Melinda Tankard Reist and Abigail Bray (eds)
Forthcoming Release—September 2011
… our primary concern with pornography is not that it is offensive (although it often is), but that it is subordination and degradation—mostly of women. It is a human rights issue.
The unprecedented mainstreaming of the global pornography industry is transforming the sexual politics of intimate and public life, popularising new forms of hardcore misogyny, and strongly contributing to the sexualisation of children. Yet challenges to the pornography industry continue to be dismissed as uncool, anti-sex and moral panics.
Unmasking the lies behind the selling of porn as ‘just a bit of fun’ Big Porn Inc reveals the shocking truths of an industry that trades in violence, crime and degradation. This fearless book will change the way you think about pornography.
Contributors: (Australia) Maggie Hamilton, Nina Funnell, Christopher Kendall, Stella, Susan Hawthorne, Sheila Jeffreys, Caroline Taylor, Meagan Tyler, Robi Sonderegger, Caroline Norma, Renate Klein, Helen Pringle, Betty McLellan, Melinda Tankard Reist, Abigail Bray, Melinda Liszewski. (International) Gail Dines, Catharine A MacKinnon, Melissa Farley, Diana Russell, Robert Jensen, Jeffrey Masson, Chyng Sun, Julia Long, Diane L Rosenfeld, Linda Thompson, Hiroshi Nakasatomi, Anne Mayne, Ruchira Gupta, Asja Armanda, Caroline, Natalie Nenadic, Anna van Heeswijk, Matt McCormack Evans.
This powerful and humane book is a breakthrough. Like Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring which began the environmental movement, Big Porn Inc shows us we are poisoning our own spirits, and that an ugly misuse of thousands of women, including very young children, is the dark and criminal underside of the insatiable need for more.
—Steve Biddulph, author of The New Manhood and The Secret of Happy Children.
Big Porn Inc is a must read for anyone interested in the human rights of women and children. The book is cogent and alarming, yet hopeful that together we can create a world where women and children are not hurt and degraded. Big Porn Inc is a much needed blueprint for ending the global porn industry.—Christine Stark, author of Nickel
[Big Porn Inc] unleashes a cascade of emotions—shock, disgust, guilt, rage, and heart-felt admiration for the victims of the porn industry … A landmark publication sure to help open the eyes of the public to the modern scourge of porn and amplify the call for greater decency and respect. – Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics at Charles Sturt University
Melinda Tankard Reist is a writer, speaker, blogger, media commentator and activist against the objectification of women and sexualisation of girls, and violence against women. Her third book Getting Real: Challenging the sexualisation of girls (2009) is in its fourth printing.
Dr Abigail Bray is a research fellow at the Social Justice Research Centre at Edith Cowan University. She has published widely in leading international academic journals on anorexia, child sexual abuse, moral panics, and child pornography. She is the author of Hélène Cixous: Writing and Sexual Difference (2004) and Body Talk: A Power Guide for Girls (2005) with Elizabeth Reid Boyd .
Release Date: 6 September
2011 RRP: $36.95 Special pre-release price of $30 – order here.
Review, extract or interview: publicity@spinifexpress.com.au / 03 9329 6088
3 Responses
Hi Melinda,
I wanted to draw your attention to a positive article about the life of recently deceased artist Margaret Olley, as written by Adele Horn in Saturday 30th of August, on p.18 of News Review in the Sydney Morning Herald. The article starts with, ‘In an era of airbrushing and cosmetic surgery, Margaret Olley’s extraordinary face challenges woman to reconsider the vexing business of aging gracefully.’ it’s a refreshing change from all the advertising for anti aging products! She goes on to say, “What does this face tell us? It tells us that conventional beauty is insignificant in the reckoning of a life. Olley, 88, was revered and loved because of who she was, not because she was at any stage, a beauty. Did anyone care that at some point Olley had, “let herself go?’ No, they wanted to paint her portrait. ” This article was a welcome contrast to the sad and wasteful end to the life of 27 year old Amy Winehouse. You may have an ally in Adele Horn whose article is beautifully and compellingly written?! Continue the rage Melinda! Love and Prayer, Julie-Anne Jones.
Hi Meinda,
I continue to keep up with you on CS, after you visited Figtree Anglican Church. I’m a great supporter of all that you are trying to achieve!
God Bless and keep You!
Love,
Julie-Anne.
Have a worthwhile and much deserved holiday and recharge your batteries Melinda as you will need to be fighting fit when the book is launched. I have such admiration for you and your colleagues and the work you do in the face of such opposition. If only your forthcoming book could be mandatory reading as part of Julia’s “education revolution” . Perhaps a complimentary copy with this suggestion could be part of your marketing strategy. Keep up the good work Melinda. Sincerely Shirley Owen