What happens to children who grow up in extreme political circumstances? Former child soldiers live right here in Australia, a world away from their childhood violence. From the Chinese Revolution and The Troubles in Northern Ireland to conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa, children have been exposed to extreme situations that can have a lasting effect on their futures. In this episode, Jenny Brockie speaks directly to people who chose or were forced to join extreme causes as children, in a variety of circumstances. They bravely open up about what they went through, how they were trained, and how they deal with feelings of guilt and betrayal as adults.

This week, Insight breaks some deeply held taboos to look at a practice which is as personal as it is controversial. There has been much talk about female genital cutting, also known as female circumcision or female genital mutilation, after several high profile arrests across Australia in recent months. In December 2012, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced a review of the current legal framework and said a national summit would be held sometime within the year. Gillard said, 'It is a violation of the human rights of women and girls and there is no place for it here in Australia. Its occurrence in this country cannot be excused by culture." But some women say cultural reasons are valid, and some say that they’re still able to lead healthy sex lives and achieve orgasms – even when they’ve undergone the most severe forms of the procedure.

Their stories are jaw-dropping. A woman who regrets saving the life of her daughter’s rapist. A woman who decided to donate her perfectly healthy kidney to a perfect stranger. A man who walked past someone dying on a mountain – and says he’s thought about that decision every day since. They all join Insight this week to discuss whether there is any moral obligation to save a life. What if it means putting your own life at risk, or saving someone you despise or hardly know? We also look at cases where someone in dire need has been ignored – sometimes with fatal consequences. Psychologists refer to this as "the bystander effect" which says that if there are multiple people at the scene of a crisis, everyone assumes someone else will be the one to step in to help. One guest on the program wants a "duty to rescue" law, effectively forcing Australians to help others if they are in danger.

How do you heal after a mass injustice? Two former enemies from apartheid-era South Africa square off in this week’s episode of Insight. In a tense and dramatic exchange, Shirley Gunn talks directly with the man responsible for framing her for a crime she didn’t commit. His actions led to Shirley spending a traumatic stint in jail. Insight also brings in examples from child sex abuse scandals, the stolen generation and forced adoptions, traversing continents and conflicts. Does an apology, compensation or public acknowledgement help them come to terms with what happened to them? Or does healing come from elsewhere? Is it even possible? "Healing" is a timely episode, with a royal commission underway into sexual abuse of children in institutions across Australia and a national parliamentary apology over forced adoptions set for March.

Who controls a professional athlete's body? In the wake of the ACC report findings, Insight discusses allegations of the use of performance enhancing drugs in Australian professional sports, and asks: who should ultimately be held accountable? Insight looks at the lengths athletes are expected to go to in order to get an edge, with some suggesting that they are not always given a choice. David Parkin, former AFL coach, breaks his silence on the doping scandal, revealing that during his time working for different clubs, "we’ve got rid of people" there were suspicions around. David says, "we weren’t prepared to take a risk that there might be somebody in the place that wasn’t operating all above board." He says sports scientists have become increasingly influential in clubs and believes the pressure for coaches to get an edge over their competitors means everyone is tempted to bend the rules. This week, former football players, coaches, cyclists, and current sports scientists speak up about whom athletes can really trust.

Australians are living longer than ever and it seems they’re making the most of it. There has been an explosion in the number of older Australians using online dating sites, with many having easier access to virility and hormonal drugs if they need some extra help. But there are downsides. Elderly Australians have a comparatively low knowledge of safe sex practices. They grew up at a time when the norm was to marry their first sexual partner. They never had sex education in school. Being past their reproductive years, many aren’t insisting on condom use. As a result, rates of sexually transmitted infections amongst older Australians are rising faster than in any other age group. There’s also the question of how to manage sexual activity in nursing homes. Many aren’t providing double beds. And some nursing staff aren’t sure how to cope when family members request visits from professional sex workers for their elderly relatives.

