Children are not miniature adults or fashion accessories: Emma Rush

Nothing about the Witchery images recognises that children are anything other than miniaturised adults. The images invite you to ‘read’ the children as adults It’s always a pleasure to publish the work of Dr Emma Rush. A lecturer in ethics at Charles Sturt University, Emma is lead author of two significant reports on the sexualisation […]

Women’s bodies are not sex aids

The backlash against corporate exploitation of women “Women are frequently positioned very differently to men in media. Often shown as passive, vulnerable, scantily clad, headless, and sometimes dead…” Today a guest post from eating disorder prevention specialist and member of Collective Shout’s core team,  Lydia Turner. It’s reprinted from the Fierce, Freethinking Fatties blog. In recent […]

Calvin Klein billboards glorifying violence against women removed today

Ad Standards Bureau upholds complaints   The Advertising Standards Board has upheld complaints against Calvin Klein for billboards suggestive of sexual violence against a woman. The Board received 50 complaints against the ad. I first mentioned the billboards in ‘Sexism: alive and well in Australia’, published on ABC The Drum Unleashed September 29. Last week I […]

What makes a girl? Unpacking the messages in girls’ magazines

Girls’ mag wrap September-October issues For many girls, the magazines they read are their lifestyle bibles. How should they look, dress, act and relate? What’s important in life? Who should they look up to? My analysis of the September and October issues of Girlfriend, Dolly, Girlpower, Totalgirl, Disney Girl and Little Angel shows that girls […]

Sexual assault counsellor asks: Why is it OK to use sexual violence as a marketing tool?

Calvin Klein: selling the degradation of women (Trigger warning for survivors of sexual assault)   “I cannot escape one simple fact: that if we continue to subject future generations of young men to great barrages of aggressive, misogynist, over-sexualized and violent imagery in pornography, movies, computer games and advertising, we will continue to see the rates […]

Shock, Horror: this is what Madonna looks like

Extreme Dolce & Gabanna photo shop exposed This image:                   Took two days to turn into this:                     The contrast is striking, highlighting once again how common is the false portray of cultural icons. It’s almost shocking to […]

Woolies responds to pressure:breaks up with Lynx!

Lynx Lodge promo ‘not in keeping with our values’    Last week I exposed the fact that Woolworths was in bed with Lynx in a promotion based on female servitude and sexual objectification.      Today Woolworths has announced they’ve broken up.  Here’s a letter the grocery corporation sent Collective Shout supporter Jade today:   […]

Bikini Track Sprint No Go: QLD Racing

Another Collective Shout victory Racing Queensland has assured Collective Shout that the Gold Coast Turf Club’s plans to race 150 women – described as ‘fillies and mares’ – in bikinis from barrier stalls December 4, will not go ahead. I wrote about the Club’s plan to parade women like animals Wednesday. Collective Shout covered it […]

Win! Bonds withdraws little girls bras

Bonds withdraws all ‘bra like’ products in girls sizes 6 and 8 A Victory for people power. Only three days ago, Collective Shout started a campaign against the latest bra product for girls aged 6. ‘More Bonds Bras for little girls’ can be read here This sparked three days of activism from our members and […]

Anti-women attitudes thriving: MTR in The Drum

Published today on Sexism: alive and well in Australia Virginia Haussegger is right to lament the status of women in other countries and the brutalities and indignities they suffer daily. But attitudes towards women in our own so-called liberated western democracy desperately need an overhaul as well. While I frequently write about the objectification of […]

Lynx hooks up with Woolies to promote female servitude

Why would Woolworths associate itself with the objectification of women? It’s not news that Lynx’s revels in degrading representations of women to promote its body spray. I’ve talked about the company’s ‘Spray More Get More’ campaign which features women transforming into out-of-control-sex-maniacs the second they smell Lynx on a man. Collective Shout has also exposed the sexism […]

Bratz may have had a makeover but hot, thin, sassy values remain the same

Still strutting their stuff Bratz dolls have undergone a makeover. Apparently they are more ‘demurely’ dressed and have less makeup. While the dolls may be marginally less skankified in appearance (and it really is marginal), the values they project remain the same. As shown on the company’s website, the Bratz dolls are still presented as […]