Doing ‘IT‘

In this episode, Leon from SHV speaks to Professor Jennifer Power about the results from the 2024 Australian Survey of Secondary Students and Sexual Health (SSASH) survey from Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS) at LaTrobe University. The study explores young people’s experiences of sex, relationships, sexual health and school-based relationships and sexuality education...

In this episode, Tessa speaks with one of SHV doctors, Dr Fiona, about menstrual health and pelvic pain. They discuss why people might get period or pelvic pain, what falls outside of “normal” for periods, and Tessa describes SHV’s Menstrual Health and Pelvic Pain program, funded by the Victorian Department of Health.     Resources: You can find more information on our Menstrual Health and Pelvic...

In this episode, Em from SHV speaks with William Ward-Boas about including people with a cognitive disability in consent education. Listen to William reflect on relationships and consent through their lived experience, and hear about SHV’s Consent Matters – Disability program.     Resources: Learn about SHV’s project with Women’s Health in the South East (WHISE):  Consent Matters - Disability  inc...

In this episode Louis from SHV talks to Cam from inyourskin about misogyny and the Manosphere. They discuss why young men seek out these spaces and what we can do to support them, showing them examples of healthy masculinity.  Resources: Research from the e61 institute - Gen Z Men Are Emerging as an Outlier on Gender Norms , MensLib subreddit , Bropill subreddit , Exredpill subreddit , IncelExit s...

In this episode Anne from SHV explains some key guiding principles to consider when delivering Relationships and Sexuality Education. This episode will be featured in a poster submission at the World Association for Sexual Health Conference in 2025. Resources: UNESCO Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education (2018). Victorian Curriculum , Australian Curriculum , Resilience Rights and Respectful Re...

In this episode Leon from SHV talks to Bec from  Evolve Education  about Artificial Intelligence and deepfakes. They discuss how this technology impacts the lives and sexual interactions of young people.    Resources: The eSafety website ,  The Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation , Kerrin Bradfield’s  Respect Collective (Bradfield, K. (2022). Image Based Abuse: Recognition, Education a...

In this episode, you will hear from the Sexual Health Victoria Schools, Community and Disability Education team.   Listen to the team discuss why they do this work, what are some of the questions young people ask in these classes and hear the team tell some of their favourite stories from the classroom. You’ll get to hear more from the team on the podcast hosting episodes in the new year.     SHV...

In this episode Leon from SHV talks about embedding a whole school approach to Relationships and Sexuality Education. SHV are working in partnership with a secondary school in Melbourne’s Northwestern growth corridor. Leon unpacks some of the challenges and learnings from working with a large, new, multicultural school. Resources: Some supporting policies to inform a Relationships and Sexuality Ed...

In this episode we speak to performers Dean Arcuri & Jacob Thomas. Sometimes they run Drag Storytime events. Listen to Dean and Jacob describe the many ways that these events bring community, performance and storytelling together in a safe inclusive way for all. Resources: See  Dean at Dean Arcuri and LinkedIn . Find Jacob Thomas on LinkedIn . See Rainbow Community Angels for events and news....

In this episode we talk to Krushnadevsinh Ravalji (Kano). Kano is the Youth Commissioner at the Victorian Multicultural Commission. We ask him about how educators can ensure that Relationships and Sexuality Education is inclusive and respectful for the multicultural communities that we work with. Resources: See more about Kano at the Third Culture . Find Kano on LinkedIn . See Centre for Culture,...

In this episode we speak to the 2023 Australian Youth Representative to the United Nations, Imogen Kane. This role saw Imogen travel Australia to meet with young people to find out what was important to them. Hear what Imogen learned about the generational divide, sexuality and relationships and the importance of listening. Resources: See Imogen Kane and the UN listening tour . For help learning a...

In this episode we speak to Anita Brown Major about the sexual response cycle. As an occupational therapist, Anita uses her understanding of physiology to help people understand their own bodies, including what happens during a sexual experience. Sexual response and pleasure is the part of sexuality education that most adults did not receive and is still often not discussed in education. Anita hel...