Secrets and lies. One found out that her husband had another secret family on the side. Another spent years posing as a drug dealer’s girlfriend as part of an undercover operation, until the lines between fact and fiction started to blur. And another pretended to his school friends and teachers that he had a normal life at home, which couldn’t have been further from the truth. Meet them all in this episode, as Insight finds out what it is like to lead a double life. We ask them why they chose to live another existence and how they maintained the fiction. What happened when the deception was exposed? And how did this impact their families?

Australia has one of the worst mammal extinction rates in the world. And cats are partially to blame. Of the 21 completely extinct marsupials and rodents in Australia, the cat and the red fox have likely contributed to the extinction of all but two. Feral cats are also a threat to 35 bird species, 36 mammal species, seven reptile species and three amphibian species. Four of those are critically endangered. Feral cats are everywhere across Australia and in big numbers: the government has put the figure at around 18 million. But it’s not just ferals that are to blame for killing wildlife. Domestic pet cats that are allowed outdoors are just as effective predators. Cat owners who claim their pets don’t hunt may not even realise what’s happening; a recent study found that cats only bring home about a quarter of their kills. Conservationists and wildlife groups say something needs to be done to reduce the impact of cats on native wildlife. But they can’t agree on what.

This week, a rare glimpse into the lives of Aboriginal teens in Alice Springs. "I read one page and then she just looked at me. She put her hands over her mouth and she started crying because my average reading level went from six year old to a year 10." "People, drunks everywhere, people pissing on the street and everything. It’s stupid." "If I keep running amuck and, like, if I keep being naughty, if I keep going down this road, I might end up like my brothers." In this special episode, Insight heads to Alice Springs for a rare chance to hear directly from Aboriginal teenagers. They open up about family life, alcohol and shame. And they let us in on their dreams for the future and what might be standing in the way. Raw. Personal. And not to be missed.

Some research suggests parents with intellectual disabilities are over represented in child protection cases. Susan finds it hard to multitask: she struggles to cook a meal and keep an eye on her toddler at the same time. She says she also finds it hard to make judgements when things aren’t black and white. Any 'grey’ areas can be hard. It breaks her heart that she no longer has guardianship of her child. But she says that it’s for the best. This week on Insight, a difficult conversation about how an intellectual disability may affect a parent’s capacity to raise a child. We hear from parents and their children about what life is like at home. And we hear from child protection workers about the delicate process of making painstaking assessments and decisions about a parent’s abilities.

"I stop once my opponent starts bleeding, that's when I stop." - 'Lea', 14. Because they're bored. Because someone said something nasty on Facebook. Because someone was "being a smart arse" to them. Australian girls are getting into some bad fights. Although males are responsible for most violent assaults in Australia, there has been an increase in violent offences committed by females, many of them aged 14-25. More females than ever before are being imprisoned for physical assaults and stories of young girls fighting are becoming more common. This week on Insight, girls as young as 14 own up to 'putting the boot in’, hair pulling and slamming heads into walls. And victims tell of the impact on them.

How much do we really know about North Korea? They were told it was the greatest nation on earth. But they could see for themselves the poverty, the power black-outs and the mysterious 'disappearances’ of friends and relatives. This week on Insight, defectors join Jenny Brockie in the studio to help paint a picture of life in North Korea. They’re joined by some of the world’s best brains and analysts who will try to piece together what’s unfolding in the secretive state in the aftermath of recent posturing and fist shaking by leader Kim Jong-un. Is North Korea a real threat? Or is it just a lot of hot air? The price of a miscalculation could be high.

Australia has an invisible army of children on caring duties. "When she has a panic attack, you've got to try and keep her legs still just in case she might kick the wall or something. I hold her until she calms down. I get her medication. When she's a bit calmer I give her a camomile tea with honey, that helps her." – John Attard, 13. This week, meet some awesome kids doing some pretty grown-up stuff. Across Australia, young people, many in their teens, are caring for a parent, sibling or other family member. It could be physical support like lifting a parent out of a wheelchair, or emotional support like calming down a parent having an anxiety attack. It could be as ordinary as making a cup of tea and washing the dishes, to highly personal care helping a parent in the bathroom. One estimate puts the number of under-18s doing caring work at 150,000. So how do they cope? How do they get a break? And how do the parents feel about being cared for by their children?

