Healthy Sexy & Wise - April 2004
Volume 2, Issue 2, 2004
Editors Note
Welcome to the April edition of Healthy Sexy & Wise.
If you would like future issues of Healthy Sexy & Wise emailed to you Contact Us..
In this issue:
- Quarry Health Centre – sexual health services for young people
- FPWA events – National Condom Day and Big Day Out
- Monthly period no longer necessary for women
- Talking to kids about sex
- Contraception update
- Upcoming FPWA health promotion
- FPWA information sheets
- New FPWA brochure for young people
- Book reviews
Please feel free to circulate and distribute this newsletter to anyone you know that may benefit from the information. They can go on the mailing list by emailing me their details.
If you have any suggestions, ideas or comments about the newsletter, you can email me – be sure to let me know if there are any topics you would like to see covered in the future. The next edition of Healthy Sexy & Wise will be out in July.
Rebecca Smith
Editor
Quarry Health Centre – sexual health services for young people
Quarry Health Centre for under 25s offers sexual health services for young people in a safe and supportive environment.
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In addition, Quarry provides counselling on issues such as anger management, sadness and depression, grief, and sexual identity.
Library and education services are also offered at Quarry, with books and videos available for hire, and low-cost safe sex supplies are available.
Quarry recognises that young people have particular needs and want to deal with people who understand the issues they face.
Services are confidential and affordable, and clients can be assured of non-judgemental information and support.
Please phone 9430 4544 for more information or to make an appointment. Quarry Health Centre is located at 7 Quarry Street, Fremantle.
FPWA events
National Condom Day
National Condom Day on February 14 was a huge success this year. Over 80 organisations around WA organised displays and distributed condoms in their local area, encouraging people to ‘Say it with a Condom’. In total over 5,000 condoms were distributed state-wide.
The aim of the day is to raise awareness of the need to practice safe sex at a time when the focus is on romance and passion – Valentines Day. While sexually transmissible infections (STIs) like genital warts and herpes aren’t thought of in a romantic sense, on a day when love is foremost in everyone’s mind FPWA wants people to think about the risks involved when having unprotected sex.
The annual event is designed to make people feel that condoms are a normal thing to talk about, and to help them bring up the subject with their sexual partner – the more comfortable people are talking about condoms, the more likely they are to use them.
A big thanks to everyone who was involved this year
Big Day Out
FPWA held a stall again at the 2004 Big Day Out on February 1, distributing over 1,500 condoms to concert-goers at this youth-focused event. Visitors to the stall also took part in a safe sex quiz and received frisbees as prizes for answering questions correctly. The frisbees also promoted safe sex, displaying the message, ‘Make sure this is the only thing you catch – use a condom’, and proved to be a big hit among the crowd.
Monthly period no longer necessary for women
The impending arrival of a new contraceptive pill which allows women to reduce their periods from 13 to four a year has prompted FPWA to remind women that it is possible to have fewer periods using their existing pill.
Many women consider periods to be an unavoidable part of life and were therefore discouraged to hear that the three-month pill, Seasonale, isn’t yet available in Australia. However, it is still possible to achieve the same effect of fewer periods with many of the pills currently on the market.
Women can be assured that it is safe to take the hormone pills in their pill packet continuously and miss the non-active sugar pills altogether if they want to skip a period. It is recommended though that women have a period every three to four months.
Women who have very painful periods often decide to have fewer periods, and some women with conditions such as endometriosis take the active pills without any breaks at all, sometimes for years.
The only thing that women need to be cautious of is if they are taking a triphasic pill, where there are three different strengths of hormone pills in the one packet. It is more difficult to miss periods on these pills, and it is best that women talk to a doctor about how to do this.
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Some women will find that they develop light spotting after a few weeks of taking the Pill continuously. This doesn’t mean that the Pill has stopped working for them, and if they continue to take it, bleeding usually stops.
Some women choose, however, to have the period break at this time, even if it is only seven weeks since the last one. Women can decide for themselves when to have a break, and not be tied to what the pill packet says.
It is important for anyone taking the Pill to have no more than a seven-day break from active pills.
Seasonale is a combination of low-dose hormones. Like other combined pills, it prevents pregnancy by stopping the release of an egg cell from the ovary.
Talking to kids about sex
by Jane Irvine, Counselling Consultant
Parents often find it hard to talk to their children, especially when the topic has anything to do with sex. Inevitable questions such as ‘where do I come from?’ and ‘what is sex?’ can cause particular anxiety. Answering children can prove difficult, with many parents unsure of what words to use, or how much detail to give.
As questions about sex can come up quite unexpectedly – conception is touched upon regularly in the media and sex is often addressed on TV - it’s a good idea for parents to give some thought to the issue, such as how comfortable they are with the subject and what they may say if questioned.
The best person to guide a parent about what is relevant is the child themselves - some children want to know details and will ask questions, while others may be completely disinterested. If parents provide too much information, or give the information too early, it may be confusing and distressing, especially if the child has not yet begun to think about these issues.
Parents should answer questions according to their child’s needs. If a child has heard or read the word ‘sex’, they may simply want a definition. If they have witnessed a sexual act, either in a film or by wandering into the bedroom at the wrong moment, they may be more curious or possibly alarmed.
Pre-school children only need a very simple explanation about sex. This might be "Sex is something two adults do when they feel really close", and "Sometimes a man and a woman make a baby when they have sex".
