How sexualisation and objectification harms women and girls: What the research says
Since the beginning of our movement, we’ve been calling out the sexualisation and objectification of women and girls. We’ve argued that sexualising, objectifying and porn-themed representations of women – particularly when they are normalised, unremarkable and make up the backdrop to our lives – shape attitudes towards women. Essentially, when women are portrayed as sexual objects existing for men’s sexual entertainment and use, this has real-world consequences for women and girls.
Read moreAn apology + 1000’s of p*rnified baby clothes to be pulled! Our meeting with Articore
Our persistence has paid off!
After 7-weeks of calling out e.commerce platform TeePublic for selling baby clothes covered in p*rn themed and violent slogans, we can at last report progress.
On Monday we met with parent company Articore (formerly Redbubble). We received a verbal and written apology and an official undertaking to remove these products which should take about a week (many of those we have exposed before have already gone). Articore will also work on improving its tech and moderating systems to stop it happening again.
Special thanks to all supporters who took action!
Win! Wheels & Dollbaby complaint upheld
The power of one complaint: Speaking out leads to change
Collective Shout supporter, Isla, alerted us to a Wheels & Dollbaby ad promoting their 'St. Trinians collection - inspired by private schoolgirls who make their own rules'.
Wheels and Dollbaby is an Australian ‘rock n’ roll luxury clothing brand with an international market and status attracting big name clients. Clearly the label is popular. But why employ sexy private school girl tropes to push out its products?
School girls everywhere are routinely sexually harassed on a daily basis (and not just the private ones). On their way to school, on their way home.
Teepublic flogs child abuse onesies and incites violence against women
*Content Warning*
Online apparel company, Teepublic, is selling harmful and degrading clothing, including onesies for infants, with slogans glorifying violence against women and exploitation of children.
'I F*CK ON THE FIRST DATE Baby Bodysuit'
We found countless onesies depicting women being choked, bound, handcuffed, on a leash and chained up.
Read moreNew children's ad code fails to protect kids from BDSM-themed sex shop ads
A new Children's Advertising Code has come into effect as of December following a review by the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), but it is ultimately meaningless.
Read moreSHEIN flogs fishnet stockings for baby girls: We stop them!
Earlier this week a supporter sent us a screenshot of a sponsored post on Facebook where giant e-commerce platform SHEIN was pushing thigh-high fishnet stockings for infants. "This is a massive red flag for me" she said.
We discussed it as a team and our Movement Director, Melinda Tankard Reist said "This major online e-commerce platform thinks it’s ok to sexualise even babies by flogging thigh-high black fishnet stockings. Shein has linked babies with an item of clothing commonly associated with the sex trade. We have documented other examples of Shien’s exploitation and adultification of children including padded bras and see-through costumes. The company must be called out for pedo whistling."
So we decided to share the image on Facebook, Instagram, X(Twitter) and LinkedIn calling on all our supporters to contact SHEIN and demand they remove the item from their site.
Clearly this campaign struck a chord with many as we had hundreds of comments on our social media platforms.
"I have grave concerns about the mind of the person who thought these a good idea - I think they need help of some sort."
"What the actual! That’s disgusting"
"Appalling"
"Yuck!! 🤮 This is all kinds of wrong. Actually makes me feel physically sick."
"Words fail at this sickness"
"SHEIN this is not a good look….."
"Shame on you SHEIN"
"SHEIN this is disgusting. I will be spreading this info to everyone I know so that your company is boycotted."
"I wrote a book about pornification of reality and this is the worst thing I've ever seen."
"This is not the first time. SHEIN have a history of sexualising girls. We must call this out!"
Read moreMeta targets Collective Shout while Honey Birdette gets free pass
We recently shared to Facebook the latest Bondage, Discipline, Dominance, Submission, Sadism, and Masochism (BDSM) style posters hanging in Honey Birdette's shop windows for school holidays. We intentionally added blurred sections across the chest and genital region before posting. As a campaigning movement it is important to our strategy that we alert supporters when there is an ad that needs calling out.
The post read:
Westfield partners with p*rn giant for back to school child grooming - take action!
Content warning - *we have censored the ad
Our Engagement Coordinator Coralie Alison spotted this graphic p*rn themed Honey Birdette ad at a Westfield shopping centre while back-to-school shopping with young children.