Arranged and forced marriages are part of life in Australia. Matten Olumee says he’s the best person to choose his sons’ future wives. The Afghan Australian says it makes perfect sense: he’s guided his sons through their lives and he’d be the better judge of character of their prospective spouses. Matten is just one of many Australians keeping the arranged marriage tradition alive. In some cases, their children are happily allowing their spouses to be chosen for them. Other people, however, are agreeing to the marriages because of family pressure. And some marriages aren’t just 'arranged’. They’re forced. Earlier this year, the Federal Government brought in new laws to prevent forced marriages, after a number of cases of young Australian women being pressured to wed or forced to marry abroad. This week Insight brings you a repeat of this program originally screened in March last year. The program looks at the grey area between arranged and forced marriages, and where Australian laws might clash with cultural traditions.

Fight the bulge? Or fight the discrimination? "The medical system is buckling under the sheer weight of the 60 per cent of people that are overweight and obese." 'We live in a fat phobic culture." Australians are getting fatter. And experts say diets just don’t work in the long term. But should we be looking at this debate differently? Can you be fat and healthy? And are people resorting to surgery too soon? This week on Insight: people who hate their fat, people who flaunt it, and people who’ve had it cut out.

"I know that my hymens have passed inspection in Australia and overseas and not been detected." – Les Blackstock, cosmetic surgeon Les Blackstock is proud of his reconstructed hymens. He says women are requesting them for a variety of reasons: because they have had pre-marital sex, they are victims of rape, or they "want to achieve a sense of a clean slate". He’s not the only Australian medical professional getting involved in virginity matters. Dr Wafa Samen, a Sydney-based gynaecologist, issues doctor’s certificates in English and in Arabic certifying that a hymen is intact. This week on Insight: virginity. Meet people who are holding onto it, who can’t wait to get rid of it, or who are trying to hide the fact that they don’t (or do) still have it.

Trouble in Turkey. What started as a rally opposing the building of a mall in Istanbul’s Gezi Park ended up morphing into weeks of large-scale protests against the government. And it turned ugly. At least five people were killed and many more injured in the clashes. Protesters accused Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of becoming authoritarian and deliberately dividing people along class and religious lines. But his supporters says he’s lifted the country out of recession and brought stability to their country. Has Erodogan been good for Turkey? Are the protests about the urban environment, class, religion, a park "¦ or something far more complex? This week on Insight, we bring together Turkish Australians to discuss what’s behind the unrest, and whether there is a deep rift within the Turkish population.

"Blokes have been just as vain as girls pretty much since the dawn of time." - Jimmy Meet Jan. He’s a 55 year old bloke who drives trains in Melbourne and is in a new relationship with a woman a bit younger than he is. Jan has just had liposuction to sculpt a six-pack into his stomach. And meet Johnny. He says he was about 13 years old when he begged his parents to let him have nose surgery. Now at 39, he has had five nose jobs and two ear operations. Johnny is Lebanese and says he’s never been happy with his 'look’. Jan and Johnny are two of the many Australian men taking grooming to the next level: from body hair waxing to botox and surgery. This week, Insight looks at what's driving men to change their looks and how the notion of male beauty changes over time and across cultures.

One in five women are stalked in their lifetime. "I lost my home, I lost my identity and had to have my name changed." - Nanette What drives someone to stalk another person? This week, Insight delves inside the minds of the stalkers. Those accused of stalking tell Insight what they do and why they do it – some are remorseful; others aren’t. They are joined by guests who share their intensely personal and harrowing accounts of being stalked by former partners and aggrieved clients. Psychologists and police also weigh in to explore the definition of stalking, whether the laws are doing enough to protect victims, and whether stalkers can be reformed.

