May 7th 2020

Hi there Caddyshackers,

We want you to picture for a moment turning up to a new country to study. Stepping fresh off the plane after some questionable plane food, lacking serious sleep and knowing no-one, you are about to embark on the session of your life!

Soon you discover this country’s social customs, religious practices, laws and relationships are all different to where you have come from.

How do you start to navigate social and sexual relationships? Is sex before marriage legal here? What is the age of consent? How are same sex relationships viewed? Can you easily access contraception and condoms? The mind boggles…..

Our wonder worker Maddy (or Madstar as you may recall) had these thoughts when working with International students at the University of Wollongong.

International Students in Australia

We know that international students are an increasing population group across Australian Universities with international students making up 37.4% of enrolled students at University of Wollongong (UOW). So it makes sense that we started by asking international students what they need.

What have we been doing?

For the past two years, Maddy has worked on a body of research, exploring the needs and priorities of international students when it comes to sexual health, reproductive health and relationships. After many one on one interviews, Maddy compiled the data and examined what we could do to address international students’ priorities.

Sexual Health & Relationships Kit

From this research, The Kit was developed with the graphic design skills of Cal Harmer.

The Kit is a passport sized resource, full of information needed to navigate sexual health and relationships in NSW.

The Kit contains information on topics such as;

• sexual transmissible infections (STIs),

• consent,

• protection,

• contraception,

• healthy relationships,

• STI testing and treatment.

It also contains;

• one female (internal) condom,

• one male (external) condom,

• links to services such as Relationships Australia, Family Planning NSW and PlaySafe NSW.

The Kit has been well received by the international students community and evaluation focus groups have given helpful feedback used for the second print and distribution of The Kit to international and domestic students at UOW.

Earlier this year, the Caddyshack team were at UOW student accommodation Kooloobong Village for Orientation week distributing The Kits and offering outreach Chlamydia screening.

If you would like to know more about The Kit and how it can be used as a tool to deliver your own sexual health education session – join us at our online webinar: Unpack The Kit. Get your Sticky Tickets HERE

What we are loving right now

At Caddyshack, we are loving every time diversity is celebrated.

Check out the @talk_peach art competition happening right now!

A powerful art series encouraging body positivity and celebrating the diversity and beauty of the female body, reproductive system and genitalia whist raising awareness on the 5 gynecological cancers.

We love how this entry by @s.barnett.nz takes things that are thought of as icky or embarrassing but are part of a beautiful, natural process.

Until next time

Peace, love & protection

x