Social Justice

Educating tomorrow’s women*: Ovulatory-menstrual health literacy as a lifelong skill

12 April 2021 by admin

In this feature article, Felicity Roux (PhD Candidate, Curtin University) explores the power of the ovulatory-menstrual cycle as a personal health monitor and ovulatory-menstrual health literacy. Felicity is a member of the WAIER Committee for 2021.

* The terms girls and women are used in relation to a person’s sex (i.e. their biological characteristics or reproductive organs). It is recognised that this may differ from gender identity. For example, someone who menstruates may or may not identify as “female”.

The span of years from menarche to menopause can extend 40 years or more. Throughout this time, the ovulatory-menstrual cycle can be used as a personal health monitor. According to the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, the cycle is a “powerful tool” to assess overall health, and menstruation can be considered a vital sign ^[1]. This means that the cycle is of equal significance to a beating heart and breathing lungs. So it stands to reason that the ability of a woman to understand her own cycles as her personal health monitor would be a useful lifelong skill. The way in which these basic skills can be learnt has been available to the general public since the 1980s ^[2]. However, a recent systematic literature review describes how, some forty years later, these health literacy skills are insufficiently taught ^[3].

It is a mistake to believe that all things menstrual are covered in the puberty lessons for Years 5 to 7. The immaturity of the average girl’s hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis means that post-menarche cycles are mostly anovulatory ^[4]. It can take up to three years for ovulatory processes to mature^[5]. Years 8 to 10 are when girls become most likely capable of appropriating the complexity of the cycle ^[6]. Coincidentally, common menstrual problems are increasingly reported, such as painful periods ^[7], premenstrual syndrome ^[8] and abnormal bleeding patterns ^[9]. Some problems are associated with absenteeism ^{[7, 8]}, reduced classroom performance ^{[7, 8]}, body dissatisfaction ^[10], eating disorders ^[11], non-suicidal self-injury ^[12], and poor quality of life ^[13].

The review ^[3] suggested that a crowded Health & Physical Education curriculum results in insufficient time to teach girls ovulatory-menstrual health literacy skills. As a taboo topic shrouded in shame and stigma ^[14], there may also be a reluctance to teach it.

Where there have been initiatives to address menstrual health, programs tended to focus on a single problem (such as painful periods or irregular cycles) rather than addressing all of the most commonly experienced problems. Furthermore, by predicating programs on a menstrual problem, there is likely a missed opportunity to frame the cycle positively as an indicator of good health first and foremost. Whilst there has been some progress towards teaching girls ovulatory-menstrual health literacy, the review³ found no programs which covered all the health literacy dimensions (functional, interactive and critical), upon which the Western Australian curriculum is based ^[15].

The review’s recommendations ^[3] informed the development of the My Vital Cycles program which will be trialled in Term 2 and 3 of 2021.

[1] American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists Committee. (2015). Opinion No. 651: Menstruation in Girls and Adolescents: Using the Menstrual Cycle as a Vital Sign. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 126(6), e143-e146 doi:10.1097/AOG.0000000000001215

[2] Billings, E., & Westmore, A. (1980). The Billings Method: Controlling fertility without drugs or devices. Richmond, Victoria Australia: Anne O’Donovan Pty Ltd.

[3] Roux, F., Burns, S., Hendriks, J., & Chih, H.J. (2021). Progressing Towards Adolescent Ovulatory menstrual Health Literacy: A Systematic Literature Review of School-based Interventions. Women’s Reproductive Health, 8(2). doi:10.1080/23293691.2021.1901517

[4] Carlson, L., & Shaw, N. (2019). Development of Ovulatory Menstrual Cycles in Adolescent Girls. Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, 32(3), 249-253. doi:10.1016/j.jpag.2019.02.119

[5] Jamieson, M. (2015). Disorders of Menstruation in Adolescent Girls. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 62(4), 943-961. doi:10.1016/j.pcl.2015.04.007

