed at teens-and read by girls much younger - Lud)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


As an example here is an extract from Section 3: Effects of premature sexualisation of children:

Harms associated with sexualising and objectifying images

Body image and self-esteem
3.31 The committee received a considerable amount of evidence claiming that there is:
...[a] connection between the inappropriate sexualising of children and measurable harm, such as body image dissatisfaction, eating disorders, low self-esteem, poorer academic performance, depression and anxiety.[32]
3.32 The WFA, citing the APA report on the sexualisation of girls, submitted:
...exposure to ideals of sexual attractiveness contributes to body image dissatisfaction and eating disorders...[Sexualisation] was linked with three of the most common mental health problems in girls and women: eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression or depressed mood.[33]
3.33 Ms Melinda Tankard Reist, Director, WFA, offered the following statistics on rates of eating disorders amongst Australian girls:
...we know that one in 100 adolescent girls in Australia develops anorexia, which is the third most common chronic illness for adolescent girls in Australia and the most fatal of all psychiatric illnesses. We know that one in five are bulimic...A study published late last year found that one in five girls aged 12 and 13 regularly uses fasting and vomiting to lose weight and that fasting was the most widely practised diet technique for girls aged 12 to 19.[34]
3.34 WFA believed that this was connected to the 'overemphasis of hyper-sexualised imagery of girls and women that makes young women feel particularly bad about themselves'.[35]
3.35 Ms Gordon reported that, in her experience as a practising psychologist, she had observed increasingly younger children presenting with body-image and self-esteem disorders, which she felt was the consequences of their 'overt sexualisation':
I see girls younger and younger becoming depressed. We see girls younger and younger being hospitalised with eating disorders and with concerns about their body and their self-esteem.[36]
3.36 Professor Elizabeth Handsley, Vice President, Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM), explained that, apart from the greater general exposure of children to sexual imagery, ACCM was most concerned about the potential harms arising from 'how children are represented to themselves'. She explained:
We look around and we see images of children that are sexualised, not in the sense that they make children into sexual objects in the normal sense, but more that they associate children with the trappings of adult sexuality. So they do not necessarily make children sexual objects but they engender a self-image within children that is associated with sexual objectification.[37]


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


One more by me : How is this article from online cosmopolitan

"Miley 'regrets' topless photos But they've made her 'more relatable'

Miley Cyrus has spoken up about that topless photo, saying that the scandal has made her 'more relatable.'The 15-year-ol star of Hannah Montana appeared in Vanity Fair in march, topless but for a bedsheet covering her."I was embarrassed," Cyrus told Billboard magazine. "But it's also like, every career thing that I do can't be perfect, and sometimes my decisions are wrong. I think that just makes me more relatable."Cyrus admits that she regrets taking the photos."

How can it be that this 15 year old is getting the BLAME for what she did. - How abouit Vanity Fair coming out and saying " I am sorry that we sexualise children, we will never do it again" How about the photographer saying " I took a highly sexual photograph of a 15 year old - I will never do it again" - The lack of responsibility that people take for thier actions is just astounding!!!

Photoshop disasters

This is a site that will convince you that NOTHING is real in media. It has lots of people identifying advertisements that have been photoshopped to death. Here is an example.
Believe it or no9t this is the same person!!


http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/

Scored - cool sexual health program

This looks like a neat program that i read about in medical news today: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/113136.php

"Scored, a project run by the Birmingham Young People's Health Project which uses football to educate young people about sexual health and relationships is the winner of the 2008 Pamela Sheridan Award for excellence in sex and relationships education (SRE). The Scored project ran a 12 week course for eleven young people aged between 13 and 18. Using football and practical sessions young people were given information to make choices about their sexual health and were encouraged to look at their decision making and communication skills. Scored used football and the association of fair play 'on and off' the field to look at a range of topics including the responsibilities of sexual health, body changes, contraception and sexually transmitted infections. These sessions were followed by football training with a qualified coach helping them develop team building skills and fitness. "

What would you do?