The everybody education team at Sexual Health Victoria sometimes get questions about how we discuss gender, sex and sexuality in a classroom. In this episode SHV expert educator Chrissy is going to talk through what we say and why we say it. Resources: See Victorian Child Safe Standards and Victoria Department of Education LGBTIQ Student Support Policy .  See research Writing themselves in 4 . Adv...

Professor Michael Flood describes types of masculinities that can be harmful to boys, men and the people around them. Listen for a discussion on engaging men and boys to address gender inequality and gender based violence. In this episode, Professor Michael Flood describes types of masculinities that can be harmful to boys, men and the people around them. He also details the benefits of engaging m...

Discord is a social chat app designed initially for the gaming community, now extending to a wide variety of interest groups. In this episode listen to Discord Senior Policy Director, Savannah Badalich explain what Discord does to keep users safe. Part of keeping young people safe online is understanding the platforms they use. Resources: DISCORD and DISCORD Safety centre . See eSafety for reporti...

In this episode Laura Crozier and SHV educator Chrissy talk about their own experiences of finding help after being sexually assaulted in high school. Both Chrissy and Laura speak about the vital role of the welfare teams at their schools and the difficultly in disclosing abuse to parents. Resources: Laura works for Youth Affairs Council Victoria . Hear more of Laura’s story on Growing Up Clueless...

In this episode Dr Jennifer Power talks about the 2022 National Survey of Australian Secondary Students and Sexual Health from Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS) at LaTrobe University. Dr Power talks through some key statistics from the survey as well as providing perspective on why we are so keen to know how much sex young people are having. Resources: See Dr Jennifer...

In this episode Dr Jacqui Hendriks talks about her recent research. Jacqui has led the First national survey of Australian parents and their attitudes towards relationships and sexuality education in schools. Resources: See Dr Jacqui Hendriks Curtain University bio. See research: Support for school-based relationships and sexual health education: a national survey of Australian parents . For more...

In this episode, two families share their stories of making babies using Assisted Reproductive Technology. Sue and Linda explain some of the process and how they decided to talk to their children about it. Their children, Emily and Elsie, talk about what they understand about how they were conceived. Resources: SHV have free teacher resources to assist with classroom teaching of Assisted Reproduct...

In this episode, chair of Intersex Human Rights Dr Agli Zavros-Orr speaks of their advocacy work and their lived experience as a person born with an intersex variation. Young people often ask us how bodies can be different. Agli helps explain the diversity of human sex characteristics. Resources: See more at  Intersex Human Rights Australia . Find Agli’s research at  research gate . See book  Rais...

Part 7 of 7. eSafety. Australia’s Online Safety Regulator. This series of podcasts is produced with the support of the Office of the eSafety Commissioner. We will look closely at how young people might engage with sexual content online and how parents and carers can get involved in this discussion. In this episode Sharon Trotter Education Manager of Education, Prevention and Inclusion talks about...

Part 6 of 7. Pornography. This series of podcasts is produced with the support of the Office of the eSafety Commissioner. We will look closely at how young people might engage with sexual content online and how parents and carers can get involved in this discussion. In this episode Dr Zahra Stardust talks about the cultural context of pornography and how consent is vital for its production and dis...

Part 5 of 7. Sexting. This series of podcasts is produced with the support of the Office of the eSafety Commissioner. We will look closely at how young people might engage with sexual content online and how parents and carers can get involved in this discussion. In this episode Dr. Kath Albury and SHV Health Promotion Officer Zara, discuss the language and context of young people sharing sexual pi...

Part 4 of 7. What is grooming? This series of podcasts is produced with the support of the Office of the eSafety Commissioner. We will look closely at how young people might engage with sexual content online and how parents and carers can get involved in this discussion. In this episode Detective Superintendent Jayne Crossling talks about what grooming is and how the police go about education and...

Part 3 of 7. Inappropriate. This series of podcasts is produced with the support of the Office of the eSafety Commissioner. We will look closely at how young people might engage with sexual content online and how parents and carers can get involved in this discussion. In this episode we will discuss the word inappropriate. Greg from eSafety talks through the classification system and Fida talks ab...