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Paris Schilling

ID 2182104
HLPE1540
Reflective Journals

Journal 1

After viewing a video of a Four Corners Report titled Fashion Victims, I was
exposed to a whole new light on products being imported into Australia to
high demand clothing stores. I never once thought that the generic brands
that I have been wearing day in day out such as Coles Mix, Forever New,
and Rivers were having their clothing items produced by low income earners,
in poverty affected countries like Bangladesh. This began me thinking about
the Sociological Imagination Template, but specifically the section that
focuses on the critical factors. Germov (2014) stated that the template assists
the individual to think in a more sociological way about the issue at hand.
The key issues that arose when I was thinking about workplace accidents in
foreign countries were, whos responsibility is it when crisis occurs in these
factories, and what needs to change to avoid this?

After a brief discussion with my fellow classmates, my opinion on this issue is


that it is partially the responsibility of the companies in Australia, that are
hiring these low income factories, and partially the responsibility of the
Governments of these countries. The Australian companies should be
increasing their clothing retail prices, to then increase the amount that they
are paying the factories to produce their clothes. This would then allow the
factories to enable a much higher quality of safety precautions throughout
the workplace. These things would include having buildings that meet safety
requirements, paying the employees more so that they are able to afford to
live, whilst working a safe number of hours, and improving the equipment that
the employees are using to ensure their safety in the workplace.

The Governments of these countries should also be improving their laws to


assist with this issue. Laws need to be put in place about minimum wage,
minimum age, maximum hours allowed to work in a week, and building
regulations. Workers in the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh are earning
approximately $1.00 a day, which is not enough to financially support them,
or their families, and a lot of the time, this is their only means of income for
their entire family. Another example from the Rana Plaza is that some of their
employees are 12 years of age or younger, as each family member needs to
be employed for them to be able to afford to live, this is simply too young
and working environments such as this are too dangerous for children of that
age. In Australia and other wealthy countries such as this there are laws in
place about the maximum hours an individual is allowed to work each week
in order to protect their physical and mental health. Laws like this do not exist
in places like Bangladesh but must be put in place. Building regulations in
countries like Bangladesh barely even exist let alone are up to any safety
standard. If we do not want another crisis occurring such as the Rana Plaza
Paris Schilling
ID 2182104
HLPE1540
Reflective Journals

building falling down with extreme numbers of fatalities and injuries, building
safety regulations must be improved.

Reference List
Germov, J. (2014) Second Opinion: An Introduction to Health Sociology (5th ed). (p 8)
Australia: Oxford University Press

509 Words
Paris Schilling
ID 2182104
HLPE1540
Reflective Journals

Journal 2

For our Week 7 reading we were required to read The Social Appetite: A
Sociological Approach to Food and Nutrition (Germov, 2014, p. 207). This
chapter is about the reasons behind our food consumption such as
production and distribution, and how our food consumption affects our
health (Germov, 2014, p. 208). After learning about the social appetite I
began to make a connection to it with the sociological imagination
template and how they are quite similar. As defined by Germov (2014) the
social appetite is the social, cultural, political, religious, and economic
factors that affect what we eat (p. 208). In my opinion the social appetite is
a form of the sociological imagination template, but it is specifically used to
describe our food consumption, rather than any health factors or issues.

The sociological imagination template is something I find myself referring


back to each week in order to help myself better understand the topic were
learning about (Germov, 2014, p. 8). I believe that this is because it assists you
to break down the topic or idea and look past the obvious reasons why
something may occur, and look at it in a more sociological way. I would
normally see myself as quite a blunt person, assuming that theres always a
simple answer to every question. Although, since using the sociological
imagination template to understand the health of others around me, I can
look at it a lot more broadly. For example, today I was discussing alcoholics
and alcoholism with my parents, and rather than just saying why dont they
just stop drinking, like I normally would, I began to think about the reasons
why they might be alcoholics. Some of the reasons that came to mind were:
Historically - If their parents used to consume ample amounts of alcohol
when they were children this might have affected their views on drinking,
thinking that it is a normal and acceptable thing to do.
Culturally In reference to Week 8s topic of Indigenous health and the
reading chapter Indigenous Health: The Perpetuation of Inequality, Germov
(2014) stated that Indigenous people are much more likely to be involved in
violence than non-Indigenous people (p. 149). Due to this, if the alcoholics
were to be of Indigenous culture and involved in violence, they may be more
inclined to drink excessive amounts of alcohol.
Structurally Alcohol may be something that is very easily accessible in their
area of living. They may have a local pub nearby where it is the norm to go
and have some drinks to socialise and catch up with friends. Which
consequently encourages them to drink more often to go and be sociable,
and it is also convenient.
Critically The place where they are sourcing their alcohol may need to limit
the amount they are selling to these people in order to avoid excessive
alcohol consumption at a dangerous level. The local council might need to
look and see if this is an individual problem or a public problem. If it is a public
Paris Schilling
ID 2182104
HLPE1540
Reflective Journals

problem they could organise an information session to occur in the town to


inform the community of the dangers of binge drinking.

