Entries Tagged 'peer pressure' ↓

In a bold move, backed by readers who suggested they preferred to see “real women”, the UK monthly magazine Essentials will no longer feature models or celebrities on its front cover.

Published by IPC Media, the October issue runs with the theme “Celebrating women like you” and contains no models or celebrities at all. Stories include:
Real Fashion – wear all the new trends your way
Real Beauty – easy make up and beauty modeled by you
Real You – it’s never too late to get what you want

The magazine also celebrates women in an article about real women; Amazing at every age, size and shape. Essentials main feature is a social media campaign to find 10 real women to put on its front cover. Essentials said it was a “UK media first for women’s glossies”.

Essentials’ editor, Jules Barton-Breck, said: “So many of these women look, and are, amazing that we wanted to celebrate them. In our recent reader survey 70% told us that they would rather see a real woman on the cover of a magazine than a celebrity, so we’re excited to be the first magazine in the UK to do this every month.”

This comes at a time when many experts are worried about the effect magazines containing very thin models and the glamorous lifestyles of the rich and famous are having on adolescents and young women. 

Selena Ewing from Women’s Forum Australia said “one very clear finding is that there are harmful effects of being exposed to pictures of thing and glamourous women. Poor body image, lower self-esteem, anger, anxiety, shame, self-surveillance are documented responses.”

She added “Women may not realise this is happening to them; they may not make any connection between the glossy, breautiful, popular magazines and the negative, often hidden aspects of their own lives.”

Women’s Forum Australia has researched the issue of how women are portrayed in the media and as part of their findings they produced a satirical magazine-style publication as their research paper.  Faking It: the female image in young women’s magazines reflects the body of academic research on magazines, mass media, premature sexualisation of girls, and the sexual objectification of women.

According to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulation figures in the UK, Essentials was once again the biggest climber of mainstream magazines. It now has a circulation of 115,432, up by nearly 13% year on year.

Interestingly Cosmopolitan and Company reported the biggest falls in the women’s lifestyle and fashion sector, with a 9% drop by Cosmopolitan. Despite the fact that they feature high end fashion and have models and celebrities crammed into each issue.

Ilka Schmitt, the magazine’s publisher, said: “Celebrating our readers by putting them on the cover is a brave move, but it just feels right for Essentials. Essentials is a woman’s magazine that offers something different and more and more women are discovering that. Seven consecutive year-on-year ABC increases do not lie.”

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: Essentials Magazine. Women’s Forum Australia

ThinkUKnow

ThinkUKnow is a website dedicated to protecting kids online. It shows you how to help kids stay safe and in control when using various forms of new media.

It gives teachers, parents and carers the tools they need to keep children safe while still letting them enjoy using emerging technologies. The site has free tools and resources including fact sheets and videos to download.

ThinkUKnow is an Internet safety program delivering interactive training through primary and secondary schools across Australia using a network of accredited trainers.

Created by the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre, ThinkUKnow Australia has been developed by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Microsoft Australia.

School Presentations – Presentations are also available and they will come to your school and talk to parents, teachers and carers.
Fax expressions of interest to: (02) 6132 6063

Useful sections on the website include:

How Do Kids Have Fun? – explores how young people communicate with friends and family all over the world, access information for school work and develop their creativity. It looks at:
Instant Messaging
Gaming
Chat
Peer-to-Peer
Social Networking
Mobile phones
Blogs

How to Stay in Control – This section outlines some of the risks associated with the activities of young people online.
The site encourages adolescents to have fun online and with mobile technologies, but to always stay in control.

Just as you try to protect your child in the real world, you would also like to keep them safe in the online world. Helping to equip young people with online safety skills will help them to get the most out of the Internet and to stay in control whilst doing so.

Protect Your Computer – This section highlights some practical steps which you can take to protect you and your family online.

It is important that you safeguard your computer, devices and home networks. It is also important to practice safe online behaviour to minimise your exposure to online risks.
The website looks at:
Email safety
Firewall
Malware Protection
Updating computer operating systems
Shopping online
Protecting wireless networks

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: ThinkUKnow

“What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and all things nice” you would certainly think that if you watched California Gurls, the latest video clip from Katy Perry.

