Breaking down the taboos

Convenor of the project, Holly Brennan, from Queensland Family Planning Association and also presenting at the WAS conference, said that a vulva is a part of the body like a penis or nose. And it’s impossible to teach kids that certain body parts are private and not to be touched without their consent if you can’t tell them what those body parts are.

And evidence from research by Adelaide Professor Freda Briggs, also speaking at the conference and who wrote the foreword to the book, revealed children feel they cannot report "rude" behaviour because it means using "rude" words that could get them into trouble.

Dr Merriman says since comprehensive sex education has been introduced to primary schools in Finland, the average age of sexual initiation has risen from 14 to 17.

His course aims to educate educators and those who deal with protective behaviours and sexual and intimacy problems in their professions.

To this end, he regularly has sex workers, survivors of child sexual abuse and others with direct experience of what the courses teach, to address students. The units are electives for undergraduate students of various courses.

I’d advocate that some units be compulsory for certain disciplines such as psychologists, social workers, teachers, police, law students, youth workers and more.

I have a friend who is about to graduate as a psychologist. She has not studied a single unit on sexuality, child sexual abuse and/or dysfunctions or any clinically-based treatment techniques in her four-year course.

Psychology courses are taught by professors with expertise in research despite the fact that the vast majority of students will never undertake research and will, instead, work in a clinical practice.

We should all be concerned about this. One day a research-trained psychologist or social worker could be investigating or treating your family.

Research shows that 80 per cent of clients of social workers and psychologists will be victims of child sexual abuse. They will be either children at the time of consultation or adults suffering the long term consequences of abuse, such as depression, alcohol or drug addiction, low self-esteem, dysfunctional sex lives or relationships, other mental illnesses, or inter-generational abuse patterns.

So, Australians should thank our stars for ground-breaking courses such as the Sexology one at Curtin University.

As an Eastern state resident, I can only hope that this course will be exported to every major Australian city and be emulated and made compulsory for all undergraduates whose job it will be to deal with children and survivors of abuse.