Something else I wanted to discuss in this journal was my thoughts on the


Medicalisation of food (Germov, 2104, p. 209). The Medicalisation of food
was a term I had never heard of before until reading about it in our Week 7
reading and learning about it in class. From my understanding, the
medicalization of food is basically the idea that companies trying to promote
and sell their food products are claiming that they have these almost
magical health benefits (Germov, 2014, p. 209). I personally believe that the
Medicalisation of food is something that needs to be monitored in Australia a
lot more closely and effectively. A possible way for them to do this is by
putting in place specific guidelines about what food companies can write or
claim on their products and where. I for one did not realise the affect that
these claims are possibly making on consumers, especially those that have
not received a satisfactory health education, or any health education at all.
From what I have read about the medicalization of food in the textbook,
some people are seeing these added health benefits as though they are
ruling out any health issues they may have already or are at risk of (Germov,
2014, p. 210). For instance, these consumers need to understand that getting
extra vitamins and minerals in their diet through a Milo drink is not going to
make their body defenceless against disease if they are regular smoker or
alcoholic drinker (Germov, 2014, p. 210). I believe that this is the governments
issue and that they need to start listening to what the health professionals of
Australia have to say (Germov, 2014, p. 210). Overall I personally believe that
the medicalisation of food is unnecessary and is simply deceiving the
consumers to persuade them to purchase their product.

References
Germov, J. (2014) Second Opinion: An Introduction to Health Sociology (5th ed).
Australia: Oxford University Press

831 Words
Paris Schilling
ID 2182104
HLPE1540
Reflective Journals

Journal 3

Gendered Health Week 6


For the first part of this reflective journal I would like to focus on our Week 6
reading, which was Gendered Health (Germov, 2014, p. 122). In reference
to our workshop, we were asked whether we could see a difference
between gender and sex. Before doing the readings I would always use
the two words gender and sex interchangeably or I would tend to only use
the word gender as I wasnt really sure how to use the word sex when
discussing gender and health. Although, since extending my knowledge on
this topic by doing the readings along with some follow up research, I can
now see a difference between gender and sex. In the simplest form I
understand that gender is masculinity and femininity, and sex is male and
female. Gender is a term that we use to describe the characteristics that
have become the social norm for someone that is masculine and someone
that is feminine. Whereas sex is a term that we use to describe the biological
differences between a male and a female such as hormonal profiles, and
internal and external sex organs (Nobelius, 2004).

When focussing on the topic Gendered Health, I never really understood the
affect of using gendered terms such as feminine and girly to describe
mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety.

From my understanding suicide is a possible result of untreated or unresolved


depression. As stated in the textbook, suicide was the 10th leading cause of
death for males in 2009, and suicide did not even make the top 10 for
women (Germov, 2014, p. 125). Yet we as a society still refer to depression as
a womens disease (Real, 2017). Little do most know the fact that we put a
gender on a specific disease like depression, is one of the key reasons why
men are resorting to suicide. The use of words such as feminine and
masculine are ones that I have always found very discriminating, but I
never knew or understood the full extent of their affect on society. Since
doing this reading, and more recently hearing about it in a group of class
members inquiry presentation, I now understand that these terms are
unknowingly having a large impact on men and womens mental health.
One group from my Health class did their inquiry project on Men with
Depression and Suicide, and during their presentation a key term stood out to
me that I recognised from one of our readings, which was masculinity. As
stated in the English Oxford Dictionary, the term masculine, as an adjective,
means having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with men
(Oxford Dictionaries, n.d.). My opinion is that this definition still leaves the term
open to debate, and that is why all men and women interpret it differently.
When I asked my 15 year old brother what he thoughts masculine meant, he
said being buff and fit. In comparison to this, when I asked my 47 year old
Paris Schilling
ID 2182104
HLPE1540
Reflective Journals

father what it meant, he responded with being strong, rugged and manly. I
understand that this probably isnt an accurate representation of all males,
but from this very small sample size you can see that men of all ages perceive
the word masculine as a description of males physical appearance and
strength. What I believe all men need to understand is that masculinity is not
just being strong physically, it is also knowing how to be strong mentally.
Which they then need to understand that being strong mentally does not
mean, holding all your emotions and feelings in like they dont exist,
pretending that youre okay when youre not, and not speaking about your
feelings to others.