“It’s all edible. We named it ‘Candyfornia’ instead of ‘California,’ so it’s a different world,” Perry said. “It’s not just like, ‘Oh, let’s go to the beach and throw a party and then shoot a music video!’ It’s more like, ‘Let’s put us California Gurls in a whole different world!’

The clip is a sugary mixture of pink candy floss, Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and a board game. Featuring Snoop Dogg, the clip takes us through Candy Land in which girls (looking so good you could eat them) are held captive by ‘King’ Snoop Dogg. Perry moves around a candy inspired board game to free them.

It culminates in a battle when Perry defeats the’ king’ with her guns made from whipped cream, which are attached to her breasts and she squeezes to make the cream come out. This is so ‘soft porn’ it’s not true and is almost too embarrassing to watch.

Just to clarify, Snoop Dogg, used to be a pimp who seems to have little respect for women. About his time as a pimp he has said “I wasn’t a gorilla pimp where I was beating the girls up” but explains he was simply offering a service “cause I know so many mother f***ers who like buyin’ it” (Rolling Stones November 2006), not a great role model for adolescent boys.

Long gone are the days when a musician or group could simply stand there and deliver their song and it be filmed. Today we are offered a whole fantasy to go with the music, a visual journey for us to get lost in.

But what is it that we are being sold here? The lyrics for many songs are borderline pornographic with little room for words of true love or romance – it all seems to be about superficial physical attraction and instant sexual gratification. When these lyrics are translated onto the screen what we see is a video clip that has become a short ‘soft porn’ movie.

The lyrics in Perry’s song make no secret of the fact that California girls are body conscious, on the look-out and available “Sex on a beach. We get sand in our stilettos. We freak and we’re cheap”.

We, or rather young girls, are being sold the idea that girls/women are here to look good enough to eat, to be delicious and to be enjoyed by men. They are being told that girls should flaunt their sexuality and make it clear that they are ready and available.

Maggie Hamilton, Generation Next speaker and author of “What’s Happening to our Girls? said “much information girls glean about sex is from magazines, TV and the movies… often sex in the media is presented as immediate, exciting, causal and risk free.”

“When girls access the media they learn almost nothing about the subtle difference between sensuality and sexuality, understanding and expressing desire, the importance of intimacy and boundaries, and life beyond instant gratification” she added.

This clip would visually appeal to young girls; it is full of all the food and colours they love at that age; ice cream, gummy bears and candy floss. They are being hooked into a world which then tells them “you are here to look pretty, taste good and give pleasure to men”.

These messages are conveyed by the way all the girls are dressed/wrapped up as ‘sweeties’ that can be eaten and are the property of Snoop Dogg’s own personal candy stash. It is reinforced by the way the women in the clip smile and give the camera the ’I’m here for you’ look.

At one point Katy seductively licks an ice cream while looking wide eyed and innocent. Later she slowly sucks her fingers as she slips some gingerbread man into her mouth.

Then we see Perry lying naked on a cloud singing about how California girls are “fine, fresh and fierce” however all the girls in the clip have a vacant/available expression on their faces like no thoughts have ever passed through their heads.

This clip is insidious because it looks like a superficial sugar candy coated innocent romp through Alice in Wonderland while actually taking a voyeuristic journey that shows women as objects for the pleasure of men . In essence it is soft porn and the worrying thing about this video is that it will be watched by thousands of young girls on a Saturday morning as they get their weekly fix of Video Hits.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Community Alcohol Action Network (CAAN)

This is a great website full of resources about the effects of alcohol; especially on young people.  Its aim is to equip people at a local level to help them change the drinking culture we have in Australia – to make it a safer environment for people to drink.

CAAN works to reduce cultural pressures that encourage Australians to drink unsafely. They include the alcohol industries’ marketing strategies, popular culture’s celebration of binge drinking, and social expectations that lead to complacency regarding alcohol problems.

