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| Dear Friend, I've spent the past several years teaching and researching a public health approach to address p--nography. A public health perspective is one that involves understanding the issue through more than one lens - you can learn about the questions we need to consider here.
The p-rn industry knows that their content is addictive - they intentionally target prospective consumers to hook them for life - around one in three 12-13 year olds are worried they are addicted to p--n, before they've even had their first kiss. It's essential we understand how the p--n industry lures consumers - otherwise, we fail to address a whole piece of this complex puzzle. In addition, the violence within p--n grooms boys into dehumanising women and eroding consent - research verifies this. I can emphatically say that we (professionals, parents, carers) don't raise young boys to hate women. Yet the industry does just that.
It's a public health crisis - which means it's difficult or impossible to completely solve - which also means we have to address it from many and varied perspectives. Education is one of those vitally important perspectives.
I recently had a conversation with a School Nurse who sees the fallout on a regular basis. We discussed how education on it's own couldn't possibly fix this problem. In a perfect world (that doesn't exist due to overcrowded curriculum and various other obstacles), a teacher or school nurse would get 1 or 2 terms every year to deliver Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE). That's 10-20 hours, at best. The reality is that some schools allow 1-2 hours per year level - or one single day - per year - to focus on this topic. And much of the RSE does not help young people critique the graphic content that they carry around in their pocket. Our children and youth need so much more support than that!!
Our team are working around the clock to bring you new schools resources. We are not quite there yet, but what I can share with you is that we are starting with Primary School kids. IQ programs provide developmentally appropriate content for each age-bracket and prevent sexual harms by addressing the impact of sexually explicit material and challenging its influence on behaviours. We want kids to be internally fortified, and increase their resilience against hypersexualised culture.
We are so excited about these new schools resources! If you are receiving this email, you are first in line to learn when they become available. PLUS, you can learn more about the IQ programs if you live in Perth - I'm delivering a full-day workshop on Thursday October 25. Read below for details.
Myself and an incredible team are working around the clock with Youth Wellbeing Project to create resources. But I also with highly skilled experts in my separate roles with Culture Reframed and eChildhood. Check out the great work of these organisations below, and stay tuned for more support coming your way.
Till next time, |
| | Supporting Kids & Youth to Thrive in a Hypersexualised Culture
Workshop 1: Responding to p--rnography as a public health issue
Workshop 2: Resilience to P--n - the missing link in RSE & Cyber Safety
Date: Thursday, October 27, 2018. 9.30am to 4.30pm. |
| | | Help young people thrive despite hypersexualised culture by accessing the Culture Reframed Parents Program. In my role as Director of Health Education with Culture Reframed, I have the privilege of working with a phenomenal team of experts to bring you this complete best-practice toolkit - online and free! |
| | eChildhood is an Australian registered health promotion charity dedicated to mobilising responses that reduce the harmful effects of p--nography on children and young people.
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I've written this short eBook which you can download for free. In it, you will discover that regardless of background – parent, grandparent, aunty, uncle, community worker, health professional, educator, technology guru, government leader, follower or influencer - we all have a mandate to address the issue of children and young people accessing p--nography. It truly is the public health crisis of the digital age. |
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