Every year in the lead up to Christmas we release our Crossed Off list – an annual blacklist of business offenders who objectify women and sexualise girls in their advertising, products and services – and call on our supporters to boycott these unethical companies.

This is our 15th Crossed off blacklist to help guide you in your shopping choices.

This year’s list includes a number of repeat offenders as well as new additions we thought you should know about.

The lineup includes Melbourne-based t.shirt company Teepublic (owned by Articore) for trading in violence against women, global e.commerce giant Shein for sexualising children in products and advertising, and repeat offender - with 80 advertising ethics code violations to its name, Honey Birdette.

Once again we’re asking supporters to send these companies a message that we don’t tolerate business practices which cause real harm to women and girls. If they don’t understand Corporate Social Responsibility, perhaps losing money might help them see its importance.

Looking for ethical alternatives? Check out our CSR Pledge Partners – companies which refuse to profit from objectifying portrayals of women and girls. Please reward them for doing the right thing!

There are a few claims being made - even on our socials - that are critical of the Government's Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024.

We want to correct them.

‘Australia’s social media age minimum will reduce the online harms that are affecting young people…And it will stop social media companies from continuing to use predatory business practices to take advantage of vulnerable young people’

Andrew Leigh, MP, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasuries and Employment and member for Fraser, ACT, has written a significant essay explaining the rationale behind the Government’s move to implement raising the age of access to social media to 16, which we have supported. The essay was published by Jonathan Haidt, prominent social psychologist and author of the best-seller ‘The Anxious Generation’, on Substack yesterday. We thought it warranted an even wider audience so have extracted some key elements here. You can find the full piece here: (subscriber only – but you can sign up to Haidt’s ‘After Babel’ newsletter for free – here. 

The findings of a national survey of Australian school teachers reveal widespread, entrenched and normalised harmful sexual behaviours in Australian schools.

The survey results are analysed in the report ‘Sexual Harassment of Teachers’ (SHoT) to be released Monday. The report is published by Collective Shout in partnership with parenting author and educator Maggie Dent.

The aim of the survey was to gain understanding of the prevalence of sexual harassment in Australian schools. More than 1000 teachers responded.

Teachers – almost all female – reported being subjected to routine sexual harassment by male students. They were propositioned, threatened with rape, subjected to sexist slurs and mimicking of sex acts seen in pornography.

While trying to perform their duties as educators, they were sexually moaned, groaned, and grunted at, asked for nudes and intimidated. Some of the harmful sexual behaviours were exhibited by children from as young as Kindergarten to Year 3.

Many female teachers reported they did not feel safe at work and the response from executives and principals was inadequate when they did report sexual harassment.

Teachers reported dealing with multiple disclosures from adolescent victims of harmful sexual behaviours.

Chinese online marketplace Temu is selling child sex abuse dolls, torsos and disembodied doll heads marketed for men’s sexual use.

The company, which has faced allegations of forced labour and child slavery, offers heavily discounted products which are typically shipped to customers directly from China. China is one of the biggest producers of child sex abuse dolls in the world.

We’ve discovered a number of child sex abuse dolls on the platform – full bodies, torsos, disembodied legs and heads.

*Update: Millennium has resumed its shareholder position in RCIHH. We will continue to call on them to divest and add RCIHH to their no-buy list.

After 10 years of propping up and profiting from strip club company RCI Hospitality Holdings (RCIHH), and following our calls to divest, US investment firm Millennium Management has quietly sold off all of its shares. According to a May 15 report filed by Millennium, as of March 31, 2024 it owned zero shares in the firm.

Since 2019 we've been highlighting the harms of deepfake and nudifying apps and calling for their removal. 

Last week the Government finally announced a crackdown on the creation of deepfake p*rnography.

News.com reported "That included legislation to outlaw the creation and non-consensual distribution of deepfake – a portmanteau of ‘deep learning’ and ‘fake’ – porn, and the sharing of sexually-explicit material using technology such as artificial intelligence."

From the PM's announcement:

The Albanese Government will introduce legislation to ban the creation and non-consensual distribution of deepfake p*rnography. Digitally created and altered sexually explicit material is a damaging form of abuse against women and girls that can inflict deep harm on victims. The reforms will make clear that creating and sharing sexually explicit material without consent, using technology like artificial intelligence will be subject to serious criminal penalties.