[6] Klaus, H., & Martin, J. L. (1989). Recognition of Ovulatory/Anovulatory Cycle Pattern in Adolescents by Mucus Self-Detection. Journal of Adolescent Health Care, 10, 93-96

[7] Armour, M., Parry, K., Manohar, N., Holmes, K., Ferfolja, T., Curry, C., . . . Smith, C. A. (2019). The Prevalence and Academic Impact of Dysmenorrhea in 21,573 Young Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of Women’s Health, 28(8), 1161-1171. doi:10.1089/jwh.2018.7615

[8] Parker, M., Sneddon, A., & Arbon, P. (2010). The menstrual disorder of teenagers (MDOT) study: determining typical menstrual patterns and menstrual disturbance in a large population‐based study of Australian teenagers. BJOG, 117(2), 185-192. doi:10.1111/j.1471-0528.2009.02407.x

[9] Maslyanskaya, S., et al. (2017). Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: An Under-recognized Cause of Abnormal Uterine Bleeding in Adolescents Admitted to a Children’s Hospital. Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, 30(3), 349-355

[10] Ambresin, A.-E., Belanger, R. E., Chamay, C., Berchtold, A., & Narring, F. (2012). Body Dissatisfaction on Top of Depressive Mood among Adolescents with Severe Dysmenorrhea. Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, 25(1), 19-22. doi:10.1016/j.jpag.2011.06.014

[11] Abraham, S., Boyd, C., Lal, M., Luscombe, G., & Taylor, A. (2009). Time since menarche, weight gain and body image awareness among adolescent girls: onset of eating disorders. Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology, 30(2), 89-94. doi:10.1080/01674820902950553

[12] Liu, X., Liu, Z. Z., Fan, F., & Jia, C. X. (2018). Menarche and menstrual problems are associated with non-suicidal self-injury in adolescent girls. Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 21(6), 649-656. doi:10.1007/s00737-018-0861-y

[13] Knox, B., Nur Azurah, A., & Grover, S. (2015). Quality of life and menstruation in adolescents. Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 27(5), 309-314. doi:10.1097/GCO.0000000000000199

[14] Chrisler, J. C. (2013). Teaching Taboo Topics. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 37(1), 128-132. doi:10.1177/0361684312471326

[15] SCSA – School Curriculum and Standards Authority, Government of Western Australia. (2017). Health and Physical Education Curriculum 2017/9396 [2017/9397] https://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/364552/Health-and-Physical-Education-Curriculum-Pre-primary-to-Year-10.PDF Accessed 2020 06 16

Troublesome political interventions in curriculum

25 November 2020 by admin

Dr Brad Gobby is a Senior Lecturer in the Curtin University School of Education and a WAIER member. The following is adapted from Politics, education and researcher ‘response-ability’, a Keynote delivered at the 2018 Annual WAIER Research Forum.

While the field of education is inherently political, recent direct political intervention involving submitting curriculum experiences to the wills and logics of political agents raises questions about the relationship between education and politics, and the role of schooling. Take the Safe Schools controversy.

In 2016, the Australian Federal Government-funded toolkit of learning resources for teaching about diverse gender and sexual identities became the object of a political and media furore. The Safe Schools program was designed to support the creation of inclusive school environments and address the ignorance and prejudice that same-sex attracted, transgendered, and gender diverse students experience in school (Jones, 2012).

While many educators and school communities viewed the program as worthwhile, others perceived it as corrupting young minds. The conservative media and politicians promulgated this position. Using inflammatory rhetoric that interweaved facts, misinformation and opinion, conservative media and politicians portrayed the program as ‘an enemy of public decency’ (Law, 2017, 73). They claimed schools were indoctrinating students in progressive ideas, fads and ‘weird’ gender theory. It’s not the first time the strategies of hyperbole and moral panic have been used to discredit gender and sexual inclusivity (Taylor, 2007).

The media and political storm resulted in the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, ordering an independent review of the program. This was conducted by respected Professor Bill Louden, whose report was handed down on March 11, 2016. The Review found that, while a few resources were not entirely appropriate for some children, the program was appropriate, especially given that schools would decide how to implement the resources in response to their local contexts.

