Teen girl takes life after boys share image of her graffitied and defaced body

Sexting, Shame and Suicide: a shocking story of sexual assault in the digital age This essay  was published last September but I’ve only just come across it. I keep thinking of Audrie and her body defaced and graffitied, the images shared and consumed. Her waking in horror to discover the markings all over her body […]

‘I have lost count of how many women have told me they have been raped. All of the rapists have gotten away with it while the women are burdened with years of unspeakable shame and self-hatred’ –an explosive new manifesto against rape culture

‘Misogyny Reloaded’ by Abigail Bray In 2011 Dr Abigail Bray, a researcher and writer now living in the South of France, joined with me in co-editing Big Porn Inc: Exposing the Harms of the Global Pornography Industry published in 2011 by Spinifex Press. Spinifex has just released Abigail’s new book Misogyny Reloaded . This is an extract […]

Cultural messages perpetuate myth violence is sexy

A female teacher at a Tasmanian school where I spoke on the objectification of women could not stay to hear the end of my talk. The images I showed were too confronting, bringing back traumas suffered two decades ago. ”The very acts that have become part of my trauma were there on display as a […]

All these women might still be alive if their killers had not been paroled

Parole board failures a matter of life and death When murderer John Coombes was convicted for a second murder, what did the Adult Parole Board do? Let him out of prison in 2007 to murder his friend, foster mother Raechel Betts, and throw her body parts into the sea. When violent offender William Watkins was […]

Why are we giving rape-is-fun rapper a platform?

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 […]

Calling on Immigration Minister: Revoke Tyler the Creator’s Australian visa

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’ […]

90,000 signatures, 10,000 phone calls: Reebok drops rapper Rick Ross over rape lyrics

‘We showed companies all over the world that rewarding rape is not just wrong, it’s a bad marketing strategy’ So happy to report some good news. U.S based women’s protest movement UltraViolet led a massive protest against rapper Rick Ross and his endorsement deal with Reebok, prompted by his lyrics in the Rocco song ‘U.O.E.N.O’., […]

‘What the book does so well is to capture, discuss, analyze and provide evidence for the many ways that pornography is harmful to women and children’: Metapsychology reviews Big Porn Inc

‘The pornification of culture and the normalization of (increasingly violent) porn is contributing to a society where pornography, even the most brutal forms, are in many ways sanctioned, defended as well as protected’   By Hennie Weiss Edited by Melinda Tankard Reist and Abigail Bray, Big Porn Inc: Exposing the Harms of the Global Pornography […]