Women's Health Week with Jean Hailes
Sep 13, 2021
Women’s Health Week happened between September 6th and September 13th in Australia this year. It is fantastic to be a part of a very important week, and I want to share with you a podcast, Q&A and article I was interviewed for.
Talking The Talk acknowledges that not all people that have ‘women’s’ health issues or access ‘women’s’ health services identify as women.
BROAD RADIO INTERVIEW
I enjoyed speaking with Jo Stanley and Kerrie Stanley on Broad Radio about improving Women's sexual health - the props are a highlight :)
You can watch it here.
PODCAST
I was very excited to be interviewed for a podcast for Women’s Health Week by Janet Hailes Michelmore AO, CEO from the women’s health organisation Jean Hailes.
In my interview, one topic we discussed was removing the word ‘sex’ from ‘sex education’. I think sex is an unhelpful word as it means so many different things to different people. When I ask in my parent and teacher session what sex is, the answer I often hear is being male or female, or penis in vagina heterosexual sex. This just demonstrates how limiting this word is for explaining what we know about human sexuality. For example, when we use the term ‘Sex Ed’ for Primary School such as in Prep or Foundation, parents think we are going to teach them about ‘sex’. Human Sexuality education has hardly anything to do with sex - or what most people think of when they hear that term - especially in Primary School.
You can listen to the full podcast here
Q&A
I also answered the top 5 voted questions from Jean Hailes’ audience. Some questions include:
- When should I start talking to my kids about sex?
- Should I teach my kids the names of their ‘private parts’?
- How do I teach my kids about consent?
You can read my answers here.
ARTICLE:
I was lucky enough to be interviewed alongside Maureen Matthews for this article. We discussed how to talk to kids about sex and sexuality as well as how adults can talk to their partners about these same topics. I give some tips on how to overcome the fear or hesitation over talking about sexuality with your kids and what topics need more attention when we are thinking about healthy sexuality.
You can read the article here.
Women’s Health Week is a week in Australia that is dedicated to making sure that improving their health is a priority to women and aims to help them make healthier choices. The campaign was created and is led by Jean Hailes for Women's Health, a not-for-profit organisation who started Women’s Health Week as they saw that there was no dedicated event in the country to promote women’s health.
You can also read some of my related blog posts on these topics:
What Age Should I Start Talking To My Kids About Sex?
Consent Education: As Easy As Shoe Laces and Lego
How much should I tell my kids about sexuality?
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