CAAN’s strategy includes alerting the media, the public, and policy makers to:
• aggressive marketing and promotion of alcohol
• failure of the codes that regulate alcohol advertising
• encouragement of unsafe drinking via popular media
• violation of licensing regulations (e.g. free drinks, drinking competitions)
• development of dangerous products (e.g. ‘super strength’ pre-mixed drinks), and
• the need for greater controls over availability.

The website has great facts and figures on the following topics:
Alcohol and its effects – the liver breaks down 91% of alcohol.
Standard drinks – a standard drink is defined as one that contains 10 grams of pure alcohol.
Minimising the risks from drinking – we know that drinking too much alcohol can cause problems, but how much is too much?
How to drink less- how to pace yourself, monitor your alcohol consumption and make healthy choices during a night out.
Alcohol Use in Australia – facts and statistics about the prevalence of alcohol use in Australia.
Alcohol – Recent Reports and Research.

Our drinking culture
Parents and teachers alike have all expressed a sense of helplessness about underage drinking, in the face of strong social and cultural pressures to drink excessive amounts of alcohol. Young people’s opinions and acceptance of alcohol are guided by the beliefs and expectations of the society they live in.

Australian society embraces alcohol and has always done so. Excessive alcohol consumption is not frowned upon. In fact, it is celebrated and plays an important role in many of our social customs. We tolerate heavy and unsafe drinking including underage drinking, sending a message to our young people that it is acceptable for them to drink.

The alcohol industry feeds this culture, last year alone the Foster’s Group spent $30-35 million on advertisements. In addition to that, alcohol companies invest millions of dollars each year in sponsorship. Most national sports teams and sports events in Australia are sponsored by alcohol brands.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.
Source: Community Alcohol Action Network (CAAN)

By Julie Gale, Kids Free 2B Kids Director.

The premature sexualisation of children and young teens is a global issue which has been increasing over the past decade. Our kids are inundated with confusing messages that serve to minimize what it means to be a whole well rounded human being.

Popular culture encourages girls to focus on their appearance and sex appeal, and while females are offered more opportunities in the work force than ever before, marketing and advertising frequently diminishes girls aspirations to simply being ‘hot’ and ‘sexy’.
Ariel Levy – author of Female Chauvinist Pigs argues that girls and young women are objectified today as never before. Their physical appearances – especially their sexual attributes – are portrayed as their most important assets.

The sexualisation of children can be defined in two ways:
1. Direct sexualisation occurs when children are dressed or posed in ways designed to draw attention to adult sexual features that the children do not yet possess.
2. Indirect sexualisation occurs when a child is involuntarily exposed to sexualised imagery, which is often aimed at adults…for example outdoor billboard advertising.

It is important to note that sexualisation is not the same as sexuality or sex. According to the Report of the APA Taskforce on the Sexualisation of Girls published by the American Psychological Association in 2007, sexualisation has to do with treating other people (and sometimes oneself) as “objects of sexual desire…as things rather than people with legitimate sexual feelings of their own”. When people are sexualised, their value comes primarily from their sex appeal, which is equated with physical attractiveness. This is especially damaging and “problematic to children and adolescents who are developing their sense of themselves as sexual beings.” 

It is normal for a child to go through a gradual process of learning to understand about sex, sexuality and intimacy and what it means to be a caring and respectful human being.

Authors of So Sexy So Soon, Dr Jean Kilbourne and Professor Dianne Levin state: ‘We are not alarmed that today’s children are learning about sex and sexuality. We are alarmed by the particular lessons that children are learning. The sexualisation of childhood is having a profoundly disturbing impact on children’s understanding of gender, sexuality and relationships.”

It is important for parents to realise that concern about the images their children are exposed to is not about being old fashioned or prudish. Child development professionals are also speaking out about this issue and increasing research supports this concern.

Amanda Gordon, President of the APS says: “The Australian Psychological Society is very concerned with the sexualisation of children in society. The research is saying that the sexualisation of children is leading to real mental health problems for those children as they get into their adolescence and their adult years.

We think that the sexualisation of children from as young as eight is what is doing the damage – that’s the danger time, middle childhood. We want to protect those children in those years.