Since extending my knowledge on the topic of mental illness in relation to


gender, I have now noticed that I personally have not been very thoughtful
to those that I know may be suffering these conditions. When reflecting on
the idea that, because society has labelled these conditions with a specific
sex, that it is seriously affecting boys and mens ability to speak up and
receive help. Ive since realised that just recently when a very close male
friend of mine told me that he thought he was depressed that I certainly did
not go about it the right way. I felt awkward with him bringing up the topic
and I didnt know how to respond so I kind of laughed and brushed it off.
When now I have realised that I shouldve made the most of this opportunity
to support him and attempt to get him to open up more about his feelings
and ask if he is okay. As nowadays it is not very common for a male to speak
up about an emotional issue like this.

How can we fix this? The Mens Health Movement, which runs alongside the
Womens Health Movement, believes that improving mens health such as
unhealthy weight, high blood pressure, HIV/AIDS, and mental health, will then
slowly result in shifts in the understanding of what it means to be a man in
society, or to be masculine as mentioned earlier (Germov, 2014, p. 135).

Health Education and Health Promotion Week 10


I would now like to discuss a topic that we learnt about more recently in the
semester, which was Health Education and Health Promotion, but more
specifically, Health Promotion in Schools (Germov, 2014, p. 464). One thing I
want to achieve whilst being at University is to obviously become a qualified
health teacher, this is because I have always had a love for teaching and
helping others, and I have always loved health and fitness. Health is
something I am really passionate about and I feel as though the only way to
create a healthier Australia, or world even, is through everyone becoming
much more educated in health. Therefore, the best place to start is by
educating the children of Australia, who will then grow up with a greater
knowledge of health and what health means for them, which they can then
use to educate their future offspring and so forth.
Paris Schilling
ID 2182104
HLPE1540
Reflective Journals

From my understanding health promotion in schools is based on the social


model of health. This model attempts to address the bigger picture of health,
such as the influences like the social, cultural, environmental and economic
factors (Anonymous, 2013). This approach also focuses on the idea that not
only do individuals lifestyles and behaviours towards health need to change,
but instead that we are in need of a social change to achieve so called
good health (Department of Education, n.d.). I have just learnt that health
promotion in schools relies on a cycle of six steps to implement change. These
steps are:
1. Prepare
2. Create a shared vision
3. Select priorities
4. Develop an action plan
5. Put the action plan into place
6. Review, reflect and plan for the future

There are obviously a few challenges and criticisms of the approaches to


Health Promotion. The issues I am aware of are that some previous school
health initiatives havent been funded over a long enough period of time
and that have contained unrealistic expectations of how their goals would
be achieved (St Leger, Young, Blanchard, Perry, n.d.). I believe that this is
where we need to ensure that the government is supportive of all health
initiatives and approaches that are in place, and they need to be working
collaboratively alongside the organisations running and organising these
programs. Another issue I am aware of when promoting health in schools is
that these health educators are not receiving support from the school, the
broader community, and governing bodies, which consequently is making
their job much harder. It is necessary that the entire school community must
work together and support each other to ensure that satisfactory health
promotion is taught to the students.

Reference List

Germov, J. (2014) Second Opinion: An Introduction to Health Sociology (5th ed). (p 8)


Australia: Oxford University Press

Nobelius, A. (2004, June) What is the difference between sex and gender? Retrieved
from http://www.med.monash.edu.au/gendermed/sexandgender.html

Real, T. (2017) The Stigma of Male Depression. Retrieved from


http://bstigmafree.org/blog/the-stigma-of-male-depression/

St Leger, L., Young, I., Blanchard, C., Perry, M. Promoting Health In Schools: From
Evidence To Action. Retrieved from
Paris Schilling
ID 2182104
HLPE1540
Reflective Journals

http://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/117385/PHiSFromEvidenceT
oAction_WEB1.pdf

Definition of Masculine in English. Retrieved from English Oxford Living Dictionaries


Web site: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/masculine

Health Promoting Schools Framework. Retrieved from Department of Education Web


site:
http://www.det.wa.edu.au/studentsupport/behaviourandwellbeing/detcms/naviga
tion/wellbeing/whole-school-approaches/

(2013, April) 3.2.1 Models of Health. Retrieved from Slide Share Web site:
https://www.slideshare.net/jkonoroth/321-models-of-health

1410 Words

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