'Selling it as a holistic health provision and not just about condoms ?' Sexual health services in school settings: current models and their relationship with sex and relationships education policy and provision

In this article we discuss the findings from a recent study of UK policy and practice in relation to sexual health services for young people, based in - or closely linked with - schools. This study formed part of a larger project, completed in 2009, which also included a systematic review of international research. The findings discussed in this paper are based on analyses of interviews with 51 service managers and questionnaire returns from 205 school nurses. Four themes are discussed. First, we found three main service permutations, in a context of very diverse and uneven implementation. Second, we identified factors within the school context that shaped and often constrained service provision; some of these also have implications for sex and relationships education (SRE). Third, we found contrasting approaches to the relationship between SRE input and sexual health provision. Fourth, we identified some specific barriers that need to be addressed in order to develop 'young people friendly' services in the school context. The relative autonomy available to school head teachers and governors can represent an obstacle to service provision - and inter-professional collaboration - in a climate where, in many schools, there is still considerable ambivalence about discussing 'sex' openly. In conclusion, we identify areas worthy of further research and development, in order to address some obstacles to sexual health service and SRE provision in schools

Lesbian and bisexual women's human rights, sexual rights and sexual citizenship: negotiating sexual health in England.

Lesbian and bisexual women's sexual health is neglected in much Government policy and practice in England and Wales. This paper examines lesbian and bisexual women's negotiation of sexual health, drawing on findings from a small research project. Themes explored include invisibility and lack of information, influences on decision-making and sexual activities and experiences of services and barriers to sexual healthcare. Key issues of importance in this respect are homophobic and heterosexist social contexts. Drawing on understandings of lesbian, gay and bisexual human rights, sexual rights and sexual citizenship, it is argued that these are useful lenses through which to examine and address lesbian and bisexual women's sexual health and related inequalities

How should we ‘care’ for LGBT+ students within higher education?

This article draws on a recent U.K. research project about lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT+) perspectives on university to examine the implications for pastoral care and other service provision on campus. In a departure from previous scholarship that has tended to understand LGBT+ students as ‘vulnerable’ and/or needing ‘support’, it argues that university spaces should be (re)framed in a way that moves beyond (only) personal or individual ‘care’. The article outlines some of the issues that LGBT+ students may face under the following headings: Curriculum and course content; Discrimination, prejudice and bullying; Facilities and service provision on campus; A continuum of experiences. Following these, a final section draws some conclusions and implications for practice in higher education

Computing welfare losses from data under imperfect competition with heterogeneous goods

We study the percentage of welfare losses (PWL) yielded by imperfect competition under product differentiation. When demand is linear, if prices, outputs, costs and the number of firms can be observed, PWL is arbitrary in both Cournot and Bertrand equilibria. If in addition, the elasticity of demand (resp. cross elasticity of demand) is known, we can calculate PWL in Cournot (resp. Bertrand) equilibrium. When demand is isoelastic and there are many firms, PWL can be computed from prices, outputs, costs and the number of .rms. In all these cases we find that price-marginal cost margins and demand elasticities may influence PWL in a counterintuitive way. We also provide conditions under which PWL increases or decreases with concentration

Auditory and tactile gap discrimination by observers with normal and impaired hearing

Temporal processing ability for the senses of hearing and touch was examined through the measurement of gap-duration discrimination thresholds (GDDTs) employing the same low-frequency sinusoidal stimuli in both modalities. GDDTs were measured in three groups of observers (normal-hearing, hearing-impaired, and normal-hearing with simulated hearing loss) covering an age range of 21–69 yr. GDDTs for a baseline gap of 6 ms were measured for four different combinations of 100-ms leading and trailing markers (250–250, 250–400, 400–250, and 400–400 Hz). Auditory measurements were obtained for monaural presentation over headphones and tactile measurements were obtained using sinusoidal vibrations presented to the left middle finger. The auditory GDDTs of the hearing-impaired listeners, which were larger than those of the normal-hearing observers, were well-reproduced in the listeners with simulated loss. The magnitude of the GDDT was generally independent of modality and showed effects of age in both modalities. The use of different-frequency compared to same-frequency markers led to a greater deterioration in auditory GDDTs compared to tactile GDDTs and may reflect differences in bandwidth properties between the two sensory systems.National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (U.S.) (Grant R01 DC000117

A dynamic model of the eye nystagmus response to high magnetic fields

It was recently shown that high magnetic fields evoke nystagmus in human subjects with functioning vestibular systems. The proposed mechanism involves interaction between ionic currents in the endolymph of the vestibular labyrinth and the static magnetic field. This results in a Lorentz force that causes endolymph flow to deflect the cupulae of the semi-circular canals to evoke a vestibular-ocular reflex (VOR). This should be analogous to stimulation by angular acceleration or caloric irrigation. We made measurements of nystagmus slow-phase velocities in healthy adults experiencing variable magnetic field profiles of up to 7 Tesla while supine on a bed that could be moved smoothly into the bore of an MRI machine. The horizontal slow-phase velocity data were reliably modelled by a linear transfer function incorporating a low-pass term and a high-pass adaptation term. The adaptation time constant was estimated at 39.3 s from long-exposure trials. When constrained to this value, the low-pass time constant was estimated at 13.6 3.6 s (to 95% confidence) from both short and long exposure trials. This confidence interval overlaps with values obtained previously using angular acceleration and caloric stimulation. Hence it is compatible with endolymph flow causing a cupular deflection and therefore supports the hypothesis that the Lorentz force is a likely transduction mechanism of the magnetic-field evoked VOR

Sexualisation's four faces: sexualisation and gender stereotyping in the Bailey Review

This paper explores the considerations of sexualisation and gender stereotyping in the recent UK government report Letting Children be Children. This report, the Bailey Review, claimed to represent the views of parents. However, closer reading reveals that, while the parents who were consulted were concerned about both the sexualisation and the gender stereotyping of products aimed at children, the Bailey Review focuses only on the former and dismisses the latter. ‘Sexualisation’ has four faces in the Bailey Review: it is treated as a process that increases (1) the visibility of sexual content in the public domain, (2) misogyny, (3) the sexuality of children, and (4) the mainstream position of ‘deviant’ sexual behaviours and lifestyles. Through this construction of ‘sexualisation’, gendered relations of power are not only hidden from view but also buttress a narrative in which young women are situated as children, and their sexuality and desire rendered pathological and morally unacceptable as judged by a conservative standard of decency. Comparison of the treatment of sexualisation and gender stereotyping in the review is revealing of the political motivations behind it, and of wider discourse in these areas