Posts by George Darroch
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But who the hell knows, it might have contained some useful non gender- or orientation-specific information. As far as I’m aware, there’s no STI that GLBT people are magically immune to.
And indeed, there's the assumption that there are one bunch of people who only touch penises, and another who only touch vaginas. There are plenty who do at least a little of either, no matter how they publicly (or privately) identify. A wider education would help those as well, and do no harm to the rest.
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To bring things almost full circle:
The “Clueless or Clued Up: Your Right to be informed about contraception” study prepared for World Contraception Day reports that the number of young people having unsafe sex with a new partner increased by 111 percent in France, 39 percent in the USA and 19 percent in Britain in the last three years
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“The results show that too many young people either lack good knowledge about sexual health, do not feel empowered enough to ask for contraception or have not learned the skills to negotiate contraceptive use with their partners to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies or STIs [sexually transmitted infections],” she said.
Teenagers are very easily able to find images of what the porn industry thinks genitalia should look like, and they all look the same.
Since the conversation has strayed that way, there's also the huge issue of the porn industry staying very much away from depicting condom use. Which is related to, but separate to the issues they have with HIV and other STDs. Being an industry, it's a slightly different situation to a casual encounter in a bedroom - asking for a full rundown and health check is different in that situation.
There's also the interesting question of whether porn is giving younger people better information about sexual pleasure. While much of it is indeed bad and highly unrealistic, it isn't an entirely static medium either, and I've heard it suggested that the focus has changed with the much wider uptake of porn through the internet. Again, I don't know enough to do more than ask questions.
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It's about time I threw in my favourite World Cup story.
In 2007, I was living in Canberra. The city is a strange place, some parts a modernist architecture of bureaucracy, but most parts simply park. I was living in the park, in a modest cottage with young French and German housemates, both sports-mad women. We'd often assemble in the local sports bar with yet more French and Kiwis, and watch the All Blacks thrash the Wallabies.
We also lived across the road from the Alliance Francaise (this thing). So, it was only natural that when the All Blacks finally met France in the quarter final, we'd go across the road, turn on a screen and sit and watch. The actual experience is a blur. Bewilderment, shock, resignation, as the game took full effect. I can't tell you anything much about what actually happened. People threw the ball around, people tackled, both sides scored tries.
What I do remember very vividly is the moments after the whistle blew. We looked around us, and the chuffed French gave us their consolations. Even the strangers in the crowd knew how gutted we were, and pulled out some champagne; for their celebration, and to soften our pain. They were kind and sincere, and we appreciated it. The croissants were also delicious. After the champagne ran out and the night had ended, we stumbled across the road through the breaking morning light, and fell into bed.
I didn't care much about rugby until 2007. It was a pretty game with no emotional import. I think it took the relocation to a place where it meant a tangible abstract symbol of something left behind to make it fully mine. The French are still my second team.
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Central Auckland was crazy last night. In that slightly manic disturbed drunken way, where exultant fans were tooting, yelling, and hyping themselves through Queen St and the downtown. The French were having fun too.
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What Emma said, really. If you're not prepared to keep the other person safe, and keep yourself safe, then you really aren't being very considerate to anyone.
Sure, if you start to use it and then they they then insist on condomless penetration, and you're into that kind of thing (ie, putting major health risks and possible pregnancy (depending on the penetration) on the line), then sure.
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Since I just stumbled over it; almost certainly the most incredible, possibly the most beautiful thing you'll see today. William Trubridge's 100m freedive in December last year, on behalf of our Maui's Dolphin.
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I salute... you.
Flags, any flags, used in any way, viewed by voters push voters towards the Republican Party. I never saw so many Australian flags as at the Liberal Party conference at the hotel I worked at last year, and expect to see a bloom of flags at any National Party event in the next few weeks.
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had some sort of language training to rid himself of the same accent I have, so he could go into politics, maybe it comes from that somehow
I think it’s genuine. Rather, it’s probably stronger than it needs to be.
Helen Clark has toned hers down since becoming UNDP Administrator. You wouldn’t expect any different; she’s sensitive to her situation. Even as PM, you’d hear quite a variation across situation.
(And I couldn’t put a video like this here without a plug for Oxfam or the WFP. Think about what a box of your favourite beverage costs, and then send it their way).
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The Grey Lynn drawl sounded bloody strange to me the first time I heard a couple of years ago - I'd heard a few bFM folks talk like that, but I'd identified it as a radio voice. No idea where the Key and Farrar thing comes from, but I'd hazard that because teenagers are the most proficient generators of language shifts, it originated in the 1970s and has stuck ever since.
What strikes me, moving to another place, is how normal shifts. So many little things you end up taking for granted, and not having them leaves a hole where they would have been. Or refreshes you - you realise that a regular occurrence was causing you slight distress, but had become so part of the landscape you'd stopped noticing.
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I remember in the late 90s being taught how to condom your large wooden dildo. Which is pretty thoughtful, really, if you want to be safe while sharing. But no clitorises.
A kind young lass had to teach me that, at a slightly later point.
I certainly hope things have moved on a little.