The Review did not placate the Government’s waspish backbenchers who relentlessly pressed the Prime Minister to do more. On March 18, the Prime Minister intervened again by announcing the program would be dramatically changed beyond the recommendations of Louden’s Review. Ironically, this announcement came on the sixth Annual National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence.

At the time, the Federal Education Minister, Simon Birmingham, said that ‘parents should have confidence in what is taught’ especially about potentially ‘contentious issues’ (Government reveals changes to controversial Safe Schools program, 2016). But who decides what a ‘contentious issue’ is?

The responses to Safe Schools show that what is controversial and contentious to some is common-sense to others. The program had no shortage of supporters, who believed the political and media attacks ignored the actual experiences of many young people in schools, were devoid of the most basic understandings of human sexuality, and were blatantly homophobic and bigoted in their portrayal of sexual and gender diversity as deviant. For a fuller account of the Safe Schools controversy, I recommend reading Benjamin Law’s Quadrant article (Law, 2017).

There are many lessons to be learnt from this affair, especially from the point of view of the relationship between education and politics. Formal education is an inherently political institution, but that the Safe Schools controversy was combatively and overtly played out in the media, and by our most senior political figures, is worrying. In this instance, direct political interference was one weapon used by political agents to contest school curriculum. This strategy resonates with the recent Australian National University-Ramsay Centre controversy over the Centre’s Western Civilisation degree.

Looking to the Safe Schools affair, the exercise of direct political intervention carried with it the following troubling political reasoning: that politicians are guardians and defenders of goodness, on the side of ‘the people’; that education institutions should be directly submitted to the will of politicians of the day; and that politicians have the sole right to control curriculum to the exclusion of others. There is good reason, therefore, to question these political logics.

Positioning themselves as guardians and protectors serves to legitimise the sidelining of key stakeholders in educational decision-making, especially those who experience the effects of that decision-making, such as students, teachers and school communities. The direct and top-down imposition of curriculum, knowledge and practices undermines both teachers’ situated professional knowledge, practical wisdom and experience, and schools’ ability to respond to the needs and interests of the local school context. Indeed, it is the lives, aspirations and curiosities of learners that need better representation in learning experiences, and not that of politicians far removed from classrooms, who believe they know what is best and what is right for children.

At stake in rendering schools into direct instruments of political objectives is also the erosion of the democratic role of education. Public institutions, like education systems, have and continue to act as bulwarks against narrow political objectives and the excesses of political power. The professional bureaucracy (i.e. Departments of Education), the teaching profession, and consultative processes around education policy have ensured multiple perspectives enter into educational discussions and decision-making. By contrast, direct political interference that submits teaching and learning to political logics and party values undermines the institution’s ability to protect citizens from the free, partisan and dangerous exercise of political power.

All members of society, and especially those working in the field of education, must remain vigilant about politicians who construe themselves as shepherding the flock from danger, and who seek to unilaterally impose their views of goodness on institutions indifferent to established institutional and political norms and processes. If we believe that the education of people is an enterprise far greater than the narrow priorities of any politician, political party or government, then refusing political interference and reclaiming the power of stakeholders to influence education decision-making is crucial.

References

Government reveals changes to controversial Safe Schools program. (March, 2016). The Sydney Morning Herald.

Jones, T. (2012). Discrimination and bullying on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity in Western Australian Education. Perth: WA Commissioner for Equal Opportunity.

Law, B. (2017). Moral Panic 101: Equality, Acceptance and the Safe Schools Scandal. The Quarterly, 67, 1-80.

Taylor, A. (2007). Innocent children, dangerous families and homophobic panic. In S. Poynting (Ed.), Outrageous!: Moral panics in Australia (pp. 210-222). Hobart, Tasmania: ACYS Publishing.

Not as simple as ‘no means no’: what young people need to know about consent

12 November 2020 by admin

Jacqueline Hendriks, Curtin University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

A recent petition circulated by Sydney school girl Chanel Contos called for schools to provide better education on consent, and to do so much earlier.

