Feminist Conversations is a regular feature here at Feminists for Choice. Today we are talking to Melinda Tankard Reist, co-editor of Big Porn Inc: Exposing the harms of the global pornography industry. Melinda is also the co-founder of Collective Shout: for a world free of sexploitation. How did you become interested in researching pornography? There […]
From Mindfulness to Masturbation: Girlfriend’s January issue ‘Switched on: Sorting out the small things’ provides readers with 10 things they need to know about 2013, which ranges fascinatingly from the Australian Federal Election and our troops exiting Afghanistan, to One Direction’s World Tour and actors Ryan Gosling and Robert Paterson in Australia. ‘Are you a […]
Primed to accept brutality as normal in romantic relationships It’s not enough that classic works of literature like Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights are to be given a 50 Shades of Grey makeover (read how Catherine Earnshaw enjoys bondage sessions with Heathcliff!). Or that there are 50 Shades of Grey mother and […]
Does teen ‘erotic fiction’ help develop respect-based relationships? This morning I appeared on Channel 7’s Morning Show with Dr Nikki Goldstein to discuss the rise in ‘erotic fiction’ for young people. Here’s the segment. See also: ‘Shades of Grey: What now that BDSM has gone mainstream?’, Spinifex Press blog, December 5, 2012 ‘Sadistic Romance,’ Gail […]
For women my generation who see a massive magazine heading “The Big O” and think it’s about Roy Orbison, you probably won’t want to read further. The “Big O” in this case refers to orgasm – in fact “your giggle-free guide to orgasms.” Although if your daughter is a 13-year-old reader of Girlfriend (GF has […]
Girlfriend magazine seems to have forgotten what its ‘Self Respect REALITY CHECK’ was intended for. A recap – it was designed to be an upfront disclosure about the use of digital enhancement, airbrushing or other alterations to an image. But it seems to have become a farce. On the cover below an image of […]
‘Encouraging teens to wait until they feel ready for sex is not to promote oppression. It is to promote empowerment’ By Dr Emma Rush Clueless, to say the least. Michelle Griffin’s claim (‘Why teens should read raunchy novels and straight-up smut’) that “teens should read more porn”, not to mention her implied claim that more […]
Do young people need to read porn themed novels? That was the argument put by Age social affairs writer Michelle Griffin in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald this week. “Steamy airport novels, raunchy teen lit and straight-up smut”, argued Griffin, would help take young people away from “commercialised banal porn”. In her praise of […]
In compiling ‘Big Porn Inc: Exposing the harms of the global pornography industry’, the raw and painful experiences of women had a significant impact on us. Men who think viewing porn is harmless – and that the women who care for them shouldn’t take it badly (after all, aren’t the women in porn just ‘fake’ […]
It rakes in billions, exploits women, and leaves men disgusted with themselves. A few years ago at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas, the biggest porn convention in the United States, Abbywinters.com, an Australian porn company, had one of the largest booths. It bills itself as offering “real, passionate, unscripted” sexual activity by “happy, […]
Porn: the wrecking ball of authentic intimate relationships Came across this piece in the New York Magazine on the impact of pornography on male sexuality. It’s rare to see a man talk so honestly about how frequent on-line porn use impacts real world relationships. While of course the author appears to be writing from a purely […]
Gail Dines and MTR on Phillip Adams Late Night Live Gail Dines, author of Pornland: How porn has hijacked out sexuality – just published in Australia by Spinifex Press- and I were guests on ABC RN Late Night Live last night (repeated this afternoon). We discussed the harms of the global porn industry with well […]
