#learn everything
Author: Sophie Berrill.
Every sexually active and curious person knows the desperate demand for answers from your mates in moments of sexual panic.
“Should I take the morning after pill if I’m already on the pill?”
“Am I meant to get pap smears two years after I turn 18? What if I’ve only had sex with one person?”
“Wait, you’re supposed to wee after sex?”
“Where the fuck do you buy dental dams?”
It is such a relief to have pals you can talk out your sex-related concerns with, but sometimes it’s the clueless leading the clueless (no thanks to the sex education a lot of us received – or didn’t receive). Even when friends are preeetty sure their advice is accurate because they’re reading out verbatim the instructions in their own pill packs, everyone ends their advice with “I don’t know though”, in the event their guidance helps along an unwanted pregnancy.
Enter Victoria’s first sexual and reproductive health helpline for women: 1800 My Options. It launches March 19 and it is here to be your fully informed best friend for when you need an answer to all questions about pregnancy, contraception and sexual health. As well as providing information, the experienced staff who run the hotline can direct callers to services including counselling, contraception, sexual health clinics, abortion providers and more. All of this advice is free and your information confidential.
The Victorian Labor government funded 1800 My Options as part of Victoria’s first-ever Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy, to help eliminate barriers impeding women’s access to reproductive and sexual health services. Women’s Health Victoria, an independent, not-for-profit organisation, will run the helpline.
The Executive Director at Women’s Health Victoria, Rita Butera says, “[The helpline] will provide Victorian women with easy access to contraception, pregnancy options and sexual health information, assisting them in navigating an often sensitive and complex service system.”
Although this is an initiative being introduced primarily for women, a Victorian State Government media advisor, Matilda Edwards Jézéquel, has confirmed that men with relevant concerns who want to use the helpline will also receive assistance. The helpline will be equipped for anyone, regardless of their gender or sexual identity, and can refer people to more specific services if necessary.
So if you live in Victoria and have a question, do not hesitate to call 1800 My Options. I certainly know that is where I will be directing my friends when I’m not 100 per cent sure (aka almost always).
