Hollie McNish rejects public shaming for breastfeeding her daughter I have breastfed four babies. I’m a big fan. I know all the arguments to support it. But I’ve never heard anything quite like this. Listen to Hollie McNish, a published UK poet and spoken word artist, expose what it is like to be publicly shamed […]
We need more men like this For the past few weeks I’ve been addressing female and male students around the country on the issue of the representation of women and girls in media and popular culture. I’ve been urging the boys to reject cultural messaging that socialises them into a calloused and brutalised version of […]
US RAP artist Tyler the Creator sings songs advocating rape and extreme violence against women. His lyrics include themes of murder, genital mutilation, stuffing women into car boots, trapping them in his basement, raping their corpses and burying their bodies. In Tyler’s world, women are sluts, bitches and ‘‘hos’’ who invite criminal acts. They have […]
Rapper promotes rape and violence against women. We don’t want him here. As published on Collective Shout *TRIGGER WARNING* Graphic descriptions of rape and violence against women Collective Shout is urgently calling on the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Hon. Brendan O’Connor, to revoke the visa granted to Tyler the Creator. Rapper ‘Tyler the Creator’ […]
A gutsy victory for all women So encouraged to see what can happen when women rise up and declare they’ve had enough. I hope these accounts inspire further action to stop online violence against women and girls. “This is the story of a feminist takeover,” wrote the author of Feminist at Sea, a WordPress blog. […]
‘Once a self is ceded it’s hard to get back’ Gosh this is good. It appeared on Huffington Post last month but I’ve only just read it. It is the kind of piece which needs to be read slowly, and a few times, it contains so much to absorb. Here’s an extract: The problem is […]
I was interviewed by Leigh Hatcher for Open House on Sunday night. If you’re interested, here’s what we talked about. OH_MelindaTankardReistSexualisation_2013-04-28
Dear Mr. Jónasson, We are writing to express our support for current efforts in Iceland to develop and implement legal limits on violent Internet pornography. As scholars, medical and public health professionals, social service providers, and community activists, we commend your government’s determination to confront the harms of pornography. As part of a comprehensive approach […]
On Saturday I appeared on Weekend Sunrise with Danielle Egan, US author of a new book which argues concerns about the sexualisation of girls are exaggerated. You can watch it here Beauty Redefined: Victoria’s Dirty Little Secret The time-wasting, body-hating self-objectification proved to go hand-in-hand with such “bold, sexy, powerful” ideals – though ideal for […]
Topless women in newspapers are not ‘tough, rough, challenging’ ideas’ In a piece titled ‘Politician-Led Attack on Media Freedom is a Sentence on the public’, in The Australian last Thursday, Spiked Online editor Brendan O’Neill wrote an impassioned defence of free speech. O’Neill argued that attacks on press freedom were not only attacks on those […]
There’s been a ton of media coverage on the adultification and sexualisation of children lately. This program aired on Channel 7’s Today Tonight Monday. Click picture below to view clip. And just a clarification re the KMart campaign. It wasn’t actually me who was instrumental in getting KMart to pull certain items – that win […]
IT WAS International Women’s Day last Friday. We were supposed to celebrate but I struggled to get into party mood. The 101st anniversary of the global event acknowledged the economic, political and social achievements of women. But the relentless onslaught of harms and injuries to women and girls continues and I wonder, has anything really […]
