Farley, Melissa, Ann Cotton, Lynne Jacqueline, Sybil Zumbeck, Frida Spiwak, Maria E. Reyes, Dinorah Alvarez, Ufuk Sezgin (2003) ‘Prostitution and Trafficking in 9 Countries: Update on Violence and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder’ Journal of Trauma Practice 2 (3/4), pp. 33–74.
Frank, Katherine (2003) ‘Just Trying to Relax: Masculinity, Masculinizing Practices, and Strip Club Regulars’ The Journal of Sex Research 40 (1) pp. 61–75.
Home Office (2004b) Solutions and Strategies: Drug Problems and Street Sex Markets. UK Government, London.
Povey, D. (Ed) (2005) Crime in England and Wales 2003/2004: Supplementary Volume 1: Homicide and Gun Crime. Home Office Statistical Bulletin No. 02/05. Home Office, London.
Melinda Liszewski
(Australia)
A Collective Shout for Women and Girls
What started as an idea in the minds of a group of women who had only just met, has evolved into a dynamic grassroots campaign movement challenging the sexploitation of women and girls.
In late 2009, 7 women met to discuss an idea for a new national movement in Australia that would challenge the sexual objectification of women and girls in popular culture. Melinda Tankard Reist had just launched her collection, Getting Reaclass="underline" Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls. It was part of a growing body of research into the harms of an increasingly pornified culture and many women were asking ‘So what can we do?’ The name ‘Collective Shout: for a world free of sexploitation’ (www.collectiveshout.org) came from one of the book’s contributors, Tania Andrusiak, who described it as a “collective shout against the pornification of culture.” It was time to turn the growing community concern surrounding the sexual objectification of women and girls into grassroots action.
In 2009, the word ‘sexualisation’ was relatively new to the Australian discourse on the health and well-being of young people. Research papers from the USA, Australia and the UK all documented the ways in which children – especially girls – were sexualised (e.g. Rush and La Nauze, 2006 a, 2006 b; Zurbriggen et al., 2007; Papadopoulos, 2010). Yet despite the demonstrable harm to girls’ health, and an Australian Senate Inquiry into sexualisation, there had been little to no response from government and regulatory bodies.[215] The industries significantly responsible for sexualisation – advertisers, marketers, the fashion and beauty industries – had not been made accountable for the harm they were doing.
We began by establishing an online presence with a Website, Facebook page and Twitter account.[216] Interest in our movement was so great that even before the site was finished, concerned individuals began to sign up to Collective Shout. The Website was designed to act as an online meeting point for supporters. Members were invited to alert us to sexist and objectifying advertising and products by using the forum and blog facility. This allowed others in the Collective Shout community to join those members in protesting or boycotting offending products or services.
In our first 12 months, Collective Shout has racked up a significant number of wins against major corporations.
• The Australian Football League forced AFL Queensland and a Gold Coast football club to withdraw from a sponsorship deal between the sexist restaurant chain, Hooters, and an under 16s football team.[217]
• Major Australian underwear retailer Bonds withdrew their range of bras for girls as young as 6.[218]
• Complaints against Calvin Klein’s simulated sexual assault billboard were upheld by the Advertising Standards Board following our campaign against the portrayal of violence against women to sell jeans. This attracted significant worldwide media attention.[219]
• Collective Shout helped to stop a Gold Coast racecourse’s plans to hold a ‘bikini track sprint.’[220]
• National grocery retailer Woolworths pulled out of a joint ‘Lynx’ promotion which offered winners a visit to the sexist Playboy Mansion-styled ‘Lynx Lodge’.[221]
We have been part of global campaigns against: Amazon, for selling a guide to child sexual assault; Etsy, for selling rape greeting cards; and rapper Kanye West’s Monster video clip, in partnership with Adios Barbie, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (Australia), and Media Watch. We have a current campaign against the importation of toxic US-style child beauty (sexualisation) pageants to Australia.[222]
None of these wins would have been possible without the active participation of Collective Shout supporters who are growing in number and strength. Individual members have told us that they had previously felt alone in their concern about the sexual objectification of women and children. But now, with the knowledge that they are part of a bigger movement, they feel empowered to speak out and take action. They are challenging retailers about sexualised clothing for children, are bold enough to confront shop managers for their open display of pornography, and willing to persist with writing to the Advertising Standards Board about sexist advertising. At times, opposition to Collective Shout has been fierce, but when we support and encourage one another we stand strong for a world free of sexploitation. We invite you to join us.
Bibliography
Papadopoulos, Linda (2010) ‘Sexualisation of Young People: Review’, UK Home Office. Available at http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100413151441/homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news/sexualisation-young-people.html.
Rush, Emma and Andrea La Nauze (2006a) ‘Corporate Paedophilia: Sexualisation of children in Australia’. Discussion Paper, Number 90, The Australia Institute, Canberra, https://www.tai.org.au/documents/downloads/DP90.pdf.
Rush, Emma and Andrea La Nauze (2006b) ‘Letting Children be Children: Stopping the sexualisation of children in Australia’. Discussion Paper, Number 93, The Australia Institute, Canberra.
Tankard Reist, Melinda (Ed) (2009) Getting Reaclass="underline" Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls. Spinifex Press, North Melbourne.
Zurbriggen, Eileen L., Rebecca L. Collins, Sharon Lamb, Tomi-Ann Roberts, Deborah L. Tolman, Monique L. Ward, Jeanne Blake (2007) Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls. American Psychological Association. Available at http://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/girls/report.aspx.
Matt McCormack Evans
(UK)
Men Opposing Pornography in the UK
It was at university in 2008 that I experienced firsthand how pornography affected my perception of women as I caught myself constantly sexualising them in an increasingly demeaning way. I believed I could keep the time I spent using pornography partitioned away from the rest of my life, and my attitudes, values and behaviour. But it became more and more obvious that this ‘partitioning’ was not possible; that porn continued to negatively influence the way I viewed women and could not be separated from who I was and how I behaved.
217
3 http://community.collectiveshout.org/profiles/blogs/afl-withdraws-from-under-16s
http://melindatankardreist.com.au/2010/05/boys-babes-and-balls-hooters-mascots-for-u16-boys-footy/
219
5 http://collectiveshout.org/2010/10/win-calvin-klein-gang-rape-billboards-removed/
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8109416/calvin-klein-gang-rape-billboard-removed
222
8 http://collectiveshout.org/2010/11/amazon-delists-pedophiles-guide-to-love-and-pleasure/
http://melindatankardreist.com/2011/01/congratulations-you%E2%80%99ve-been-raped/
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/prevent-official-release-of-kanye-wests-women-hating-monster-video/
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Stop-Child-Beauty-Pageants-in-Australia/