Generation Next Blog

July 2012

An obituary worth reading

By |2012-08-17T17:44:46+10:00July 18th, 2012|Categories: Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , |

We grew up in the very best time to grow up in the history of America. The best music, muscle cars, cheap gas, fun kegs, buying a car for "a buck a year" - before Salt Lake got ruined by over population and Lake Powell was brand new. TV was boring back then, so we [...]

Beauty pageants making inroads in australia….again!

By |2012-08-17T17:45:12+10:00July 17th, 2012|Categories: Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , |

Little girls preen, strut, pout, and beckon to the judges ‘come here baby’. They kiss their finger and press it to their backsides in a gesture indicating they are smoking hot. They are instructed to flirt and to hold their tummies in. A five-year-old begs not to have her eyebrows ripped out. Some girls are [...]

Lingerie football league’s first event … sport or buck’s night?

By |2012-08-17T17:45:50+10:00July 17th, 2012|Categories: Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , |

Lingerie Football League is hailed as the all-new Australian sport and we are supposed to celebrate? It wasn’t sport. It was a meat fest. It had the feel of a giant buck’s night. But it was on a sporting field so apparently that made it sport. I call on sporting bodies and our Government, to [...]

Alcohol reform is the key to addressing violence

By |2012-08-17T17:46:18+10:00July 17th, 2012|Categories: Drugs & Alcohol|Tags: , , , , |

 Australia's leading alcohol research and education body has repeated its calls for alcohol reform, on the eve of a community forum to discuss street violence in Sydney. The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) has warned that calls for improved public transport and greater CCTV surveillance fail to address the issue that alcohol, and [...]

7-11 positions porn magazines in reach of kids … time for 10 minutes of activism!

By |2012-08-17T17:46:56+10:00July 14th, 2012|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , |

Last week I walked into three separate 7Eleven stores and was surprised to see Penthouse and other adult magazines on the bottom rack of the magazine stand. I wrote the following letter to the chairman of 7Eleven Australia, Russell Withers.       Dear Mr Withers, A couple of weeks ago I wandered into one [...]

Parenting vs Teaching vs The Courts … a dilemma

By |2012-08-17T17:47:40+10:00July 14th, 2012|Categories: Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , |

In light of the recent newsletter reference to a court ruling on the appropriate management of children whose parents were undergoing a particularly nasty divorce, I think it's fair to say that there are a lot of parents who need guidance....a clearer understanding of what makes their kids tick, and what qualifies as  "suitable parenting". [...]

Age of Anxiety: Are We ‘Pathologizing’ Normal Emotion?

By |2012-08-17T17:48:18+10:00July 14th, 2012|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , |

In 1994, a study asking a random sample of thousands of Americans about their mental health reported that 15 percent had ever suffered from anxiety disorders. A 2009 study of people interviewed about their anxiety repeatedly for years raised that estimate to 49.5 percent - which would be 117 million U.S. adults. Some psychiatrists say [...]

Impact of music videos on men’s body image and mood

By |2012-08-17T17:48:49+10:00July 13th, 2012|Categories: Science & Research, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , |

Buff blokes in music videos are giving Australian men a complex, according to new research that has found exposure to video clips of attractive and muscular singers can make men feel less satisfied with their own bodies. Dr Kate Mulgrew of the University of the Sunshine Coast, says the work, published in the journal Body [...]

Macca’s website breached ad rules

By |2012-09-07T16:23:34+10:00July 9th, 2012|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

CHILDREN'S advocates are claiming a victory in the fast-growing world of online marketing to kids, with McDonald's found in breach of industry standards over a website.  The Advertising Standards Bureau upheld the Cancer Council's complaint about the Happy Meal website, finding that it had breached several clauses of the voluntary code for advertising to children, [...]

Who’s the Parent?

By |2012-08-17T16:58:07+10:00July 9th, 2012|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

For years there has been a line – albeit a semi-permanent, movable, sometimes defined, sometimes less so line – separating the role of teacher and parent. The term “in loco parentis” is used to define schools duty of care.  Often schools will offer parent information nights, offering advice on how best to meet the needs [...]

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