Friday, December 7, 2012
Porn company Kink.com offers sex ed with porn stars
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Students want sex education earlier
High school students say they are not getting sex education soon enough and want topics such as puberty and pregnancy discussed in primary school, a Victorian study has found.
Yet a study by the same researchers found most teachers of year five and six students were uncomfortable talking about the reproductive system in sex education class. More than half year 7, 8 and 9 students think almost all aspects of sex education topics should be introduced in primary school, the survey of about 100 students in Ballarat found.
''Across the board they wanted information much, much earlier than they were getting it,'' researcher Bernadette Duffy said. "I think that they should be at least being taught about [puberty] in grade 3 and 4. Some of them wanted information so they knew what was being talked about when they got to high school.''
The study was one of three from the same researchers at the University of Ballarat on sex education presented at an education conference at the University of Sydney on Monday.
Another study of about 30 year 5 and 6 teachers from 14 schools in Ballarat found five out of six male teachers and a third of female teachers were not comfortable teaching about menstruation. Almost half the female teachers were not confident talking about wet dreams, while even more male teachers found the topic uncomfortable.
"I was really surprised by the level of discomfort with the teachers," Ms Duffy said. "Some of these topics come up in everyday conversation, so it's not things that just come up when they're running a program."
In October Fairfax Media reported that the Australian curriculum authority would introduce sex education in grades 5 and 6, but not in grades 3 and 4, as earlier recommended.
Communication barriers in sex education put deaf people at risk
A lack of resources in sex education for young, deaf people is leaving
many without the knowledge or skills to keep safe and recognise healthy
sexual relationships
Charity Deafax says
deaf people's lives are being put at 'extreme risk' when it comes to sex
education because their communication needs are not being addressed.
There is a telling moment in a documentary called Snapshot: Dicing with Sex
when a group of young deaf people are shown cards with different words
on them. They all instantly recognise the words Facebook, Wii and
YouTube, but the words syphilis, genital warts and hepatitis ABC are met
with blank expressions.
Broadcast in sign language on digital TV in 2010, the documentary revealed a remarkably uninformed attitude to sex, with several young deaf people saying they preferred not to use condoms, despite experiencing sexually transmitted infection (STIs) or pregnancy.
The charity Deafax says deaf people's lives are being put at "extreme risk" when it comes to sex education because their communication needs are not being addressed.
A survey for the charity's Education & Advice on Relationships & Sex (Ears) campaign found 35% of deaf people received no sex education at all while at school. Everyone else surveyed – 65% of respondents – said that what information they did get was inaccessible. As a result, they often found out about sex through the media, talking to their friends, or direct sexual experience.
A deaf BBC journalist who spent years working on See Hear, the series for deaf people, told me about a conversation that shocked him while researching a programme on sexual health. A deaf woman said: "I'm on the pill so I won't get pregnant. Simple." When he asked her about avoiding an STI, she said: "The pill stops everything. I don't want a baby now." The possibility of getting an STI wasn't even part of her thinking.
In one of the most horrific stories collected as part of the survey, a teenage mother explained how she was raped and then had men coming to her door asking for sex. She presumed that this was simply "what I was supposed to do".
Nearly half of those who responded were sign language users, and 70% profoundly deaf.
Rubbena Aurangzeb-Tariq, a Deafax sex education trainer, says many communication support workers – who support deaf students in education – do not have a sufficiently high level of sign language to enable them to convey the information, and lessons are often designed to give the basics without using graphics and images that would make sense of the information for students who communicate in a visual language.
Aurangzeb-Tariq, who is deaf, adds: "It concerns me that [my deaf students] feel they 'know' things but it's mainly from gossip and the media."
But schools shouldn't bear the responsibility for sex education alone, she says: "We really need parents to have a sign vocabulary on the subject – it would reduce so many barriers to emotional development."
More than half of those surveyed for the Ears campaign attended a deaf school. But issues with sex education also affect deaf children in mainstream schools, many of whom are regularly visited by a Teacher of the Deaf (ToD).
Deaf teenager Ni Gallant, who is a member of the National Deaf Children's Society's youth advisory board, says that some deaf children who attend the youth group she runs in Worcestershire miss sex education classes because they meet their ToD while the rest of their class have personal and social education lessons. And what sex education they do receive is often taught using videos without subtitles. "The rest of the lessons are spent doing group work or group discussion which [due to her deafness] I personally find a nightmare," she says.
