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March 14, 2023
The Hellscape Files
We know that our sexuality is central and significant to our human existence - it is a complex package of functions - biological surely, but also it allows us crucial intimate connection with other human beings, it is a powerful regulator and stress ...
We know that our sexuality is central and significant to our human existence - it is a complex package of functions - biological surely, but also it allows us crucial intimate connection with other human beings, it is a powerful regulator and stress reducer, and a portal to joy and many other life-giving emotions and expressions.
And yet, we have allowed a massive commercial industry that brutally exploits vulnerable women and children for men’s disconnected, private, anonymous sexual gratification, to invade every corner of our lives and culture. This new breed of porn is unrecognizable from the porn mags of yesterday, and carry a very different message - that of violent misogyny.
Melinda Tankard Reist, author, activist and founder of the grassroots organization Collective Shout, have spent the last two decades staring into the abyss, reporting on the destruction that today’s porn is causing - to relationships, families, schools, communities - and our humanity.
However, not content with just reporting, Melinda and Collective Shout are also going after and shutting down predatory peddlers and their goods and services both online and in real life. We talk about all of the above, Melinda's new book He Chose Porn Over Me, and the bravery needed for this type of activism.
Credits
Host: Elle Kamihira
Produced by Elle Kamihira
Audio Engineering by Jason Sheesley at Abridged Audio
Cover Art by Bee Johnson
Music by Beware of Darkness
Melinda Tankard Reist
Author, Speaker & Advocate
Melinda Tankard Reist is an author, speaker, blogger and advocate for young people. She is best known for her work addressing sexualization, objectification, harms of pornography, sexual exploitation, trafficking and violence against women. Melinda is author/editor of seven books including Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualization of Girls (2009), Big Porn Inc: Exposing the harms of the global pornography industry (2011, co-edited with Dr Abigail Bray) and Prostitution Narratives: Stories of survival in the sex trade (co-edited with Dr Caroline Norma).
An opinion writer and media commentator, Melinda has appeared on ABC’s Q&A and The Gruen Sessions as well as many other TV and radio programs. Melinda is co-founder and Movement Director of the grassroots campaigning movement Collective Shout: for a world free of sexploitation, exposing corporations, advertisers and marketers who objectify women and sexualize girls to sell products and services. An Ambassador for World Vision Australia, Compassion Australia, HagarNZ and the youth mentoring body, The Raise Foundation, Melinda is also Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Culture and Ethics, Notre Dame University, Sydney. Melinda is named in the Who’s Who of Australian Women and the World Who’s Who of Women.