Image of sex ed gone wrong (and possible disemvowelment) via clarie.whithard.
Reader Helen sends me this very interesting article about an exciting new sex ed program in Australian schools; I’d love to make something like this happen in our schools. Snip from Program offers new take on sex education:
(…) Many young people have been complaining that what they’re taught in class is not relevant to their lives.
Now researchers from the University of Western Sydney have put together a program that they say will work for 16 to 25-year-olds.
(…) First she [Associate Professor Moira Carmody from the University of Western Sydney’s Social Justice and Social Change Research Centre] interviewed young people about their sexual behaviour, experiences and concerns, then used that information to devise the six-week program that has been run in six communities in Sydney and regional New South Wales.
“It’s really about what they’re doing because a lot of programs tend to focus just on biology and safe sex, but they don’t – as some of the young people said to me, ‘They don’t tell us how to pick up’,” she said.
“They don’t tell us how to work out how to do consent, how to communicate with people. Those sort of things were what they were interested in.”
As part of the program, the young people did roleplay, were trained to interpret body language, practice standing up to people, raise issues with their friends, and they were encouraged to reflect on their behaviour and expectations. (…read more.)
My take on it is this: most Australians are actually fairly relaxed about sex. The majority of us are fine with the idea of sex education and 70% of us are not offended by porn (ACNeilsen poll, 2006). The problem lies in 11 years of conservative government and a few very vocal prudes who rely on the general population’s embarrassment and hesitation to speak out.
It doesn’t help that our new Prime Minister is a happy clapper who is just as conservative when it comes to sex issues. His government is currently planning to make ISPs filter all content and if we want to see boobies it will be an “opt in” system.
On top of that we don’t have a bill of rights so freedom of speech is not guaranteed in Australia. The government “classifies” written and visual material, ostensibly to provide a guide for people to make informed choices – provided that choice doesn’t involve watching explicit sex or bondage.
I should add, the OFLC has just pissed off gamers here as well. It’s banned the game Fallout 3 because it contains morphine use. So it’s OK to shoot people but not use drugs…
http://www.smh.com.au/news/articles/fallout-continues-from-ban-on-game/2008/07/15/1215887586091.html
So yeah, we’re conflicted… and most likely frustrated. It’s possible that if the ISP ban goes ahead it will make the masses rise up. I’m sure most Aussies won’t like having their net porn taken off them.
I have considered moving to Amsterdam lately :)
Tony, you’ve had some experience with your films there that attests to this, no? yes — you won a major award in Australia for “Damon and Hunter” and then the censors came down on you:
http://www.comstockfilms.com/blog/tony/2006/09/08/an-open-letter-regarding-the-cancelled-queerdoc-screening-of-damon-and-hunter/
Australia would seem to have a rather conflicted attitude about public discussion of sex and sexuality.
I was also very excited to read this one. It is so gratifying to see that this age group (16-25) is being specifically asked what they want in regards to sex education and information, becuase for quite some time, it has seemed that the usual program was missing the mark. Makes me proud to be an Australian! Especially compared to the woeful sex/sexual health/sexuality education and information/misinformation that seems to be the main-stay of most of the states in the US. I can only hope the programs that stem from this research catch on. And fast.