Every day, women (and men) are bombarded by messages on the TV, radio, print media including the internet telling us (and selling us) on how to change how we look. Unless you actually live under an actual rock you are bombarded by change-your-body messages maybe twenty, thirty times a day (?!!). All designed to sell you something. All disguised as “help”.
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Firstly let’s define sexting:
Sexting is the sending of a sexually revealing image of oneself or an explicit text using a phone, or other device that is connected to the internet. You will have heard about the celebrity photo leaks, most notably the recent Jennifer Lawrence leaks .
And last week we heard about SnapChat pictures being leaked.
Yesterday I wrote about my depressing experience in a gym changing room where a little girl sucked in her tummy when she noticed me looking at (admiring) her.
Today, I’ve decided to suggest things we can collectively challenge in our society, things that hurt us and our children. I’m a big believer in taking action!
Here’s a little taster of where I’m going with this one:
This is my response to figures published today by the Rape Crisis Network. I refer in particular to the disturbing statistic that nearly 40% of sexual assaults of minors in Ireland are committed by under-18s. The Rape Crisis Network’s website is here if you want to view this and other reports.
What’s the deal with selfies? More often than not, selfies are taken and posted online by young girls and women, and worryingly, these young girls and women are in increasingly submissive and/or sexualised poses.
Thank you porn.
Here is a conversation I had with Chrissie Russell, a freelance journalist around this topic. The resulting published online newspaper article is here. Continue reading
This is my response to the criticism of the Spunout.ie threesome page by Michelle Mulherin.
I would like to offer my opinion on today’s publicity around Spunout.ie’s section on Threesomes on their website.
I am in fact a huge fan of the website, and as a sex educator with teens myself feel an alliance with people who are willing to offer fact based sex education in a country where we are still utterly lacking in good quality sex education for second level students.
Part of my job as a Counselling Psychologist and psychotherapist is to provide sex education to groups of teenagers. This morning, during a discussion of yesterday’s Irish Examiner story looking at the effects of teen exposure to pornography, I was asked by a 16 year old male student to explain the different kinds of rape.
This was published in the Irish Times and Irish Examiner and is my response to a discussion I heard on Today FM about a ‘glamour model’. This interview coincided with newly published figures on sexual assault in Ireland and I address the probable link between the glamour culture and objectification of women. Continue reading
I wrote this during a time where there was much debate on the Age of Consent in Ireland. In this letter published in the Irish Times I was hoping to encourage people to really think about the pressure our young people experience, and to give them a voice. Continue reading
I wrote this in The Irish Times in response to figures published 15 years ago (!! ) on rape in Ireland. I work with women and children who have been raped and sexually assaulted – it is something about which I feel very strongly. And as I read it today, the week of the Tuam babies revelations, International Women’s Day 2017, I find myself wondering if anything has really changed?