Are we doing enough to track down missing people? Jenny Karmas came home from work one evening to an unlocked, empty house. Although her husband Sam had left his keys, wallet and ute at home, he was nowhere to be seen. He is still missing. Around 35,000 people go missing in Australia every year. Nearly 1,600 remain missing long term. How do those left behind deal with the disappearance of their loved ones? Are we doing enough to support them? In the lead up to National Missing Persons Week, Insight reveals that there is still no adequate national system to track these people down. Speaking to families of missing people, police from missing persons units, as well as a person who has been 'found’, Insight looks at why people go missing and whether enough is being done to find them.

How should Australia deal with asylum seekers? Asylum seekers are at the centre of another political fight after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced his recent asylum seeker policy. In response, Opposition leader Tony Abbott has proposed a military-led refugee plan, known as Operation Sovereign Borders. Under the government's new policy, all asylum seekers who come to Australia by boat will be sent to Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island for processing and resettlement. No one will end up here. The decision has left everyone asking: how should Australia deal with asylum seekers? And with the federal election looming, the discussion is even more important than ever. Six prominent Australians – Angry Anderson, Peter Reith, Catherine Deveny, Imogen Bailey, Michael Smith and Allan Asher – risk their lives to experience the reality of refugee life, as they embark on an extraordinary and confronting three week journey.

'If we do get to somebody in time after they've reached that traditional threshold of death, we can bring them back." – Dr Sam Parnia, intensive care physician. Colin was watching TV on the couch when he had a cardiac arrest. He was 'dead’ for at least 40 minutes before doctors finally brought him back to life. Cassandra was blue and bloated when she was seen floating in the water at a Sydney beach last year. It’s hard to know for sure, but rescuers say she didn’t breathe for at least 15 minutes before they revived her. Both Colin and Cassandra are fine today. Medical science is pushing the boundaries of death, with doctors now to able to resuscitate some patients even an hour after they have 'died'. The consequences of these spilt second decisions can be life-changing – for better and for worse. Speaking to people who have 'come back from the dead’ as well as doctors with conflicting views, Insight examines the latest in medical science and finds out who has the best chance of being revived, and whether we should be reviving people just because we can.

What happens when your sexuality clashes with your cultural, religious or political beliefs? In the lead up to the federal election, Labor Senator Penny Wong joins religious leaders and ordinary community members to discuss gay marriage. New Zealand, Britain, Brazil, South Africa and parts of Mexico and the United States have legalised same-sex marriage. In Australia, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has just announced that a re-elected Labor government would introduce a bill on same-sex marriage within the first 100 days if re-elected. He says Labor MPs would be allowed a conscience vote on the issue and that he himself would vote 'yes’. But Opposition leader Tony Abbott’s position remains the same: the Coalition won’t introduce a same sex marriage bill and won’t allow a conscience vote. But they haven’t ruled out revisiting it after the election. Polling shows a majority of Australians are in favour of gay marriage, but there is still strong opposition in the community. Some say their cultural traditions, their religious beliefs or their political positions mean they simply can’t accept it. In a fiery and emotional debate, Insight picks apart the different struggles people are having with gay marriage.

Would you want to live to 120? "There will be a world where people can look forward to living at least beyond 100." - Professor David Sinclair "Well I don’t want to live till I’m 100, I have a chronic disease. I’ve looked after my family and my close friends who have passed away." - Jacqueline Meredith, 81 Following Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott's struggle to answer questions on Aged Care during the first 2013 election debate, Insight asks what it’s like to be old. Really old. Australians are getting older and living longer. By 2050, almost a quarter of the Australian population will be aged over 65, compared to 14 per cent now. Is living longer a good thing, or are we dragging out a long deterioration? We hear from those aged in their 80s, 90s, even 100s. And we meet the Aussie geneticist working on a pill to 'cure ageing' and find out what he means when he talks about 'mouse-opause'.