This is something that happened to me the other day: I have been thinking about it alot. I wonder what I should have or could have done.

I was taking the train into town from work. As with all the other people I waited at the train station for the 4.16 to arrive. It was cold outside and most people were shivering from the cold east wind that blows straight down the platform. When the train arrived we shuffled quickly into the carriage, all of us looking for an unoccupied seat. The carriage itself was already relatively crowded - most of the double or triple seats already had at least one person taking up space. I found a seat at the back and proceeded to study the other occupants - careful not to catch thier eyes. There were at least 25 people scattered throughout the carriage. Just next to me across the aisle were two guys that looked like uni students, laden with books and engaged in conversation. Further up were people of all ages and cultures. Almost at the furthest end away from me, near the front was a very young woman - perhaps 17 but certainly no more than 20. She had a pram in front of her and kept looking daggers at a child of about 4 that was walking slowly up the aisle. Suddenly she exploded in a tirade of abuse at the child.

" Get back here you filthy slut. I'm gonna fkn smash you if you dont come back"

The little girl kept walking towards me. I smiled at her and she smiled tenuously back.

The young woman with the pram yelled again. " I told you get back here or i'll put you off the train and welfare can have you. Nobody wants you anyway you little cnt. Get back here now".

All this time not one person one the train spoke up. All eyes were on the floor. So were mine mostly. I felt appalled for the little girl but also wished that I wasn't even there. How dare this young mother upset our ride home from work with this uncouth display of bad behaviour!

As the tirade continued I started to fear for the immediate safety of the little girl. The mother got more and more suggestive of the physical harm that she would inflict on the girl until finally the mother got up and looked like she was going to hit the child. At this stage I jumped up and went to sit right next to the young mother - I didnt know what else to do. All I wanted to do was distract her and let her know that the people on the train DID see what was happening, even if no-one acknowledged it.

It turned out the woman was 19. She had been living on the streets for the past 3 months.She had nowhere to go and was clearly way beyond the point of rational thought. For her life was just about where to sleep and how to eat each day and night. Her little girl bore the brunt of all the stress and fear. I offered the young mum a meal and respite for an hour or so of watching her child. She turned it down. I offered help trying to find a place to sleep for the night. She turned it down. I spoke on behalf of her child explaining my fear and sadness to be a part of this. She looked at me like I was crazy.

I sat with the woman and her child for the rest of the trip into town - a 12 minute journey.

When the train arrived the young mum sat her child in the pram and raced away. I quickly lost them in the crowd even though I tried to follow them with my eyes.

Now I think about them every day. I hold grave fears for the little girl. I hold sadness for the mum. I hold anger for all the other people on the train that did nothing. I hold shame that I did nothing but talk and I wonder what should I have done? What will I do next time?

Female Wet Dreams

I stumbled across some useful information relating to female wet dreams last week.

In 1953, Alfred Kinsey, Ph.D., the famous sexuality researcher, found that nearly 40 percent of the 5,628 women he interviewed experienced at least one nocturnal orgasm (orgasms during sleep), or "wet dream," by the time they were forty-five years old.

A smaller study published in the Journal of Sex Research in 1986 found that 85 percent of the women who had experienced nocturnal orgasms had done so by the age of twenty-one... some even before they turned thirteen. In addition, women who have orgasms during sleep usually have them several times a year.

Dr. Kinsey and his colleagues defined female nocturnal orgasm as sexual arousal during sleep that awakens one to perceive the experience of orgasm.

Girls and women who don't have orgasms in their sleep, or who don't know whether or not they've had them, are perfectly normal. It may be easier for men to identify their wet dreams because of the "ejaculatory evidence." Vaginal secretions could be a sign of sexual arousal without orgasm.

Press here to read more.

This information is on a website called Go Ask Alice - Columbia University's Health Q&A Internet Service, have a look around - there are some great questions answered.