Menstrual health and hygiene among Indigenous Australian girls and women: barriers and opportunities

Health inequities inhibit global development and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. One gendered health area, Menstrual Health & Hygiene (MHH), has received increasing attention in Low- and Middle-Income Countries as a barrier to health, wellbeing, and gender equity. Recent anecdotal evidence in Australia highlights that MHH also present challenges to High Income Countries, particularly among underrepresented populations, such as Indigenous Australian peoples, people from low socio-economic backgrounds, or communities that are remotely located. In this article, we chart the emergence of attention to MHH in the Australian context and highlight key considerations for the conduct of research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples within the culturally- and gender-sensitive area of MHH. Further we draw on insights offered by a partnership between female Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, NGO stakeholders, and non-Indigenous researchers. Through a convening (yarning circle) held in March 2018, the group identified multiple socioecological considerations for MHH research and practice, including: affordability and access to menstrual products, barriers to knowledge and culturally sensitive education, infrastructure and supply chain challenges, and the necessity of Indigenous-led research and community-driven data collection methods in addressing the sensitive topic. We draw together these insights to develop recommendations for future research, advocacy, and action in Australia

The language of public debate in Poland

Celem niniejszej pracy jest nakreślenie i omówienie najważniejszych problemów dotyczących języka debaty publicznej w Polsce. W szczególności zwrócono uwagę na język, którym posługują się politycy w mediach społecznościowych oraz tradycyjnych. Podstawowe pytanie, które przyświeca całej pracy dotyczy merytorycznego porozumienia: czy mamy szansę dojść do konsensusu? Całość rozważań oparto na literaturze związanej z językiem oraz komunikacją polityczną, informacjach z polskich portali internetowych i mediach społecznościowych. Przeprowadzone badania wskazują na rosnącą tabloidyzację dyskursu publicznego, która negatywnie wpływa na kompetencje językowe wszystkich uczestników debaty publicznej: polityków, dziennikarzy i obywateli Polski.The aim of this study is to outline and discuss the most important problems concerning the language of public debate in Poland. In particular, attention is paid to the language used by politicians in social and traditional media. The main question that guides the whole work concerns the substantive agreement: do we have a chance to reach a consensus? The study is based on the literature related to language and political communication, information from Polish internet portals, and social media. The study points to the growing tabloidization of public discourse, which negatively affects the linguistic competence of all participants in the public debate: politicians, journalists, and citizens in Poland

What contributions, if any, can non-Indigenous researchers offer toward decolonizing health research?

Four non-Indigenous academics share lessons learned through our reflective processes while working with Indigenous Australian partners on a health research project. We foregrounded reflexivity in our work to raise consciousness regarding how colonizing mindsets-that do not privilege Indigenous ways of knowing or recognize Indigenous land and sovereignty-exist within ourselves and the institutions within which we operate. We share our self-analyses and invite non-Indigenous colleagues to also consider socialized, unquestioned, and possibly unconscious assumptions about the dominance of Western paradigms, asking what contributions, if any, non-Indigenous researchers can offer toward decolonizing health research. Our processes comprise of three iterative features-prioritizing attempts to decolonize ourselves, acknowledging the necessary role of discomfort in doing so, and moving through nonbinary and toward nondualistic thinking. With a nondual lens, working to decolonize ourselves may be seen as one contribution non-Indigenous researchers may offer to the collective project of decolonizing health research