This information can be expanded for older children to include details about how body parts work during sex, and that people also have sex because it feels good.
Tips for talking to your child about sex:
- Be open and honest. Children cope well with the truth.
- Be prepared and try and anticipate any concerns your child might have.
- Stay calm. It’s natural to feel awkward at times and if this happens, reassure your child that you their questions are important and valid. If necessary let them know that there are books and films that might inform them better than you can.
- Don’t shy away from questions. Demystifying sex is the best way to avoid it being seen as ‘dirty’ or ‘wrong’.
The following books are available to borrow from the FPWA library or to purchase through the bookshop. Phone 9227 6177 for more information.
Let’s Talk About Sex (1994) by Robie H. Harris, Walker Books.
Questions Children Ask: and how to answer them (2002) by Dr Miriam Stoppard, Dorling Kindersley.
Let’s Talk About Where Babies Come From: a book about eggs, sperm, birth, babies and families (2002) by Robie H. Harris, Walker Books.
Mummy Laid an Egg (1995) by Babette Cole, Random House.
In the next edition of Healthy, Sexy & Wise, Counselling Consultant Jane Irvine will look at talking to kids about body parts.
Contraception update
by Dr Angela Cooney, Medical Consultant
Women will soon have more choices in contraception than ever before, with a vaginal ring set to be released in Australia within the next few months.
Nuvaring is a soft plastic ring containing the same hormones as the combined contraceptive pill and is worn for three out of four weeks to give reliable contraception. It is inserted inside the vagina like a diaphragm.
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Using Nuvaring is similar to being on the Pill - for three weeks you are getting the hormones and for one week your body is resting. You have a small period as you would get on the sugar pills in the pack, then the ring goes back in. The upside is that instead of having to remember to take a pill every day, you only need to remember to insert the ring twice a month.
The level of hormones in the ring is equivalent to the lowest-dose pills available, and because the hormones don’t have to go through the stomach, side effects such as nausea are much less common. Sexual activity should not be affected by the use of the ring - it lies against the vaginal wall and its position is not important to its effect.
Results from a recent trial indicate that the ring is set to be very popular among women, with participants reporting it easy to use.
A contraceptive patch is also likely to be available in Australia within the next year. Like the ring, the patch will have fewer side effects than the pill as a lower dose of hormones can be used. It is applied to the skin in the same manner as a nicotine or HRT patch, and is changed once a week.
The new contraceptive methods will be a good option for women who have trouble remembering to take the Pill each day. As forgetting to take the Pill is one of the major causes of its failure, representing around 30-50% of cases, these low dose, long-lasting methods are set to be even more effective at preventing pregnancy.
Weekly dose pills, a contraceptive gel and male hormonal contraceptives are possible developments for the future.
Upcoming FPWA health promotion
by Kate Boyle, Sponsorship Officer
The latter half of 2003 saw an emphasis on the promotion of safe sex and STI education through a successful advertising campaign in the bi-monthly Performance Institute of Contemporary Arts guide.
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At deckchair theatre’s production of Thirteen Hundred Ashtrays ‘Play it Safe’ will launch the ‘Big Night Out’ kit- a small acetate box designed to fit in a pocket or handbag, containing two condoms, a sachet of lubricant and an instruction card. The accompanying campaign will aim to encourage the target audience to be prepared and have the supplies to practise safe sex.
FPWA information sheets
FPWA produces a selection of information sheets on methods of contraception and other sexual health issues. Click on the links to to read FPWA's newly revised information sheets on the Combined Oral Contraceptive Pill and Implanon.
Alternatively phone FPWA on 9227 6177 to order a sample pack.
New FPWA brochure for young people
Click on the link to view FPWA's new brochure for young people, The Ins and Outs of STIs.
Book Reviews
by Julie Kermode, Librarian
The Elusive Orgasm: a woman’s guide to why she can’t and how she can orgasm / Cass, Vivienne – Bentley, WA: Brightfire Press, 2004.
This book is written in clear, accessible language and explores the issues relevant to female sexuality. You’ll learn about: how the clitoris is much, much more than a little button, what an orgasm is, the stages of women’s sexual arousal, the five types of orgasm difficulties (and which one you may fit into), the 25 causes of orgasm difficulties and sexual and non-sexual changes you can make to help you orgasm.
This book is suitable for women of all ages and offers easy to follow exercises and advice.
Available from the FPWA Bookshop - $34.95
Pregnancy the inside guide: a complete guide to fertility, pregnancy and labour / Greer, Ian – London, UK: Collins, 2003.
This book will be a helping hand to anyone who is considering pregnancy, is pregnant already or who has just given birth. It is written in clear accessible language and should answer any of the many questions that you will have. All of the latest medical practices and treatments are explained, including antenatal care and possible complications, postnatal depression and getting your body back to normal after childbirth – all of those issues that women need or want to know about.
Let's talk about where babies come from : a book about eggs, sperm, birth, babies and families / Harris, Robie H. -- London, UK: Walker, 2002.
This bright and colourfully illustrated book approved by the Family Planning Association answers many of the common questions that children are curious about. It comprehensively covers the issues of puberty, sex, pregnancy and birth, basic genetics, adoption, keeping safe, love, families and HIV/AIDS. An ideal book to assist parents in presenting the facts of life.
Available from the FPWA Bookshop - $24.95
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70 Roe Street
PO Box 141
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Phone: 9227 6177
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Page last updated Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:32