In the petition, which since Thursday has been signed by more than 5,000 people, Contos writes that her school

… provided me with life changing education on consent for the first time in year 10. However, it happened too late and came with the tough realisation that amongst my friends, almost half of us had already been raped or sexually assaulted by boys from neighbouring schools.

So, what core information do young people need to know about consent? And is the Australian curriculum set up to teach it?

What’s in the curriculum?

This is not the first time young people have criticised their school programs. Year 12 student Tamsin Griffiths recently called for an overhaul to school sex education after speaking to secondary students throughout Victoria. She advocated for a program that better reflects contemporary issues.

Australia’s health and physical education curriculum does instruct schools to teach students about establishing and maintaining respectful relationships. The resources provided state all students from year 3 to year 10 should learn about matters including:

standing up for themselves
establishing and managing changing relationships (offline and online)
strategies for dealing with relationships when there is an imbalance of power (including seeking help or leaving the relationship)
managing the physical, social and emotional changes that occur during puberty
practices that support reproductive and sexual health (contraception, negotiating consent, and prevention of sexually transmitted infections and blood-borne viruses)
celebrating and respecting difference and diversity in individuals and communities.

Despite national guidance, there is wide variability in how schools interpret the curriculum, what topics they choose to address and how much detail they provide. This is further compounded by a lack of teacher training.

A study of students in South Australia and Victoria, along with repeated nationwide surveys of secondary students, have shown young people do consider school to be a trustworthy source of sex education. But most don’t believe the lessons have prepared them adequately for relationships and intimacy.

They want lessons that take into account diverse genders and sexualities, focus less on biology, and provide more detail about relationships, pleasure and consent.

The national curriculum also stops mandating these lessons after year 10 and many year 11 and 12 timetables are focused on university entrance exams or vocational learning opportunities. This means senior students have limited opportunity to receive formal sex education at a time when they really need it.

So, what should young people know about consent?

The term “consent” is often associated with sex, but it’s much broader than that. It relates to permission and how to show respect for ourselves and for other people. Consent should therefore be addressed in an age-appropriate way across all years of schooling.

The most important point about consent is that everyone should be comfortable with what they’re engaging in. If you are uncomfortable at any point, you have the right to stop. On the other side, if you see someone you are interacting with being uncomfortable, you need to check in with them to ensure they are enthusiastic about the activity, whatever it may be.

In the early years, students should be taught how to affirm and respect personal boundaries, using non-sexual examples like whether to share their toys or give hugs. It is also important they learn about public and private body parts and the importance of using correct terminology.

In later years, lessons should consider more intimate or sexual scenarios. This also includes consent and how it applies to the digital space.

Older students need to learn sexual activity is something to be done with someone, not to someone. Consent is a critical part of this process and it must be freely given, informed and mutual.

Consent isn’t about doing whatever we want until we hear the word “no”. Ideally we want all our sexual encounters to involve an enthusiastic “yes”.

But if your partner struggles to say the word “yes” enthusiastically, it is important to pay attention to body language and non-verbal cues. You should feel confident your partner is enjoying the activity as much as you are, and if you are ever unsure, stop and ask them.

Often this means checking in regularly with your partner.

Young people also need to know just because you have agreed to do something in the past, this does not mean you have to agree to do it again. You also have the right to change you mind at any time — even partway through an activity.

It’s not as simple as ‘no means no’

The most recent Australian survey of secondary school students highlighted that more than one-quarter (28.4%) of sexually active students reported an unwanted sexual experience. Their most common reasons for this unwanted sex was due to pressure from a partner, being intoxicated or feeling frightened.

We should be careful not to oversimplify the issue of consent. Sexual negotiation can be a difficult or awkward process for anyone — regardless of their age — to navigate.

Some academics have called for moving beyond binary notions of “yes means yes” and “no means no” to consider the grey area in the middle.