We are not being prudish in doing that, we are actually giving them a chance then to stride out and be sexual beings when their time is right -when their body is right – when their mind is right – to make better choices based on feelings rather than on what they read or what they see.”

Adolescent psychiatrist Dr Sloane Madden from Westmead Children’s Hospital Sydney says: “One third of eight year olds are not happy with their weight and shape. Nearly one in four are dieting. I think there is a growing concern amongst eating disorder professionals around the world that children at this age are being subjected to increasingly sophisticated and adult messages. Messages acquainting thinness with success – sexualised images – presented to children at an age when really they’re psychologically unable to understand those images.” 

Sexualised imagery and easy access to pornographic images on the internet also impacts greatly on our boys and young men.

Kilbourne and Levin go on to say: “Boys are surrounded by media messages that encourage them to judge their female peers based on how they look, often to view them with contempt, and to expect sexual subservience from them. Young men these days are quite actively discouraged from entering into mutually satisfactory intimate and committed relationships with women. Men who have been conditioned to judge women by the current standard of beauty and to compare real women with the idealized images in the popular media and pornography often find it difficult, if not impossible, to feel empathy for women. Needless to say, they are unlikely to be satisfying partners for women. Boys who lack empathy, who have deficit compassion disorder, often become men who find it impossible to have deep and fulfilling intimate relationships with their partners, with their children, with anyone. This is a very high price to pay.”

Exposure to sexualised imagery and pornography at young ages is having negative impacts on our kids’ mental health. This exposure is linked to increased depression, anxiety, body images problems, eating disorders, self harm – a decrease in the age of first sexual experience and an increase in sexually transmitted infections.

While some parents and teachers are concerned about sexuality education leading to earlier or increased sexual activity, recent and comprehensive literature reviews find instead that sexuality education leads to a delay in the onset of sexual activity, reduced rates of sexually-transmitted infections and greater adoption of safer sex practices by those young people who are already sexually active.

It is incumbent upon parents to communicate with children about the messages they are bombarded with in the media. Children need strong direction and guidance, and permission to reject the hyper sexualised culture that imposes unrealistic expectations on them.

While teenage boys may be stereotyped as sex-mad, a report by researchers in the Journal of Adolescence (USA) suggests on the contrary, that boys are motivated more by love and a desire to form real relationships with the girls they date.

“Let’s give boys more credit,” said study author Andrew Smiler, an assistant professor of psychology at the university. “Although some of them are just looking for sex, most boys are looking for a relationship. The kids we know mostly aren’t like this horrible stereotype. They are generally interested in dating and getting to know their partners.”

The data also suggest that teenage boys will be receptive to parental messages about the importance of getting to know a girl and respect within relationships, even if they act otherwise. “Very few parents really talk to their sons about relationships,” Dr. Smiler said. “We know that many parents do have these kinds of conversations with girls.” Dr. Smiler said parents should talk to boys and girls and try to teach them about both romantic and platonic relationships, how to develop and maintain them, how to deal with ups and downs and how to forgive and regain trust.

“Somehow we buy into this idea that guys aren’t emotional, that guys aren’t interested in relationships, so we don’t give our teenagers the information,” Dr. Smiler said. “Boys rarely hear this kind of information about relationships from parents, whether about friendships or romantic relationships.”

If we leave our kids’ sex education up to the media then we will continue to see an increase in dysfunctional relating between boys and girls. We will continue to see girls acting out of an imposed ‘hot’ and ‘sexy’ construct, which, along with objectified and sexualised images of females, affects the ways boys relate to and treat them.  We will continue to see our kids depressed and confused about how they are supposed to behave in their relationships…or their ‘hook ups’ …or their ‘friends with benefits’…or their f**k buddies. We will continue to see girls and boys sexting naked images of themselves, and very young girls performing oral sex under tables at school and at parties long before they are emotionally and psychologically equipped to engage in such behaviour. We will continue to see rates of Chlamydia soar – the silent sexually transmitted infection, which according to medical professionals, may see the next generation of young women with an unprecedented high incidence of infertility. The ramifications are many.