Research by the University of Manchester in 2009 identified other issues with ToDs. Professor Wendy McCracken says that among the themes that emerge was embarrassment "for both the deaf child and the ToD, especially where signs were used as they were graphic and drew attention to the deaf child". Furthermore, ToDs lacked specialist training in sex education and felt there was insufficient time to cover the subject. Training materials were also seen as not being deaf friendly.
The consequences of missing out on sexual education can be far-reaching. The charity SignHealth DeafHope recently set up a service called to support deaf women and children who are victims of domestic abuse. SignHealth's Rowena Dean says that because of missing out on information, deaf people "may have less 'socialisation' of sexual relationships" and as a result may not be as well equipped to recognise an unhealthy sexual relationship.
The importance of being given the language to articulate sex and relationships is backed by the NSPCC, which says: "Deaf children may be more vulnerable because they don't have sufficient communication skills or vocabulary to describe what is happening to them."
With the risk of STIs, unwanted pregnancies or even abuse, communication barriers to sex education have the potential to have a huge impact on deaf lives, yet resources aimed at addressing this gap remain incredibly thin on the ground. Deafax has created a sexual health package with an emphasis on visual communication, while the charity Deafway recently set up a website called Deaf Lizards providing information in British Sign Language and English for young deaf people. But it's clear that much more needs to be done.
Broadcast in sign language on digital TV in 2010, the documentary revealed a remarkably uninformed attitude to sex, with several young deaf people saying they preferred not to use condoms, despite experiencing sexually transmitted infection (STIs) or pregnancy.
The charity Deafax says deaf people's lives are being put at "extreme risk" when it comes to sex education because their communication needs are not being addressed.
A survey for the charity's Education & Advice on Relationships & Sex (Ears) campaign found 35% of deaf people received no sex education at all while at school. Everyone else surveyed – 65% of respondents – said that what information they did get was inaccessible. As a result, they often found out about sex through the media, talking to their friends, or direct sexual experience.
A deaf BBC journalist who spent years working on See Hear, the series for deaf people, told me about a conversation that shocked him while researching a programme on sexual health. A deaf woman said: "I'm on the pill so I won't get pregnant. Simple." When he asked her about avoiding an STI, she said: "The pill stops everything. I don't want a baby now." The possibility of getting an STI wasn't even part of her thinking.
In one of the most horrific stories collected as part of the survey, a teenage mother explained how she was raped and then had men coming to her door asking for sex. She presumed that this was simply "what I was supposed to do".
Nearly half of those who responded were sign language users, and 70% profoundly deaf.
Rubbena Aurangzeb-Tariq, a Deafax sex education trainer, says many communication support workers – who support deaf students in education – do not have a sufficiently high level of sign language to enable them to convey the information, and lessons are often designed to give the basics without using graphics and images that would make sense of the information for students who communicate in a visual language.
Aurangzeb-Tariq, who is deaf, adds: "It concerns me that [my deaf students] feel they 'know' things but it's mainly from gossip and the media."
But schools shouldn't bear the responsibility for sex education alone, she says: "We really need parents to have a sign vocabulary on the subject – it would reduce so many barriers to emotional development."
More than half of those surveyed for the Ears campaign attended a deaf school. But issues with sex education also affect deaf children in mainstream schools, many of whom are regularly visited by a Teacher of the Deaf (ToD).
Deaf teenager Ni Gallant, who is a member of the National Deaf Children's Society's youth advisory board, says that some deaf children who attend the youth group she runs in Worcestershire miss sex education classes because they meet their ToD while the rest of their class have personal and social education lessons. And what sex education they do receive is often taught using videos without subtitles. "The rest of the lessons are spent doing group work or group discussion which [due to her deafness] I personally find a nightmare," she says.
Research by the University of Manchester in 2009 identified other issues with ToDs. Professor Wendy McCracken says that among the themes that emerge was embarrassment "for both the deaf child and the ToD, especially where signs were used as they were graphic and drew attention to the deaf child". Furthermore, ToDs lacked specialist training in sex education and felt there was insufficient time to cover the subject. Training materials were also seen as not being deaf friendly.
