Prostitution “a form of violence against women and girls”: UN Special Rapporteur calls for abolitionist model + cites Collective Shout
Reem Alsalem, United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences has delivered her report on prostitution, examining violence against women and girls “as a form, cause and consequence of prostitution”. We welcome her findings, which condemn prostitution as a form of male violence against women and her call for a human rights abolitionist approach to the sex trade.
Ms Alsalem reviewed 300 submissions (including ours) from around 60 countries, including submissions and consultations from sex trade survivors before publishing her report. We were pleased to be cited in her final report.
In her concluding statements, she said:
Read moreI have complied with the obligations to consult widely and to listen. However, this Council has not asked me to listen only, and not listen to those that speak loudest but also to bring in my independent and impartial analysis from a human rights perspective.
“I wasn’t raped, but...”: The phenomenon of unacknowledged rape and sexual assault
For Rachel Thompson, it took ten years to realise what had happened to her was sexual assault.
Read moreMTR opinion piece in Courier Mail: ‘Ready for sex?’ Horror note found in eight-year-old’s bag
Published by Courier Mail - May 17, 2021
Parents have shared their horror stories as more and more young children’s behaviour is impacted by exposure to porn.
Read moreA year ago a Federal inquiry recommended age verification to protect kids from porn. But the Government hasn’t responded - why not?
Response to Age Verification Inquiry report overdue in face of sex abuse crisis in schools
In March 2020, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs’ Inquiry released its report on age verification for online wagering and pornography. Now over a year old, the report - Protecting the Age of Innocence- recommended a roadmap for an age verification system to help protect children from exposure to online porn.
Read moreMTR opinion piece on ABC: Why “consent” doesn’t stand a chance against porn culture
Published March 10 on ABC Religion and Ethics
Warning: this article contains accounts of sexual assault that many will find disturbing.
“Most of my friends had either been raped, sexually assaulted or received unwanted sexual attention by the time we were in year 11.”
Read moreGirls school students petition Klara cosmetics to pull "Just kiss me, don't ask" ad campaign
We were recently alerted to a petition started by students from a Melbourne girls school. The petition calls for Klara Cosmetics to pull its "just kiss me don't ask" ads which also includes the phrase "Be passionate and leave no evidence."
Read more‘I just became an object’: the porn driven experiment on young people’s sexuality
Over exposure is making teens pawns to porn
A 15-year-old boy confided in me after I addressed his class at a Sydney school last year. He cried as he told me he had been using porn since the age of nine. He didn't have a social life, had few friends, had never had a girlfriend. His life revolved around online porn. He wanted to stop, he said, but didn't know how.
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