The media is devoid of valuable information about love, respect, caring, intimacy and importantly for our girls, sexual assertiveness, the right to say “no” and the right to expect respect.

In Australia, one in three girls and one in five-seven boys will experience some form of sexual abuse before the age of eighteen. This is totally unacceptable.

It is well and truly time for parents to demand that the contemporary media environment and marketing and advertising – works responsibly to support their efforts to raise whole well rounded and happy children.

Australia is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CROC) which was first adopted in 1989.  In May 2002, world leaders convened at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children to review the progress in meeting the goals and to agree on new goals for the next decade.

Comments from the 2002 United Nations General Assembly on the World Summit for Children include:
• Eleven years ago, at the World Summit for children, world leaders made a joint commitment and issued an urgent, universal appeal to give every child a better future.
• We reaffirm our obligation to take action to promote and protect the rights of each child – every human being below the age of 18 years, including adolescents.
• We stress our commitment to create a world fit for children…taking into account the best interests of the child…including the right to development.
• We hereby call upon all members of society to join us in a global movement that will help to build a world fit for children.
• Put children first. In all actions related to children, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.
• In line with (the) principles and objectives, we (are) confident that together we will build a world in which all girls and boys can enjoy childhood – a time of play and learning, in which they are loved, respected and cherished, their rights are promoted and protected, without discrimination of any kind, in which their safety and well-being are paramount and in which they can develop in health, peace and dignity.

Our Government must focus on recommendations made by child development professionals and groups concerned about the wellbeing and mental health of our children, in the recent senate inquiry into the sexualisation of children in the contemporary media environment.  The inquiry is due for review at the end of 2009. Parents and other concerned individuals and groups must take action and speak out about the negative impacts on our children.

We have a right to expect better for our kids, and the Government has to show us the action promised when Australia signed CROC. Our kids deserve that.

Reference:

1. Faking It. Women’s Forum Australia.
2. Corporate Paedophilia Report. The Australia Institute.
3. So Sexy So Soon. The New Sexualised Childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids.
   Diane E Levin, Ph.D and Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D
4. So Sexy So Soon. The New Sexualised Childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids.
   Diane E Levin, Ph.D and Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D
5. Sunday Program. Nine Network. 22 June 2008
6. AM – ABC. Eating disorders on the rise. 28 May 2008
7. So Sexy So Soon. The New Sexualised Childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids.
   Diane E Levin, Ph.D and Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D
8. APA Taskforce on the Sexualisation of Girls. American Psychological Association. 2007.
9. (Grunseit et al. 1997;Roker and Coleman 1998, p 15) Youth and Pornography in Australia -  Evidence on the extent of exposure and likely effects. Flood and Hamilton 2003.
10. “I wanted to get to know her better”: Adolescent boy’s dating motives, masculinity ideology and sexual behaviour. Department of Psychology SUNY Oswego NY. 2008 Feb;31(!):17-32.Epub 2007 May 29
11. Inside the mind of the boy dating your daughter. Parker-Rope. New York Times. 15 Feb. 2008
12. Childwise.
13. Ratified by Australia in Dec 1990.
14. S-27/2. A World Fit For Children. United Nations
15. href=”http://www.aph.gov.au/SENATE/committee/eca_ctte/sexualisation_of_children/index.htm”

Writer: Julie Gale, Director, Kids Free 2B Kids. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.

Yet another fashion item has been marketed to children that is not age appropriate. The new padded bra on bikinis are aimed at children as young as 7 years old and follows the sale of padded bras, G strings for girls under 10 years old, Playboy stationary and pole dancing kits.

However there has been a strong reaction to this latest attempt at the premature sexualisation of young girls. In the UK a leading retailer has withdrawn their bikinis and apologised for any offence they may have caused.

Australian author Maggie Hamilton and Generation Next seminar speaker warns that “Tweens wear sexy clothing because companies encourage them to believe this will help them take their place in the world… Companies know how much tweens want to be teenagers and use this to sell the products teen girls enjoy – make up, music and fashions. However with teen products come teen aspirations”.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists is also concerned about the sexualisation of children. “Sexualisation of children involves the imposition of adult models of sexual behaviour and sexuality on to children and adolescents at developmentally inappropriate stages and in opposition to the healthy development of sexuality. It encompasses sexual objectification and representation of children in adult sexual ways and in ways that imply the child’s value is dependent on conforming to a particular appearance, sexual display or behaviours,” said Professor Louise Newman, President of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. 