The Playboy-owned s*x shop window ad - labelled ‘Stephanie Black’ - features near naked women in cut-out bondage wear that exposes their genital region. One is topless, wearing nipple pasties.
The shopping centre is currently running kids’ school holiday activities and other promos enticing parents to come purchase children’s school supplies.
Last year Ad Standards upheld community complaints against a similar shop window ad for the ‘Stephanie’ bondage range.
*Take action: Tell Westfield to pull Honey Birdette’s BDSM-p*rn themed ad
Contact Westfield ANZ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WestfieldANZ?mibextid=LQQJ4dInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/westfieldanzX: https://x.com/scentregroup?s=21&t=RcbohD8QJxBvbAh0SLE1VALinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/scentre-group/
Let us know if you get a response.
We then got alerted by Facebook that our post had violated their Community Standards on adult sexual solicitation. We were even warned that our account may be restricted or disabled.
Yet Honey Birdette's post (without blurring) was still able to be up on Facebook for anyone 13 and older to see.
We disagreed with Facebook's decision and asked for an appeal.
Our appeal was reviewed and our original post was found to not be in violation of Facebook's Community Standards and was reinstated.
We (a small charity challenging sexual exploitation) were targeted by Meta (a trillion dollar company) whilst Playboy owned sex shop Honey Birdette wasn't.
We have also lodged a complaint with Ad Standards and will update our supporters as soon as the Panel makes a determination. We encourage all community members concerned about the pornification of shop front window displays to write to their Shopping Centre management and to lodge their own complaint with Ad Standards. You can lodge a complaint here.
Read moreWhy do you show sexualised images and videos when you say you’re trying to fight this?
As part of our campaigning, we share these images to encourage supporters to take action. Most of these images are already in the public domain where they are visible to an all-ages audience. Where possible, we take steps to censor the images we share on our social media platforms.
History shows that most of our supporters are more compelled to take action when they see the offending ad or product. We take all necessary measures necessary to hold companies to account. Sometimes we have to be made uncomfortable in our efforts to protect our kids.(Armchair critics who take time to berate us rarely make complaints directly to companies whose ad or product they find so offensive. And no one is forced to follow us).
While we wish none of us had to see these images, our aim is to create change through collective action in the most successful way possible. Our record over 14 years shows our methods work.
Isn't sexualisation just in the eye of the beholder?
Some people who oppose our work challenging the sexualisation of girls claim that those who object to sexualisation are the ones sexualising children.
The claim that identifying or speaking about children being sexualised constitutes sexualisation is a deliberate misrepresentation of what sexualisation is and how it works. The problem is not with child advocates identifying where adults have sexualised children - but in adults sexualising children. While it’s convenient for those with vested interest to paint critics this way, companies who choose to deliberately costume, style and pose children in adult, sexualised ways for profit deserve to be called out and held accountable for the harms they cause. (See also: 'What is sexualisation?')
What is sexualisation?
According to The American Psychological Association, sexualisation occurs when:
- a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behaviour, to the exclusion of other characteristics;
- a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly defined) with being sexy;
- a person is sexually objectified — that is, made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making; and/or
- sexuality is inappropriately imposed on a person
Any one of these is an indication of sexualisation. The fourth is especially relevant to children. When children are imbued with adult sexuality, it is often imposed on rather than chosen by them. Self-motivated sexual exploration, on the other hand, is not sexualisation by our definition, nor is age-appropriate exposure to information about sexuality.
Opposing sexualisation is not the same as opposing sex or sexuality. We are for a culture in which individuals are able to develop and express healthy sexuality. To achieve this we must resist a culture that tells us we are no more than the sum of our sexual parts.
This video put together by Renee Chopping, provides a useful introduction to the issue.
See also:
Corporate Paedophilia: Sexualisation of children in Australia, Emma Rush, Andrew La Nauze, The Australia Institute, October 2006
Letting Children Be Children: Stopping the sexualisation of children in Australia, Emma Rush, Andrew La Nauze, The Australia Institute, December 2006
American Psychological Association Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualisation of Girls (2008)
Getting Real: Challenging the sexualisation of girls, ed Melinda Tankard Reist (Spinifex Press 2009)
‘The Market is Eating Our Children’, Dr Emma Rush, February 10, 2012