I’m honored to be launching the latest book by a woman who is (with Susan Hawthorne) not only my own publisher but who I count as one of my dearest friends. Dr. Renate Klein, author, researcher, biologist, social scientist, and feminist activist of 30 years. Renate – whose work was my first introduction to feminist […]
Strippers, sex hotlines, nudity — explicit images are being splashed across our kid’s school buses. Right now, buses are picking up school kids with these inappropriate ads for the upcoming adult sex event, Sexpo! As a mum of three young kids who regularly use public transport for school and sporting activities, I was appalled to […]
One of the tactics predators use to groom children for sexual abuse is exposing them to pornography. Yet the Ad Standards Board permits the sex industry to target children in advertisements for pornography and prostitution services. The ASB gives free rein to the sex industry to advertise sexual services in public spaces, including areas frequented […]
Are we OK with games that allow kids to perform eye lifts and nose jobs? Melinda Tankard Reist A large needle is jabbed into the lips of a young girl. Instantly they become sausage-shaped. Another girl, oxygen mask over her mouth, has her nose cut into with a scalpel. A larger-sized girl in saggy underwear […]
Chocolate slice-shaming: Are we giving kids the wrong messages about food? By Melinda Tankard Reist About 15 years ago, a message was sent home from my daughter’s primary school teacher. It wasn’t about chocolate slice. It was about her hair. My then six-year-old’s head was covered in tight, thick ringlets. While many clucked and cooed […]
Suicide rates for young Australians double in a decade This report on ABC News yesterday, ‘Suicide rates for young Australians highest in 10 years, researchers call for new prevention strategies’, reveals the distressing situation regarding the numbers of young people wanting to end their lives. In my talks in schools around the country, young people […]
Opinion: Our kids exposed to an adult world Melinda Tankard Reist The Courier-Mail is to be commended for its series on the hypersexualisation of our young people — especially the impacts on children by allowing them to be exposed to porn even before their first kiss. What has been documented here in the Generation Sext […]
MTR guest blogger for The Australian Childhood Foundation This blog article was authored by Melinda Tankard Reist. Melinda is best known for her work addressing sexualisation, objectification, harms of pornography, sexual exploitation, trafficking and violence against women. Co-founder of Collective Shout: for a world free of sexploitation. Melinda is also an ambassador for World Vision […]
Sign our petition! Maccas wants to be seen as a family-friendly restaurant and claims to care about the communities in which its global restaurant chains do business. But is that true when these are among some of the images playing on a music video loop in stores throughout Australia? Why do our kids have to […]
An interview with Porn Factor director Maree Crabbe Maree, there’s lots of things you could make films about. What led you to choose to make films about pornography? Through my work coordinating sexual violence prevention, sexual diversity and STI prevention programs with young people, I learnt that pornography was becoming a significant source of sexuality […]
‘The proliferation and globalisation of hypersexualised imagery and pornographic themes has led to destructive ideas about sex and makes healthy sexual exploration almost impossible…the weight of evidence about the trends in online consumption of pornography by children and young people, and the harms associated with online consumption of pornography, point to the urgent need to […]
Experts address packed-out UNSW theatre The ground-breaking symposium ‘Pornography and harms to children and young people’ held at the University of New South Wales in Sydney last Tuesday has been declared a major success. Hosted by Collective Shout, the Australia-first event brought together leading academics, researchers, educators, psychologists and youth and child advocates to examine […]