“There is growing evidence that premature exposure to adult sexual images and values has a negative impact on the psychological development of children, particularly on self-esteem, body image and understanding of sexuality and relationships,” Professor Newman said.

The growing demand to have these items of clothing taken off the racks is coming from parents, especially mothers who are forming pressure groups and online forums to lobby for the protection of all children.

Overseas Julie Roberts, founder of Mumsnet, a parenting website also champions the “Let Girls Be Girls” campaign which has successfully persuaded several UK retailers to withdraw clothing that promotes the sexualisation of young girls.

So far UK stores Marks & Spencer, George at Asda, Boden, House of Fraser, Mothercare and Start-rite have all backed the campaign by withdrawing products which might compromise the innocence of young people, especially girls.

Penny Nicholls of The Children’s Society, validates these views “We know from our research that commercial pressures towards premature sexualisation and unprincipled advertising are damaging children’s well-being… while children themselves feel under pressure to keep up with the latest trends. We need a significant change at the heart of society where adults stand up for better values.”

Finally, a recent report by psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos “The Sexualisation of Young People” confirmed that “By over-emphasising their sexuality through fashion, it may make it harder for girls to value themselves for other aspects of their identity”. Read the full report “The Sexualisation of Young People’ at the Generation Next website.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.

SOURCE: Mumsnet website and BBC news

Sleazy lifestyle games website for tweens.

A new website was launched in the UK shortly before Christmas aimed at the ‘tweens’ called My Minx and already it has attracted over 20,000 members, some as young as seven years old. Originally billed as ”Barbie meets Chanel”  the games’ creators also made Miss Bimbo, which has over two million members and has been criticsed for encouraging young girls to give their characters diet pills and ‘boob jobs’.

The site allows the children to play a game in which they create a virtual avatar and then act out certain life style options including; being a stipper, a dog handler or adopting children from overseas (coincidently these adopted children come from Cambodia, Ethiopia and Malawi with names such as Pax, Maddox, Sahara and David and bear a striking resemblence to the adopted children of Madonna and Angelina Jolie).

Clubbing, binge drinking and one night stands are the norm. Players design their own saucy lingerie brands and handbag ranges as they compete to create the most stylish minx, competing to be crowned the ‘minx of minxes’ in the game. The use of condoms and the morning after pill are also options as the minxes hit the town in “Style City” with the sole purpose of attracting casual partners, the more the better it seems with each players IQ increasing as they use more condoms.

Recently journalist Kim MacDonald spent some time on the site creating ‘Kasma Booty’ a cartoon avatar in the online game. Her trip to the plastic surgeon gave her avatar enhanced breasts and poutier lips. The happiness level on her profile page automatically adjusted from 86 per cent to 100 per cent following surgery.

Macdonald’s comment was ”If I had a daughter, she would not be allowed anywhere near My Minx.”

Tweens are using Twitter and MySpace to spread the word about this sordid virtual world.

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, author of Real Wired Child and Generation Next speaker, said parents need to develop a “digital spine” by putting an end to inappropriate online activities. He is counselling a growing number of children with what he calls ”problematic net behaviour”.

An Edith Cowan University child psychologist and cyber expert, Julian Dooley, said websites such as these were bad for children’s self-esteem, and created negative impressions about women.

”This sort of site sexualises women, which can create negative body images, low self-esteem and unhealthy ideas about women’s roles in society in terms of sexual behaviour,” said Dr Dooley, the scientific director of ECU’s Cyber-bullying and Child Health Promotion Research Centre.

”The extent to which exposure to this sort of content affects their offline behaviour remains to be seen, but what is clear from other areas of research is that this sort of highly sexualised content creates unhealthy attitudes about sexual behaviour and intimate relationships. For example, it may lead to expectations that you need to be well-endowed or wear skimpy clothes to be popular”.

