Developing improved sexual health education strategies

This thesis examines knowledge levels and sources of information about sex and sexuality in young people in Australia today. This research established what information young people are receiving about sex and sexuality from their four main sources; schools, parents, media, and peers; and how they process that information and apply it to their own lives.

Sexual selection in true fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) : transcriptome and experimental evidences for phytochemicals increasing male competitive ability

In male tephritid fruit flies of the genus Bactrocera, feeding on secondary plant compounds (sensu lato male lures = methyl eugenol, raspberry ketone and zingerone) increases male mating success. Ingested male lures alter the male pheromonal blend, normally making it more attractive to females and this is considered the primary mechanism for the enhanced mating success. However, the male lures raspberry ketone and zingerone are known, across a diverse range of other organisms, to be involved in increasing energy metabolism. If this also occurs in Bactrocera, then this may represent an additional benefit to males as courtship is metabolically expensive and lure feeding may increase a fly's short-term energy. We tested this hypothesis by performing comparative RNA-seq analysis between zingerone-fed and unfed males of Bactrocera tryoni. We also carried out behavioural assays with zingerone- and cuelure-fed males to test whether they became more active. RNA-seq analysis revealed, in zingerone-fed flies, up-regulation of 3183 genes with homologues transcripts to those known to regulate intermale aggression, pheromone synthesis, mating and accessory gland proteins, along with significant enrichment of several energy metabolic pathways and gene ontology terms. Behavioural assays show significant increases in locomotor activity, weight reduction and successful mating after mounting; all direct/indirect measures of increased activity. These results suggest that feeding on lures leads to complex physiological changes, which result in more competitive males. These results do not negate the pheromone effect, but do strongly suggest that the phytochemical-induced sexual selection is governed by both female preference and male competitive mechanisms.

E-health: potential benefits and challenges in providing and accessing sexual health services

BACKGROUND: E-health has become a burgeoning field in which health professionals and health consumers create and seek information. E-health refers to internet-based health care and information delivery and seeks to improve health service locally, regionally and worldwide. E-sexual health presents new opportunities to provide online sexual health services irrespective of gender, age, sexual orientation and location. DISCUSSION: The paper used the dimensions of the RE-AIM model (reach, efficacy, adoption, implementation and maintenance) as a guiding principle to discuss potentials of E-health in providing and accessing sexual health services. There are important issues in relation to utilising and providing online sexual health services. For healthcare providers, e-health can act as an opportunity to enhance their clients' sexual health care by facilitating communication with full privacy and confidentiality, reducing administrative costs and improving efficiency and flexibility as well as market sexual health services and products. Sexual health is one of the common health topics which both younger and older people explore on the internet and they increasingly prefer sexual health education to be interactive, non-discriminate and anonymous. This commentary presents and discusses the benefits of e-sexual health and provides recommendations towards addressing some of the emerging challenges. FUTURE DIRECTIONS: The provision of sexual health services can be enhanced through E-health technology. Doing this can empower consumers to engage with information technology to enhance their sexual health knowledge and quality of life and address some of the stigma associated with diversity in sexualities and sexual health experiences. In addition, e-sexual health may better support and enhance the relationship between consumers and their health care providers across different locations. However, a systematic and focused approach to research and the application of findings in policy and practice is required to ensure that E-health benefits all population groups and the information is current and clinically valid and effective, including preventative approaches for various client groups with diverse needs.

For sale - sex in the country: The benefits of sex work as an occupational choice in rural NSW Australia

Drawing upon sociology of work, feminist theory and past sex worker research, we present the first study to explore the sex work industry in rural Australia. Using qualitative data from interviews conducted December 2004 - February 2005 with 20 sex industry workers in New South Wales, we question existing assumptions and generalizations surrounding contemporary sex work to explore how industry workers perceive their career experiences. Specifically, we explore workers’ motivations for entering and continuing to be involved in the industry, the profession benefits and historical changes. In contrast to radical feminist theory’s equation of sex work with victimization, these narratives by rural sex workers portray experiences of sexual empowerment, economic advancement, job flexibility, achievement and examples of positive social interaction. In conclusion, our findings provide contrasting data to the sex politics surrounding “prostitution” put forth by radical feminists as we reaffirm the sex industry to be a legitimate career option in rural Australia and challenge the determinism used to labelled sex work as definitively degrading and deleterious to women.

