Get porn out of corner stores

Recently, a letter organised by Kids Free to be Kids was presented to the Standing Committee of Attorney’s General censorship ministers with the signatures of over 30 child advocates, including educators, academics and psychologists.

These people called for the sale of restricted publications to be limited to adults-only premises. They also asked for a review of the classification of publications guidelines to determine whether there should be more stringent requirements for the display of the so-called “lads” magazines such as ‘People,’ ‘Picture’, 'Zoo', 'Ralph' magazines. You can read the full letter and view the signatories here.

As a grassroots movement challenging the sexualisation of children and objectification of women, Collective Shout supports these proposed measures. We call on all our members to make their voices heard in order to make this happen.

There are 3 things you can do

1. Write to your Members of Parliament

Write to your federal member or senator and your state member. Ask them whether they support the suggestions as outlined in the letter to the SCAG censorship committee and how they plan to respond. Tell them you will vote accordingly.

You can find out the contact details of your representatives here.

2. Write to the Attorney’s General

Contact your state Attorney General to let them know you support the suggested measures as outlined in the letter. Find the contact details of your state Attorney General here.

3. Write to supermarkets, petrol stations and general convenience stores.

Write or phone these companies and tell them that the display and sale of these magazines in their store amounts to discrimination. Ask them whether they will be removing the magazines altogether or whether they will be covering the magazines in plain packaging and selling them from a more discrete location.

We have identified the following service stations and supermarkets that we would like to hear from. You might choose to write to all of them, or just those with stores in your local area. Click on the logos for contact details. (Have we left anyone out? Let us know)

Petrol Stations

Note:

Mcdonalds contact included for people wanting to contact Mcdonalds-Fuelzone.

Shell/Coles express and BP have already made moves in the right direction. In 2008, Julie Gale of Kids Free 2B Kids investigated and exposed the availability of porn promoting sex with young girls, rape and incest, via convenience stores, petrol stations and milk bars. As a result, BP and Shell/Coles express removed all category 1 pornographic magazines (category 1 means restricted to 18+) from their stores nationwide. It is worth acknowledging this when writing letters to these two servos, but still challenging them on their open display of the 'lads mag' genre - 'Zoo,' 'People,'Picture,' 'Ralph' etc. BP had also said they were unable to dictate what their franchised stores stocked, so it was possible that these stores would not comply. See Kids Free to be kids press releases here, about halfway down the page for some background info.

Supermarkets



Finally - Tell us who you wrote to and what, if any response you received, by leaving a comment below. Please also vote on the poll we have on the front page of this site, indicating that you have taken action. 

Do it today! We need to demonstrate concern on this issue. Please let us know you've done this so we can keep track of our progress.

Not sure what to write? See a sample letter here. Do not copy this letter directly, write what you want to write. However feel free to use it as a guide for your own letter to get across the important points of this campaign.

Any questions? Feel free to contact us or simply post your question below.

UPDATE! See what some of our members have done to take action. Love your work Beth, Tim and Mark.