A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
‘Sexting’, the sending and receiving of sexually explicit images via mobile phones or other applications such as instant messaging, email or through social networking sites has, until recently, gone largely unreported. What is concerning about the activity is its rapidly increasing popularity. It was often an extension of ‘I’ll show you mine if you show [...]
This month's death of 2 experienced sailors highlights the dangers inherent in yachting and the sheer insanity and utter inadvisability of Jessica Watson's bid to sail solo around the world. Many experienced yachties have added their voice to a growing chorus of experts, which includes Queensland's Maritime Safety Bureau, saying that 16 years old is too [...]
I often get asked questions like ‘what can I do?’ about the sexualisation of children. I think the key to change is collective grass-roots action so here are just a few ideas that may help you start your own local campaign: Ask your local video store manager to move the ‘adult only' section away from [...]
An American study linked computer games to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) when it found people who play computer games for around 40 hours a week are more likely to have difficulty paying attention than people who only play computer games for a couple of hours a week. The researchers who conducted the study conceded that [...]
Generation Next is coming to Perth! Featuring speakers such as Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, Julie Gale, Paul Dillon and Susan McLean, the seminar will provide solutions to the challenges facing generations Y and Z. The seminar will cover a range of topics including cybersafety (including cyberbullying and sexting), the sexualisation of our children in the media, [...]
A Melbourne business marketing 'make-up parties' to girls as young as four has been slammed for sexualising children. The business offers to 'makeover' children with blush, eye liner, eye shadow and nail-paint. Kids Free 2B Kids founder and Generation Next speaker Julie Gale described the business as harming to children. "Parents need to wake up. [...]
A British study of 17,000 parents and their children found that mothers who return to work before their child's first birthday do not harm their child's mental development. The study examined children born in the 1990s with a series of tests and questionnaires. Co-author of the study, Professor Heather Joshi, described why the study is [...]
Sexualisation is not a problem about sex and sexuality, it is about turning people into objects - which does real harm to girls in obvious ways. Self-objectification is a key process of sexualisation whereby girls learn to think of and treat their own bodies as objects of others’ desires. In self-objectification, girls internalise an observer’s [...]
A survey of almost 3000 students has found 60% of girls in year 12 admit to binge drinking three or more times in the last fortnight, and half say they have had sex. Most alarmingly, 38% of the girls surveyed said they had endured unwanted sex. The most common reason for unwanted sex for women [...]
Here are the top ten “outs” that I have collected from teenagers over the years. Not all of them are great, but they cover a range of different ways of saying ‘no’, including excuses (often using information they have picked up in drug education lessons at school) and delaying or putting off the situation. ‘I’m [...]
