Health: Gender and Social Dominance Hierarchy Essay

Submitted By jakefauchon
Words: 1338
Pages: 6

Jake Fauchon Health Ed Oral – 2013
There has been limited, recent research concerning the experiences of Australian school-leavers attending Schoolies celebrations . Over the course of Schoolies Week, Australian teenagers are faced with a collection of situations that they have never experienced to a large scale such as Schoolies week. This, in turn, results in a number of health issues that are predominantly alcohol related. Violence, verbal and physical abuse and sexual harassment are also experienced during the schoolies festival but are again, not unexpected. The ‘Help is no stranger to a friend in danger’ package will be an appropriate scale option into reducing the violence at schoolies week. Although in some terms this idea can pose some unrealistic ideas, the idea is extremely realistic in relation to portability, easy use and presentation. Although the button will not be of masculine nature, it will inevitably target the select influencing factors of toolies, stereotypes and social media. This appropriate scale idea that has been proposed has had prior use within the elderly community. The idea has been extremely successful and the same idea could be implemented into the schoolies community and achieve the same outcome. The idea will gain the attention of relevant stakeholders which will improve the effectiveness of health services.
When a person becomes drunk, they're less likely to consider other options for resolving conflicts. Alcohol also contributes to violence because it increases the drinker's willingness to take risks and impairs the drinker's ability to talk his or her way out of trouble . The collection of health risks associated with this week are solely based around the decisions made under the influence of alcohol and the stereotypes placed upon young teenagers by the Australian community.

The ‘macho’ stereotype within males that forms as they go through their adolescents is a health risk within itself. A various survey completed in 2009 reported that over 20 per cent of the males prior to schoolies expected to be in a fight while there. Men prefer a social dominance hierarchy, therefore when the chance for a fight poses itself teenage males like to show this dominance. This image of being ‘6ft tall and bulletproof’ gets taken to schoolies, which causes personality clashes within students inevitably resulting in violence. This act of masculinity is a personal skilling agent from most males’ fathers or male guardians. The agent is perceived as being helpful but in some cases can be perceived in the wrong way causing barriers into the way that male teenagers handle violent situations.

''Kids show up to a fight and the cameras come out so there is this increased social pressure to fight because it's going to be broadcast and viewed by their peers.'' . The publicity of violence on social media influences the violence rates within teenagers. In theory, it creates this pendulum of imbalance, in some aspects ''The filming of fights normalises that behaviour because it gives you the impression that it's happening a lot.'' On the contrary, the publicity of these fights may cause teenagers to be reluctant into fighting because of the influence of school, family and what their peers may think. In saying this, teens view violence as “normal”, and although some teenagers may be reluctant to fight because of peer judgement, it seems as if it’s becoming a social norm within today’s society. The social norm that is formed is a clear indication of a supportive environment issue, ''There is an erosion of the natural mentoring from parents, which should occur in a stable family unit,” this can cause major barriers because teenagers aren’t receiving the amount of mentoring they require. In the mid-1990s there were incidents where news crews handed out money for schoolies to initiate violence so they could film schoolies violence for the evening news. Another aspect of social media is the news. Televised and