Is the parole system broken? "Adrian Bayley was therefore both on parole and on bail when he murdered and raped Jill Meagher. He ought to have been known by then to be a recidivist serious, violent, sexual offender." – Callinan report. Last week, the Adult Parole Board of Victoria admitted it made a deadly mistake in letting Adrian Ernest Bayley remain on parole despite him breaking conditions just months before he went on to kill Melbourne woman Jill Meagher. In the wake of Ian Callinan’s damning review of Victoria’s parole system, Insight brings together key players from inside the parole and justice systems to ask: is parole working? Current parole board members will tell host Jenny Brockie how they make such crucial decisions. They’ll be joined by police, former judges, victims and two serious offenders.

Migrants in the marginals. Can the major parties win over a roomful of migrant voters from marginal seats? In a special live election program, migrant Australians from key battleground electorates will put their questions to Immigration Minister Tony Burke, and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Arthur Sinodinos. Areas with a large migrant population such as the marginal seats of Greenway, Banks, Lindsay and Reid in western Sydney, have traditionally been Labor heartland. The marginal seats of Bennelong in Sydney’s north-west, where almost half of the residents speak a language other than English, and Moreton in Brisbane’s south, Queensland’s most multicultural seat, are known to switch back and forth between parties. And may change yet again. This week, Insight will look at the policies that migrants are most concerned about. Watch to see whether Burke or Sinodinos can win their vote.

Fear. Torture. Psychological games. "How do you put a price on a loved one?" - Nicky Bonney Journalist Amanda Lindhout has just spoken out in detail for the first time about being kidnapped in Somalia for over a year alongside Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan. This week, Brennan and other guests join Insight to explore what happens when Australians are kidnapped overseas. Brennan’s sister Nicky Bonney, who handled the negotiations with her brother’s kidnappers, explains the delicate, high-stakes process and how she managed to hold her nerve as the days turned into weeks and months. The guests also debate the Australian Government’s 'no ransom’ policy and hear how families are turning to private operators to free their loved ones.

"She started hitting herself to try and get the boy out, So then we just said enough's enough." – Beck Seven-year-old school girl Maddi loves dancing, the colour pink and wearing dresses. But only a year ago Maddi was known to her friends and family as 'Maddokk’. She was born a boy. Psychologists and psychiatrists say people are presenting as transgender at younger and younger ages. But parents are at loss to know whether their child is truly transgender or if it’s "just a phase". And the stakes are high – especially with the availability of medical interventions like puberty blockers and hormone changers. This week Insight speaks with children and their families, asking how parents can be sure whether their child is transgender and how they’re choosing to deal with it.

"It doesn't have to be perfect to work. If it saves your life, isn't that more important?" – Natalie. Natalie has lost almost three decades’ worth of memories. She can’t remember giving birth to her children. She used to be a nurse but has forgotten her training. The memory loss happened after Natalie underwent multiple sessions of electroshock therapy to treat severe depression. But she says the memory loss is worth it . The treatment worked. She can now get through the day without the debilitating, dark moods and suicidal thoughts. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), also known as electroshock therapy, is used to treat people with conditions like mania, psychosis and severe, treatment-resistant depression. In Australia, the number of ECT treatments has almost doubled in the last ten years, with just under 30,000 sessions taking place in the last financial year. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists says ECT "is a highly therapeutic procedure with a strong evidence base". Most people don’t suffer the extreme memory loss that Natalie had, but short term memory loss is common. ECT can also have a high relapse rate, and many patients need "maintenance ECT" just to stay on an even keel. This week, Insight lifts the lid on a highly stigmatised treatment which is changing patients’ lives in all sorts of ways.

This week Insight speak to people claiming to be sex addicts, their therapists, psychologists with conflicting views and loved ones who have been impacted by their partners' behaviour. #Insightsbs

"You'll lose about two million brain cells every minute that goes by." - Neurologist Bruce Campbell When a stroke happens, the clock starts ticking. Treatments need to be given as soon as possible, in order to avoid lifelong disability or even death. And lots of us are affected. Stroke is second biggest killer and the leading cause of adult disability in Australia. In the background of this race against time, Australian doctors are clashing over one particular clot-busting drug called TPA. It’s a medicine that dissolves clots so they don’t have to be surgically removed. Neurologists say the treatment gives patients a precious chance at reducing disability. But emergency doctors say the treatment carries far too many risks as it can cause haemorrhages and even death. When anxious loved ones are told about treatment options, they have no time to mull over their decision. Every minute counts. This week Jenny Brockie hears from stroke patients who received different treatments and pieces together what’s had the best impact on their recovery – whether it was the TPA, or a surgical clot removal, or even a special rehab choir giving them back the power of speech.