Andy Hibberd, spokesman for parents’ rights group Parentkind, said: “It is sending out all the wrong messages and the only reason its creators have made it is to make money. ‘They are exploiting children for profit. Children’s innocence is very precious and should be protected for as long as possible”.

Writer Helen splarn,  Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha

Source: Daily Mail UK. Read more here.

The tragic circumstances surrounding the fatal stabbing of 12-year-old school boy Elliott Fletcher during a school yard fracas at St Patrick’s College at Shorncliffe Brisbane on Monday 15 February has sent shock waves around the country.

It has prompted new calls for more security at the school gate and the introduction of metal detectors. However these measures do not address the underlying problems facing both the children and parents of this generation.

Experts are beginning to respond to this growing crisis in our schools. Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, a psychologist and Generation Next speaker, is an internationally recognised authority on teenage behaviour. He told the 7.30 Report that “the reality is that what we need in schools is a framework which is gonna help work through the massive complexity of bullying and metal detectors aren’t gonna be the solution”.

What is it in our society and community that would lead a 13 year old boy to resort to such violence in order to settle a play ground argument? Did he really understand the full implications and consequences of his actions? Stabbing another person is a very serious action, one which can and did end in the futile loss of a young and precious life. In the process it has also destroyed the life of the perpetrator.

Kerry O’Brien from the 7.30 Report asked Dr Michael Carr-Gregg “How capable is a young adolescent today of understanding consequences?”

“I think what the research is now showing us very clearly is that the teenage brain is fully developed in the mid-20s; there’re gender differences, girls brains seem to be developed round about 23, boys on a good day with the wind behind you, 25. But the reality is that kids need guidelines, they need boundaries, they need limits and they need examples set. But they also need clear guidelines as to what is and what is not acceptable behaviour,” he replied.

Resorting to violence as a means of conflict resolution among teenagers is increasing in our schools with this incident alone being the second school stabbing involving students in Brisbane in the last fortnight. It also highlights a growing trend within Australian youth to carry knives.

Deakin University chair of health psychology John Toumbourou co-authored a study into the difference between the gun culture pervading US schools and the growing knife culture in Australian schools. His study, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, found that more than one in six Australian boys had been involved in violence in the 12-month study period.

This is supported by Professor Paul Mazerolle, a Queensland criminologist and director of Griffith University’s Violence Research Program who says there is growing anecdotal evidence to suggest schools are getting more violent. “What is particularly concerning is the young people are carrying knives. If anything, we are fortunate that we don’t have a gun culture in Australia like they do in other parts of the world,” he said.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, an incident like this raises many issues such as cyber bullying, violent computer games, binge drinking and the isolation and anxiety that many teenagers experience while just trying to deal with their daily lives.

Professor Toumbourou says instead of increasing security measures; Australia should be dealing with the underlying problems that trigger the attacks. “We’ve got to get major reductions in alcohol use among adolescents and we’ve got to do a lot to build the skills to stop people reacting violently,” he said. “You need to get the environment so that young people are aware of how to relate to one another and there’s not alcohol in the background causing unnecessary violent events. In Australia, alcohol use is high amongst adolescents,” he said.

Anxiety, depression and stress levels experienced by young people today is at an all time high; with bullying, harassment and the constant need to bow to peer pressure playing a large part of the cause.

Dr Carr-Gregg says fatal stabbings are “very rare”, but the broader problem of bullying and harassment in schools must be recognised. “In 2005, Gene Healy from the University of Western Sydney said it was about one in five. And Professor Donna Cross’s report in 2009 was that it’s one in four. So it’s definitely there and it would appear on the surface to be getting worse,” he said. The NSW Parliament has just completed an inquiry into bullying and harassment.

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg also pointed out that “there’s a spike in bullying when kids move from primary to secondary, we know that boys engage in the more physical stuff and the girls the more psychological stuff”.

