The Hunting – A Must Watch for Parents
The Hunting is an Australian mini-series which went to air recently on SBS television. Much has been written about the four-part drama series that relays the consequences of a nude photo-sharing scandal. I was interested to read Rebecca Sparrow’s‚ recommendation that The Hunting should be mandatory viewing for every parent and every teen. Rebecca hopes that it will start a national – or even international – conversation.
For those parents not familiar with Rebecca Sparrow as the author of Find Your Tribe and Ask Me Anything, I strongly recommend you follow her blog. Rebecca shares her life’s purpose of guiding teenagers as they traverse that tricky path from childhood to adulthood.
So what is The Hunting about and why am I writing about it in this weeks Nurrunga? SBS outlines the mini-series as a program that, intimately and dramatically imagines the lives of four teenagers, their teachers and families throughout the lead-up, revelation and aftermath of a nude teen photo scandal. When two high school teachers discover students are sharing explicit photos of their underage friends and peers online, the revelation has devastating consequences for the students and their families. Tackling themes of misogyny, privacy, sexuality, and sexualisation, online exploitation, masculinity and gender, the series uses this singular event as a way of exploring some of the most pressing issues of our time and offering a vital portrait of modern, multicultural Australia.
Interestingly, in 2017, of the 4,274 Australians aged sixteen to forty-nine years surveyed, 20% said that someone had taken or created a nude image of them without their consent. According to the survey conducted for the Office of the eSafety Commissioner, one in ten Australian respondents had experienced a nude or sexual image of themselves being distributed to others or posted online without their consent.
We are in the business of educating young men at Waverley College, so it is relevant that our students and parents have an awareness about the reality of this problem in our current world. As an educator and parent, I hope to gain further insights into the vagaries of the selfies, Instagram and Snapchat world, through watching The Hunting on SBS or if you missed the start on SBS On Demand.
The College will continue to educate our students by increasing their cyber literacy through our wellbeing program, guest speakers and our PDHPE programs. The College also works closely with the Association of Independent Schools (New South Wales) wellbeing team and other schools in the eastern suburbs through our foundation membership of the Eastern Suburbs School Leaders for Youth (ESSLY).
Resilience and Wellbeing Forum
For those families living in the Shire, the College has received an invitation from one of our fellow EREA schools, Edmund Rice College, Wollongong for parents to attend a community forum on student resilience and wellbeing.
Guest speakers include Tripple M‚ Gus Worland who has a passion for mental illness prevention along with Dan Haesler who works with individuals and organisations in business, education, elite sporting organisations and The Black Dog Institute around issues of leadership, engagement, mindset and wellbeing. He is passionate about equity and social justice and supports the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.
All of the Waverley College parent community are welcome to attend. Bookings are essential.
Building Student Resilience
In 2020, the College will be hosting a parent evening on building student resilience on the 27th April, more information about this will come in the new year.
