We Will Not Go Quietly: a place for sexual assault survivors to share their stories

Are you a survivor? Would you like to contribute? Kate Ravenscroft  – whose important piece on violence against women I published here  on the 100th year celebration of International Women’s Day – and her colleague Mel Hughes of Poetry 101 would like MTR blog readers to know about a new publication they are putting together […]

Hotel worker’s allegation of sexual assault is not Oh la la

A hotel worker’s allegations of sexual assault by IMF chief and possible French presidential candidate Dominique Strauss-Kahn are disturbing. But also disturbing is the way the case is being reported in some sections of the media. Strauss-Kahn has been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a woman at his expensive hotel suite in New York. […]

100 years of International Women’s Day: let’s end the tyranny of sexual violence

The ongoing terrorism of sexual violence Violence against women is a scourge on the planet. When I’m asked what is the greatest human rights violation in the world today, I respond, violence against women. Female genital mutilation, honour killings, dowry deaths, forced marriage, sexual slavery, trafficking to serve the demands of prostitution and pornography, female […]

Dear Brian McFadden:I was damaged after being taken advantage of

Woman shares impact of McFadden ‘Can’t wait to do some damage’ song *Trigger warning for survivors of sexual assault Yesterday ABC The Drum Unleashed published my piece ‘New song by Delta’s man promotes rape myth’ about Brian McFadden’s new single, released Monday, titled ‘Just as you are (Drunk at the Bar)’ which contains the lines: […]

Brian McFadden’s fun song about sexually exploiting women

New song by Delta’s man feeds rape myth Can someone please tell Brian McFadden that ‘taking advantage’ of a woman when she’s drunk is sexual assault and against the law? Because he seems to have missed the announcement. The Irish singer-songwriter and ‘honorary’ Australian on account of his four-year engagement to songstress Delta Goodrem, McFadden […]

Monster video: a rape scenario set to a soundtrack

What’s entertaining about women in lingerie hanging by their necks on chains? What’s artful about images of drugged, unconscious women about to be sexually assaulted? Nothing. It’s misogyny, graphic and simple. Instead of artistic expression, political and social commentator Zerlina Maxwell described Kanye West’s music video for Monster as “a rape scenario set to a […]

Congratulations: You’ve been raped!

Etsy’s sadistic greeting card for rape survivors I was just about to post this blog when I got news through twitter that the on-line seller of vintage and handmade products Esty had changed its policy and was prohibiting items and listings that disparage or promote hate.   However, as the rape cards and other offensive cards […]

Act to prevent release of Kanye West’s monstrous women hating music video

Sign petition – say no to eroticised violence against women On December 10, I wrote an opinion piece titled ‘Who says female corpses aren’t sexy?’ for ABC The Drum Unleashed, reprinted here the same day. The piece has so far received 1086 comments (many helpfully informing me I am mentally ill and hung up about sex). Here’s an […]

Why is Amazon promoting sexual abuse of children?

Latest child abuse book removed but others remain [trigger warning for survivors of child sexual assault] After a global protest and threats of boycott, on-line bookseller Amazon removed The Pedophile’s Guide to Love & Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code of Conduct from its site yesterday. The book endorses sexual crimes against children. The E. book by […]

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 […]

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 […]

Anger over 12-year-old prostituted girl prompts calls for law change

On Monday I ran here  a guest blog post by Caroline S. Taylor, Foundation Chair in Social Justice and Head of the Social Justice Research Centre at Edith Cowan University, on the case of the 12-year-old Tasmanian girl forced into prostitution by her mother and her mother’s boyfriend, while in the care of community protection […]