Melinda Tankard Reist is an author, speaker, media commentator, blogger and advocate for women and girls. She is co-founder of the grassroots campaigning movement, Collective Shout: for a world free of sexploitation, exposing corporations, advertisers and marketers who objectify women and sexualise girls to sell products and services. Melinda is author/editor of six books including Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls (Spinifex Press, 2009), now in its 9th printing, Big Porn Inc: Exposing the harms of the global pornography industry (Spinifex Press, 2011, co-edited with Dr Abigail Bray), (Spinifex Press, co-edited with Dr Caroline Norma) Prostitution Narratives: Stories of survival in the sex trade and her newly released Broken Bonds: Surrogate mothers speak out (Spinifex Press, 2019, co-edited with Jennifer Lahl and Renate Klein). An opinion writer, Melinda is also a regular on morning television and has appeared on ABC's Q&A and The Gruen Sessions as well as many other TV and radio programs.
An Australian activist discusses forces behind the wave of recent sexual abuse allegations. Quote: Given it is the biggest sex educator in the world, given its predatory nature and ease of access to children and young people and given the global research, there is no doubt it is fuelling abuse by eroticising that abuse. It normalises sexual violence.
Date posted: 2021-04-06
The surrogacy industry treats women like disposable commodities.
Date posted: 2014-03-20
It is now widely acknowledged that the unprecedented mainstreaming of the global pornography industry is transforming intimate sexual relationships and public life, popularising new forms of hardcore misogyny, and strongly contributing to the sexualisation of children. Yet challenges to the pornography industry continue to be dismissed as uncool, anti-sex and moral panics.
Date posted: 2011-11-15
Australian women raise a collective shout against the pornification of culture and the harm it is doing.
Date posted: 2010-09-11