Research has identified 5 key factors which influence both male and female youth violence as they make their transition from childhood into adulthood, they are:

1. The individual
2. The family
3. The school
4. The community
5. The peer group

This passage would be made easier if the community, schools, parents and teenagers were better equipped with life skills such as face to face communication, anger management, problem solving, decision making and conflict resolution. If more time was spent participating in hobbies and outside interests where real life experiences and social interaction occurred and less time was spent in front of the computer living  a ‘virtual life’ through social networks and games.

This is compounded by the breakdown in communication that many parents are experiencing with their children. Parents are flying blind, with no social ‘indicators’ to tell them where their teenagers are really at and no common ‘shared’ interests on which to build the firm foundations of a meaningful relationship where the lines of communication are open and accessible for both parties.

Finally Dr Michael Carr-Gregg stressed the importance of parents keeping the lines of communication open with their children and told Kerry O’Brien how they could best explain recent events to them and reassure them.

“Well, first of all, that it was an unusual incident. They need to be asked how they feel. They need to have their feelings legitimised, and they need to be told then that this is a moment that we can learn from, that we can move on from, and that most importantly, the reality is we live in a very, very safe country, it’s unlikely to happen again”.

Writer Helen Splarn. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha

The full 7.30 Report transcript with Dr Michael Carr-Gregg

We are currently in the process of planning the 2010 Generation Next series. Thanks to your feedback we have learned a lot of lessons about how best to run the events and use the limited financial and other resources available to us.

Importantly, in 2010 we would like to explore the possibility of running the events at a school hall rather than in a commercial venue. This will allow us to use our limited funds for more important things such as advertising and supporting the stakeholder groups that work with us.

A group of approximately 20 schools in Canberra, for example, have teamed up to offer both a school hall and help with ticket sales to each of their school communities. We think this is a way for Generation Next’s important information to get to more people in a way that is not only financially viable but also allows local communities to develop a sense of ownership with regard to these important issues.

It will also allow us more versatility in terms of timing and location.

Our calculations show that we need to sell about 800-1000 tickets to make each Generation Next event viable. Therefore we need to find a school hall (or halls) in each city that can accommodate an audience of that size or more in relative comfort.

If you think that your school’s hall may be suitable to a Generation Next event and that your school may be interested in working with us then please do get in touch with us by  emailing me at r.manocha@healthed.com.au or at info@gennextseminars.com.

Your help with this matter is deeply appreciated.

Sincerely,

Dr Ramesh Manocha, MBBS, BSc (Med), PhD,

Founder, Generation Next.

Over the years I have attended a number of Schoolies Week celebrations and although there have always been incidents, usually linked to excessive alcohol consumption, for the most part I have found the young people to be very well behaved and reasonably sensible.

The most concerning aspect of the event is the social pressure on young people attending schoolies to behave in a certain way. There is an expectation from very early on that all the teenagers going to schoolies will drink to excess and, as a result, behave badly. The media does a great job of convincing young people that this is the type of behaviour expect of them and, unfortunately, many of them try to live up to it.

It is important to remember that trying to prevent your son or daughter from attending this type of event could damage the relationship you have with them. Young people attending schoolies are not in their early teens; they are usually very close to the legal drinking age or, in some cases, have already turned eighteen. They are at an age where they are going to have to make decisions on their own, and trying to prevent them from doing so is not recommended.

Regardless of that, you are still the parent and you are still allowed to voice your concerns about what they are doing and the risks they may encounter. That part of being a parent is never going to stop and you wouldn’t be doing your job if you didn’t do it.

My advice is to take a moment to sit down with your child and talk through the concerns you have. Then, after you have finished, give them the opportunity to explain how they intend to deal with the potential problems you have raised. What many parents discover during conversations like this is that we have a generation of young people to be proud of, with many of them doing their very best to look after themselves or their friends.

Every time you have a conversation with your child about risky behaviour it needs to end with a reinforcement of the message that you can be called on at any time. It doesn’t matter what they have done, you love them unconditionally and you will be there for them. There may be consequences, but that’s down the track; all that’s important in that moment is that they are safe and know that you love them.

Writer Paul Dillon, Generation Next speaker and drug and alcohol expert. Excerpt from “Teenagers, Alcohol and Drugs”. Editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.