Collective Shout, the grassroots campaign movement against the objectification of women and sexualisation of girls, announces Kerryn Baird as its new Ambassador. The announcement was made at a fundraising event for the movement held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney last night for International Day of the Girl Child. Addressing the event was […]
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 […]
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 glamorising and approval of teen girl audiences of the captioned desire to depart from life is surely one of the most dangerous digital conversations unfolding today’ These postings provide a snapshot of the Instagram dialogue trending amongst Australian adolescent girls. It is a virtual battleground of life and death on the popular image-sharing […]
“[I want] better education regarding sex for both boys and girls [and] information about pornography, and the way it influences harmful sexual practices.” These are the words of Lucy, aged 15, one of 600 young Australian women and girls who took part in a just-released survey commissioned by Plan Australia and Our Watch. The survey, conducted […]
We must half messages and imagery which reduces women to sexual objects, fosters a culture which condones sexual violence, and pressures young girls to act in prematurely sexual ways Collective Shout has made a submission to the NSW Parliamentary Committee on Children and Young People Inquiry into sexualisation. We hope this inquiry won’t go the […]
Company slammed for aiding sexual fantasies for young girls On Tuesday night, young Melbourne supporter (and kayaking buddy) Verity Thompson sent me a link through Facebook messenger, to the website of Chemist Warehouse, which featured a disembodied ‘virgin pussy’ – a replica vagina of a young girl with ‘realistic hymen’ just waiting for a man […]
‘We are enrolling them into a billion-dollar global industry that objectifies, oppresses and conditions women to believe they are created for sex’ Jemma Nicoll The studio is dim. Neon lights flash around the room in a club-esque fashion. A swarm of what appears to be 6-year-old girls climb, twist and twirl around the floor-to-ceiling iconic […]
Fat talk perpetuates and normalises body shame Rebecca Guzelian How does it make you feel when someone close to you tells you they feel fat? As a woman in my mid-20s, this is something I experience every day – from my friends, family and others around me. And now, I have to see it on […]
Profound experiences with W.A students on my last roadtrip. Last month I spoke 27 times in three and a half weeks in the ACT, Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales. I spoke on the objectification of women and sexualisation of girls in media and popular culture, the sexual world of the 21st century adolescent, […]
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 […]
Violence, Teenagers, and Gonzo Porn By Clara Bennathan Reprinted with permission. Posted originally on Bad Housekeeping I have seen a sixteen-year-old boy weeping in distress after getting a girl’s pube stuck in his teeth, I hear he was unshaven. I have seen boys showing each other porn on their iPhones on the train home from […]
