New videos address the ABCs of safe sex for Indian community
Concerns, problems, and doubts about our sex life are common and can be comfortably discussed with a number of different health professionals.
That’s the message from the Western Sydney Local Health District Integrated and Community Care and Sexual Health Centre, which has released a series of videos about sexual health for the Indian community in conjunction with World Sexual Health Day on 4 September.
The University of Sydney sexology lecturer Dr Vijayasarathi Ramanathan said the Indian community is one of the largest in Western Sydney.
“Most immigrants in our community did not have the opportunity to receive sex education either as a student or as an adult. Many are unaware of sexual health services available in Australia and/or reluctant to seek help.
One of our main priorities is to reassure them that the problems they might be facing are very common and it is okay to talk about sexuality not only to specialists in our facilities, but also to their GPs, sexual health physicians, psychologists, counsellors or sex therapists,” Dr Vijayasarathi said.
“The purpose of these videos is not only to address the lack of knowledge, but to remind our community members to apply the gained or existing knowledge in decision making.
You can find all sorts of incorrect information online and people often live with misconceptions. We encourage everyone to seek information from verified sources.”
The video series is a joint venture between the Western Sydney Local Health District (Multicultural Health, Western Sydney Sexual Health Centre, HARP Unit) and the University of Sydney. The initiative has the endorsement of the United India Associations and consists of four informative videos covering:
- ABC of Sex & Sexual consent by Dr Vijayasarathi Ramanathan
- Sexually transmissible infections (STIs) and Fear of STIs by Dr Shailendra Sawleshwarkar
ABC of Sex
Sexual consent
Sexually transmissible infections (STIs)
Fear of STIs
Dr Ramanathan is a clinical sexologist, Fellow of the European Committee for Sexual Medicine, and is the President of Society for Australian Sexologists (NSW Branch). Dr Shailendra Sawleshwarkar is a Sexual Health Physician at Western Sydney Sexual Health Centre.
Western Sydney Sexual Health Centre is a free, confidential service. It is operated on both an appointment and walk-in system, and patients may be self-referred or clinician-referred.
The multidisciplinary sexual health team consists of specialist sexual health physicians and junior medical staff, specialist nurses, social workers, psychologists and pharmacists.
For any sexual health related queries, please visit Western Sydney Sexual Health centre website.
For access to evidence-based information on all aspects of HIV, STI and sexual health, call 1800 451 642 or visit Sexual Health Infolink website.
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