This week flew in with the kids being on Easter break so I’ve not written about this yet, but sure hear goes.
Yes I was on national radio this week for the first time, such was my ire at at the attitude on Liveline that I emailed the show. The segment was about the fuss Michelle “Fornication” Mulherin TD raised over one of the many articles on http://spunout.ie/.
For those of ye who don’t know what spunout.ie is, it is a website aimed at 16 to 25 year olds.
SpunOut.ie is a website dedicated to helping you make informed decisions about things which may be happening in your life. It is also a place to have your voice heard about things which are bothering you or to provide solutions to some of the big, or small, problems facing Irish society.
SpunOut.ie provides young people between the ages of 16 and 25 with the information and skills to deal with the difficult things life throws at us and lends a megaphone for our voices to be heard to change our own lives and the world.
An important part of SpunOut.ie is to give a voice to those who wish to tell their story in order to demonstrate to others that they are not alone, and that we all experience similar difficulties through the course of our lives.
We publish articles on sex, mental health, alcohol + drugs, education, employment and much more.
They are a registered charity and get a funding grant from the HSE which contributes to covering some of their over all costs.One of the many articles on the site was about 3somes, the pros and cons and addressing the facts. The notion that any tax payers money was being used to ‘promote’ 3somes to teenagers had Mulherin outraged.
It seems to have outraged some of the listeners and callers to Liveline also. I had been following the story about Spunout.ie from the night before and while I am not a regular live line listener I did tune in and got so cross that I emailed the show stating I am a stay at home Mam in my late 30s, with two teenage kids and I support the work Spunout.ie do.
They emailed me back asking for my phone number and then one of the production staff rang me and I was asked would I go on the show. Here is the podcast, I am on the last 10 minutes.
Yes I did say, anal sex, oral sex, 3some and the phrase ‘promoting blowjobs’ live on national radio to Joe Duffy, who doesn’t intimidate me at all, sure he grew up in the same part of Dublin as my Dad and is about the same age and all. I did ring and tell my parents afterwards, as a polite heads up and they laughed and said they were proud of me.
You see back in the mid 80s they ran parenting courses in primary schools for other parents, including the sex educational model and they have always been advocates of sex education, so I didn’t lick it off a stone.
When I listened to the podcast when it went up I was happy to have been able to plug some more helpful sites where people can get information. I mentioned the sex ed program the HSE put together but has a difficult time distrubting to parents the first section of it is Busy Bodies
aim at parents and children before puberty and I also mentioned The Facts and the other programs which can be gotten for free, which the HSE have spent money on.
I also mentioned that the NHS in the UK spends money on Sex Education websites http://www.respectyourself.info/ and I mentioned http://www.scarleteen.com/ as good resources for young people, so much better at them learning about sex and sexuality then just by looking at porn.
Looking back I am glad I took part on the program, as Amanda Palmer has said “We are the Media” and we do have to challenge the the notion that Ireland is still a very conservative catholic country and part of that is having our voices heard, even on Liveline.
And having had Joe Duffy say “That if you are asked to be in a 3some, just say no.” still makes me laugh.
That comment of Joe has been haunting me and made me marvel at his daftness.
Reblogged this on Abhainn – the blog and commented:
Well done to Sharrow! Having worked with SpunOut’s catchment age-group before in other groups sexual advocacy is highly important and necessary for positive sexual experiences. Listening to the complaints against listeners the commentary is one of alarmist sentiments showing that parents seem to be disconnected from their children’s realities. Listen to some of the erroneous comments around the age group, the nature of mobile internet usage, and the almost biblical implication that SpunOut’s website crashed due to the overuse.
Follow Sharrow’s blog below for other additional links and supports for parents and guardians. Be an advocate for yourself and your kids!
I can’t access the podcast, but what you’ve written makes so much sense. Get yourself involved in politics!
Fair play to ya girl! A voice of sense, reason and intellect to battle the philistines!!
Tax payers money going to a good cause, educating teens on all aspects of life! And great point about telling the other woman she can block spunout if she needed! Anyway, she kept on about 13/14yo’s going on and accessing this info, but isn’t the site for 16-20somenthings??