The consequences of missing out on sexual education can be far-reaching. The charity SignHealth DeafHope recently set up a service called to support deaf women and children who are victims of domestic abuse. SignHealth's Rowena Dean says that because of missing out on information, deaf people "may have less 'socialisation' of sexual relationships" and as a result may not be as well equipped to recognise an unhealthy sexual relationship.
The importance of being given the language to articulate sex and relationships is backed by the NSPCC, which says: "Deaf children may be more vulnerable because they don't have sufficient communication skills or vocabulary to describe what is happening to them."
With the risk of STIs, unwanted pregnancies or even abuse, communication barriers to sex education have the potential to have a huge impact on deaf lives, yet resources aimed at addressing this gap remain incredibly thin on the ground. Deafax has created a sexual health package with an emphasis on visual communication, while the charity Deafway recently set up a website called Deaf Lizards providing information in British Sign Language and English for young deaf people. But it's clear that much more needs to be done.
Burma Gets First ‘Sex Education’ Magazine
A man reads a copy of Nhyot in Rangoon
Many previously taboo subjects are now being brazenly embraced in Burma, although some changes are only emerging step-by-step in the traditionally conservative society.
Beautiful models clad in revealing dresses can be found in today’s domestic journals and magazines according to so-called “international standards,” and readers can even study erotic issues under the guise of “sex education” thanks to a ground-breaking magazine.
Nhyot, roughly translated as “Allure” in Burmese, is a new publication which boasts erotic images from cover to back. Advertisements for the publication have caused a storm in Burma as well as on social media such as Facebook.
Oo Swe, the editor-in-chief of Nhyot, told The Irrawaddy that topics in his magazine are presented from a health point of view, aiming to prevent unwanted diseases from sexual encounters.
“People in this country don’t know about sex education even after they have grown up,” he said. “In other countries in the world, it has been included in school curricula and people have known about it since they were in primary school.
“Lack of knowledge can unwittingly bring sexually transmitted diseases, which can then be infected in partners. Such problems will have an impact from the family to the national level. This is the idea behind the publication of Nhyot. Articles in the magazine are written from a clinical point of view and carefully supervised.”
Nhyot first hit shelves on Nov. 27 with new issues available in the last week of each month. The owner of a bookshop on Rangoon’s 32nd Street told The Irrawaddy that the attractive magazine has been a hit from day one.
“A lot of buyers, mostly boys, came to my shop to look for Nhyot,” he said. “The price is 3,000 kyat [US $3.50].”
Articles with titles such as “Secrets of the bedroom,” “Will you be in the arms of everyone” and “What men hate about women” seem to deliberately cater for men. And there is also a Q&A section that includes in-depth discussion of sexual topics.
Indeed, the disclaimer “Minors are prohibited” on the cover appears to be enticing a larger readership.
“There has been no such warning in Burma before,” said Oo Swe. “But there are actually many issues, including those related to love, in current magazines and other publications, which minors should not read. I put the warning because my magazine only features issues for adults.”
The pioneering editor explained that literature regarding sex education has existed in the country for a long time with writers such as Dr. Maung Maung Nyo and Dr. Nan Ohnmar covering the subject in their books, although Nhyot is the first magazine of its kind.
A young female reader told The Irrawaddy that Nhyot is interesting although the article titles are very lewd and price high for a newly-published magazine.
“As our country has opened up and enjoys more freedom, such magazines will be published eventually. We can’t stop them,” she said. “We will be able to gain knowledge through this kind of magazine.”
Nhyot, however, has not had a smooth arrival as many conservative people in Burma even complain about advertisements for women’s menstrual hygiene products and men’s potency drugs. The magazine has encountered some quandaries using photos to match with its written content.
“No censor has been applied to us but I won’t publish a magazine like Playboy because we have to pay attention to our culture,” said Oo Swe. “We have carefully taken all the photos ourselves.”
He added that publications on sex education should be readily available in the country to encourage people to be more open about reproductive health.
The end of Nhyot’s first edition editorial reads, “Love and sex are like Kyut-Kyut-Ate [non-recyclable plastic bags]. They are essential but can also bring negative impacts if we don’t use them with discipline. In order to apply them properly, this magazine presents sex education in combination with entertainment.”
Talking to your teen about sex (Sex education)
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