While criminal acts such as rape are perhaps easily understood by young people, teaching materials need to consider a broad spectrum of scenarios to highlight examples of violence or coercion. For example, someone having an expectation of sex because you’ve flirted, and making you feel guilty for leading them on.

When it comes to sexual activity, we should be clear that:

although the law defines “sex” as an activity that involves penetration, other sexual activities may be considered indecent assault
a degree of equality needs to exist between sexual partners and it is coercive to use a position of power or methods such as manipulation, trickery or bribery to obtain sex
a person who is incapacitated due to drugs or alcohol is not able to give consent
wearing certain clothes, flirting or kissing is not necessarily an invitation for other things.

We should also challenge gender stereotypes about who should initiate intimacy and who may wish to take things fast or slow. Healthy relationships involve a ongoing and collaborative conversation between both sexual partners about what they want.

Consent is sexy

A partner who actively asks for permission and respects your boundaries is showing they respect you and care about your feelings. It also leads to an infinitely more pleasurable sexual experience when both partners are really enjoying what they are doing.

It is important that lessons for older students focus on the positive aspects of romantic and sexual relationships.

They should encourage young people to consider what sorts of relationships they want for themselves and provide them with the skills, such as communication and empathy, to help ensure positive experiences.

More information about consent:

the “Consent is as easy as FRIES” is a useful model
this viral YouTube clip shows how consent is as easy as a cup of tea
the parent resource Talk Soon. Talk Often. provides some ideas on how to start a conversation about consent with your child
Headspace and KidsHelpline also has some useful resources for young people.

Would you like to submit a feature article to WAIER? Contact us – we would love to hear from you!

Children’s books must be diverse, or kids will grow up believing white is superior

12 November 2020 by admin

Helen Joanne Adam, Caroline Barratt-Pugh, Libby Jackson-Barrett, and Robert Stanly Somerville

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Global support for the Black Lives Matter movement isn’t only about standing up against the injustice done to George Floyd, or Indigenous Australians in custody. People are also standing up against the entrenched racism that leads to a careless approach towards the lives of people who aren’t white.

Research shows 75% of Australians hold an implicit bias against Indigenous Australians, seeing them negatively, even if this is unconscious. Children absorb this bias, which becomes entrenched due to messages in the media and in books, and continues to play out at school and the broader community.

Making sure children have access to books showing diversity is one step in breaking the cycle that leads to entrenched racism.

Children develop bias from an early age

Children develop their sense of identity and perceptions of others from a very early age – as early as three months old. Because of this, young children are particularly vulnerable to the messages they see and hear in the media and in books.

Research over many years has shown books can empower, include and validate the way children see themselves. But books can also exclude, stereotype and oppress children’s identities. Minority groups are particularly at risk of misrepresentation and stereotyping in books.

First Nations groups are commonly absent from children’s books. Excluding the viewpoints, histories and suffering of First Nations Peoples can misrepresent history, and teach kids a white-washed version of the past.

A world of children’s books dominated by white authors, white images and white male heroes, creates a sense of white superiority. This is harmful to the worldviews and identities of all children.

Sharing stories through books

Evidence shows sharing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories helps break down stereotypes and prejudice. And this, importantly, helps empower Aboriginal children and improve their educational engagement and outcomes.

But research suggests many classrooms have books that are monocultural literature, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander books are notably absent.

There are some encouraging signs, with an increase in the publication of books by and about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We are also seeing bookshops and publishers reporting a rise in demand for books on race and racism.

This can also help adults become informed about Australia’s colonial history. Reading these books can help challenge their own unconscious biases and misunderstandings.

The challenge for teachers and parents is to access suitable children’s books and share them with the children in their care. We can use these stories as a foundation for conversations about culture and community.

This can help to drive change and support reconciliation.

Social Justice

Social Justice

References

What’s in the curriculum?

So, what should young people know about consent?

It’s not as simple as ‘no means no’

Consent is sexy

Children develop bias from an early age

Sharing stories through books

Other ways of sharing diverse stories

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