Is alcohol ever ok for expectant mothers? This week, three young people open up to a studio audience about what it’s like to have Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Two of them can barely read or write. One has trouble speaking. One battles constant feelings of white hot anger. All their mothers drank during pregnancy. Drinking when pregnant can lead to a whole host of physical, behavioural and developmental problems known as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Many pregnant women have out-of-date information about alcohol. Previous guidelines used to say that women could drink up to seven standard drinks per week. That was reduced to zero in 2009, but experts fear the message isn’t getting out. And about half of all pregnancies are unplanned, meaning women might drink in the crucial early weeks of pregnancy and not realise the potential damage they’re doing.

"I just want to meet someone that I look like, get to know them." - Ross Hunter. Sperm donation in Australia has evolved radically in recent years. One of the biggest changes is that you can’t donate anonymously anymore. That’s making a huge difference to those born since those changes took effect – they’re able to find out the identity of their donor once they turn 18. But there’s a large group of adults born from anonymous donations who are still looking for answers about their origins. And they may never be able to find out. A Victorian Law Reform Committee recommended reforms that would reveal the identity of anonymous donors. But the government seems unlikely to go that far. So whose rights should prevail? Those of the donor or the donor conceived child? And how much of your identity comes from knowing your genetic links?

"I thought it was illegal and it was wrong." – Melanie When two cousins marry each other, is it cause for celebration? Or a scandal? Across Australia, cousins are having relationships, marrying and having children together. It’s legal but remains a taboo for many people. Children born to blood relatives are more susceptible to various health problems and there can be an increase in infant mortality and stillbirth rates. So how are couples and families dealing with this? And can genetic testing help predict any health risks?

Australian current affairs forum, with lively debate and powerful first-person stories. Phobias are much more than simply a fear or a dislike, they can be debilitating. Insight investigates when a fear becomes a full-blown phobia and looks at the best ways to treat them. Hosted by award-winning journalist Jenny Brockie.

We revisit Insight's discussion, originally aired in August last year, about why so many young men are resorting to violence. What makes a night on the town turn violent?

"Getting a terminal diagnosis sends you into turmoil in the beginning but then you run out of milk and bread and you realise that the grocery shopping still needs to be done." – Connie Johnson Some doctors say most patients do want to know and many doctors say it's their duty to inform them. Other doctors say it's irresponsible to hand over such information. SBS's Insight program has spoken to a group of terminally ill patients about what it's like to know their dying day, and what changes they have - and haven't - made to the remainder of their lives. Connie Johnson, 36, knows she doesn’t have much time left. She’s dying from cancer but hasn’t told her young children – they’re only six and seven years old and don’t have a good concept of time. Astley Friend, 26, is absolutely against finding out how much time he has left, even though his melanoma has recently doubled in size. He believes having a number creates a concrete future for him. Joining Connie and Astley are oncologists and palliative care specialists who explain the tricky art of determining a prognosis.

"I had a public persona that I showed everyone was the way a male should be. And I had a private persona that was the self-abuser, that just didn't cope psychologically." – Lindsay, 64. Meet the people who you would never guess would self-harm. One is a practicing mental health worker, who works with young people by day but has her own private struggles. One is a 15 year old girl who started cutting herself a few times a week after having problems in her group of friends at school. And another is a man in his 60s. He doesn’t self-harm anymore but still occasionally feels the urge. Some experts think there is a trend of people with no diagnosed psychological or mental health issues resorting to self-harming. Jenny Brockie asks why people do it and how they broke the cycle.