Female greater wax moths reduce sexual display behavior in relation to the potential risk of predation by echolocating bats

Female greater wax moths Galleria mellonella display by wing fanning in response to bursts of ultrasonic calls produced by males. The temporal and spectral characteristics of these calls show some similarities with the echolocation calls of bats that emit frequency-modulated (FM) signals. Female G. mellonella therefore need to distinguish between the attractive signals of male conspecifics, which may lead to mating opportunities, and similar sounds made by predatory bats. We therefore predicted that (1) females would display in response to playbacks of male calls; (2) females would not display in response to playbacks of the calls of echolocating bats (we used the calls of Daubenton's bat Myotis daubentonii as representative of a typical FM echolocating bat); and (3) when presented with male calls and bat calls during the same time block, females would display more when perceived predation risk was lower. We manipulated predation risk in two ways. First, we varied the intensity of bat calls to represent a nearby (high risk) or distant (low risk) bat. Second, we played back calls of bats searching for prey (low risk) and attacking prey (high risk). All predictions were supported, suggesting that female G. mellonella are able to distinguish conspecific male mating calls from bat calls, and that they modify display rate in relation to predation risk. The mechanism (s) by which the moths separate the calls of bat and moth must involve temporal cues. Bat and moth signals differ considerably in duration, and differences in duration could be encoded by the moth's nervous system and used in discrimination.

Using digitally distributed vulgar comedy to reach young men with information about healthy sexual development

Focus groups show that young men do not have available to them the same resources to learn about healthy sexual development as do young women. A collaborative project led by a leading provider of sexuality education aimed to reach young men with information about healthy sexual development by using a genre that focus groups showed they favoured - vulgar comedy. This project raised two important issues. First, comedy is ambivalent - it is by definition not serious or worthy. This challenges health communication, which traditionally favours the clear presentation of correct information. Second, vulgarity can be challenging to the institutions of health communication, which can be concerned that it is inappropriate or offensive. This article addresses these issues and reports on the materials that emerged from the project.

Masculinity, sexuality, theology and child sexual abuse by personnel in Christian institutions

There growing recognition that a contributor to the repeat crises of child sexual abuse (CSA) by personnel in Christian institutions (PICIs), is the often gendered culture of Christian institutions themselves. This work explores theological discursive constructions of masculinity and sexuality and their implications for addressing CSA by PICIs. The perspectives discussed here are of PICIs who participated in a research project conducted in Australia. From these perspectives male gendered and sexual performance is constructed through discourse as both an explanation and solution to offending behaviour. Similarly, sexuality is viewed as God-given, heteronormative and legitimately expressed only within the bounds of marriage. This work draws on Foucault and feminist discourses as they relate to CSA by PICIs and institutional discourses. This work offers a perspective of PICIs that may not otherwise be heard in the common discourses of CSA in Christian Institutions.

Evolution of sexual segregation in mammalian herbivores: kangaroos as marsupial models

Sexual segregation is best known in sexually dimorphic ungulates. Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of sexual segregation in ungulates, but all are reducible to the influence of two factors: body size and sex-specific reproductive strategy. Definitive tests of these hypotheses are lacking in ungulates because these factors are confounded, all males being somewhat larger than females. Kangaroos represent a parallel radiation of terrestrial herbivores, but their populations are composed of a spectrum of adult body sizes, ranging from small males the same size as females to large males more than twice the size. We exploited this heteromorphism to assess the independent influences of size and sex in these ungulate analogues. We conducted a preliminary study of western grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus) in north-western Victoria, Australia. Adult males predominately occupied grassland habitat, whereas females occurred mostly in lakebed, woodland and shrubland. Single-sex groups occurred more often than expected during the non-mating season. The diet of large males had the highest proportion of grass, and females had the least. These initial results indicate that both size and sex influence segregation in this species, confirming the worth of kangaroos as marsupial models for research into the evolution of sexual segregation.

Mandatory Reporting Laws for Child Sexual Abuse in Australia : A Legislative History

This work conducts a comprehensive historical review and analysis of the legislative principles for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse in each State and Territory of Australia. The research traces and explains all the significant changes in the development of the laws in each jurisdiction since their inception in 1969 to the year 2013. The research also identifies why the legislation changed in each jurisdiction, covering research into publicly available records, focusing on significant government inquiries and law reform reports, and parliamentary debates. The research is situated within a treatment of the modern discovery of child sexual abuse as a widespread phenomenon of significant public health concern.

Students’ perceptions of their own victimization: A youth voice perspective

This article investigates the perceptions of 156 students who were victims of both traditional and cyberbullying (117 female, 45 male), ages 10 to 17 years, as to which form of bullying was more hurtful. Overall, students perceived traditional victimization to be more hurtful than cyber victimization. Reasons identified in the data to explain the different perceptions of victims were categorized and found to relate to: the bully, the bystanders, the bullying incidents, the emotional impact on the victim, and the victim’s ability to respond. The perceptions of these students challenge a number of suppositions presented in the literature that attempt to explain why cyberbullying is associated with more negative outcomes than traditional bullying. The implications for antibullying programs to address these issues are discussed.

School-based education programmes for the prevention of child sexual abuse

Background Child sexual abuse is a significant global problem in both magnitude and sequelae. The most widely used primary prevention strategy has been the provision of school-based education programmes. Although programmes have been taught in schools since the 1980s, their effectiveness requires ongoing scrutiny. Objectives To systematically assess evidence of the effectiveness of school-based education programmes for the prevention of child sexual abuse. Specifically, to assess whether: programmes are effective in improving students’ protective behaviours and knowledge about sexual abuse prevention; behaviours and skills are retained over time; and participation results in disclosures of sexual abuse, produces harms, or both. Search methods In September 2014, we searched CENTRAL, OvidMEDLINE, EMBASE and 11 other databases.We also searched two trials registers and screened the reference lists of previous reviews for additional trials. Selection criteria We selected randomised controlled trials (RCTs), cluster-RCTs, and quasi-RCTs of school-based education interventions for the prevention of child sexual abuse compared with another intervention or no intervention. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently assessed the eligibility of trials for inclusion, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias.We summarised data for six outcomes: protective behaviours; knowledge of sexual abuse or sexual abuse prevention concepts; retention of protective behaviours over time; retention of knowledge over time; harm; and disclosures of sexual abuse. School-

Romantic terrorism: An autoethnography of domestic violence, victimization and survival

Romantic Terrorism offers an innovative methodology in exploring the ways in which domestic violence offenders terrorise their victims. Hayes and Jeffries employ a collaborative auto-ethnographic approach to analyse their own lived experiences of domestic violence, particularly how romantic love is employed and distorted by abusers. Its focus on the insidious use of tactics of coercive control by abusers opens up much-needed discussion on the damage caused by emotional and psychological abuse, which are often overlooked or downplayed in both the literature and the criminal justice system. To this end, it offers strategic advice for policy-makers, practitioners, and criminal justice professionals involved in domestic violence service provision.

Action or inaction: bystander intervention in workplace sexual harassment

A promising approach to the persistent problem of workplace sexual harassment (SH) is encouraging interventions by bystanders. Adopting a typology developed by Bowes-Sperry and O'Leary-Kelly that considers the level of immediacy and involvement of bystander interventions, this study explored 74 detailed descriptions of SH events that occurred in Australian workplaces. The findings reveal that despite the hidden nature of SH, there is significant involvement of actors who are not direct targets but their actions are frequently delayed, temporary or ineffective. The study makes two contributions to the study and practice of HRM. First, it provides important evidence of the different ways that bystanders respond to SH in real workplaces and the relative likelihood of these actions. Second, the study points to relevant contextual features evident in the scenarios described which determine if and how bystanders intervene. We discuss the utility of the bystander framework for future research and practice, including the development of bystander interventions as a potentially innovative response to the persistent and damaging problem of workplace SH.

Workplace sexual harassment at the margins

Men are overwhelmingly responsible for sexual harassment against women in the workplace. However, the literature also points to less typical manifestations, including sexual harassment by men of other men and by women of men or other women. This article examines these atypical forms of sexual harassment, drawing on a census of all formal sexual harassment complaints lodged with Australian equal opportunity commissions over a six-month period. The analysis reveals some important distinctions and similarities across groups of atypical complaints, as well as between atypical groups and ‘classic’ sexual harassment complaints where men harass women. The article contributes to the relatively undeveloped literature on these less visible forms of sexual harassment and highlights both theoretical and pragmatic challenges in better understanding workplace sexual harassment ‘at the margins’.

Is being #instagay different from an #lgbttakeover? A cross-platform investigation of sexual and gender identity performances

This paper introduces research in progress that examines how queer women perform sexual identity across social media platforms. Applying a lens of queer theory and Actor Network Theory, it discusses women’s embodied self-representations as taking on forms that both conform to and elaborate upon the selfie genre of digital representation. Acknowledging similarities and differences across platforms, specifically between Instagram and Vine, a novel walkthrough method is introduced to identify platform characteristics that shape identity performances. This method provides insights into the role of platforms in identity performances, which can be combined with analysis of user-generated content and interviews to better understand digital media’s constraints and affordances for queer representation.