World champion boxer Billy Joe Saunders has had his license suspended by the British Boxing Board of Control following the release of his video instructing men on how to hit their female partners. 

Below is an expanded version of a piece that first appeared on RendezView.

Content Warning - sex shop advertising, depicts eroticised violence against women

For years, Honey Birdette sex shops have relied on sexist and objectifying representations of women to flog their products, despite claiming to empower women.

Owner of Krazy Tees pulls shirt from sale following public pressure

Back in 2013, after a supporter alerted us to rapper Tyler, The Creator's lyrics glorifying rape and extreme violence against women, we called on Immigration to revoke his visa for his upcoming tour. While we were not successful at this time, Tyler, The Creator's abuse of one of our young activists at his Sydney concert led to New Zealand barring him from entry the following year. In 2015, prior to his Australian tour, we again called on Immigration to act, and Tyler, The Creator posted a tweet claiming he had been banned from Australia, tagging our Operations Manager Coralie Alison and citing her as being responsible. As a result, Coralie was inundated with abuse and violent threats from Tyler, The Creator's followers.

Last month, Tyler, The Creator returned to Australia to perform again. Collective Shout Campaigns Manager Caitlin Roper provided comment in the Daily Telegraph.

Tyler The Creator finishes tour in Australia despite lyrics rapping about raping and murdering women

Despite being stopped from entering Australia in 2015, rapper Tyler, The Creator has just completed a successful three-show tour across the country.

US rapper Tyler Okonma, 28, was targeted by women’s rights group Collective Shout in 2015 ahead of a proposed Australian tour for his violent misogynistic lyrics, which include graphic descriptions of rape and murder.

Some of his most disturbing lyrics include: “I just wanna drag your lifeless body to the forest and fornicate with it,” “Rape a pregnant bitch and tell my friends I had a threesome,” “You call this shit rape but I think that rape’s fun,” and “Punches to the stomach where that bastard kid supposed to be.”

Tyler, The Creator just finished an Australian tour.

Collective Shout campaigns manager Caitlin Roper said the group was “disappointed, but unfortunately not surprised” Okonma was permitted to tour the country.

“It says that women and girls don’t matter very much.”

***

Many musicians regret their early music and even strike certain songs from their discography if they no longer align with their adult beliefs.

For example, Paramore removed their song Misery Business from their live shows despite it being the group’s most popular song.

However Okonma has never made any statement separating himself from his controversial lyrics.

“A lot of Tyler the Creator’s fans claim he has evolved as an artist, that he has changed, but we haven’t seen any evidence of this,” Ms Roper said.

“If there is genuine self-reflection and change, I think this is generally accompanied by some kind of acknowledgment or action.

“Tyler the Creator has built his career on the degradation of women, and made a lot of money in the process.”

Read more at the Daily Telegraph.

See also:

Collective Shout responds to common arguments from Tyler the Creator fans

Tyler, The Creator returns. But has true change really occurred?

We don't need to #FreeTylertheCreator- he's not a victim

For those that have been following our campaigns for a number of years you will remember that in 2015 we wrote a letter to Immigration regarding the visa application for rap artist Tyler, The Creator. A characteristic feature of his songs is retribution against women who he perceives have wronged him. For example, he sings about strangling and chopping up women who reject his sexual advances and raping their corpses. Before Immigration could make a decision Frontier Touring cancelled the Australian tour, not before Tyler incorrectly tweeted that he was banned. 

This tweet directed at one of our staff, Coralie Alison, led to mass online abuse from all around the world. So much so that her name was trending in 6 continents and the global head of Twitter's internet safety personally phoned her to check on her wellbeing. 

"I'd love to hear that he's changed and that he has something to say about it, because I haven't forgotten," says activist Coralie Alison from Collective Shout.

"Based on the continual threats I have coming through, even four years down the track, it's not something that just went away for me."

"I had to go to the police about it and there were people trying to track down where I lived, trying to threaten relatives and family members. I still haven't seen Tyler call out his fans to condemn that behaviour," says Alison.

"We got confirmation from Immigration at the time that they never got to make a decision," says Alison. "We were in correspondence with Immigration so we know for a fact that he was never officially banned.

"It's unfortunate because his tweet led to a lot of abuse, and it didn't have to be that way."

"A lot of people really look up to him and admire him, so he could use that to channel a positive message – in particular in Australia, where violence against women is still at epidemic rates," she says.

"I would love to see him speak out against those extremely violent and misogynistic songs that he created in his early days. And if he acknowledges the harm those songs can do, then I'd love to see him remove them from Spotify and Apple Music.

"Because if he's still profiting off that music and those lyrics, then he's still complicit in advocating the message those songs portray. And if he is still allowing those lyrics to influence young people, has true change really occurred?"

Read the full article in The Sydney Morning Herald here.

This Wicked Campervan was spotted in Brisbane last week with Victorian licence plates:

(pic: Boycott Wicked Campers Facebook)

Under existing laws, there is nothing to prevent this. Even when Ad Standards upholds complaints- as it has against Wicked Campers more than eighty times - they have no authority to enforce rulings, and there are no penalties for repeat offenders.

Collective Shout is calling for uniform laws across the country to deregister Wicked Campers if it does not abide Ad Standards rulings. Tasmania, ACT and Queensland have already passed these laws, but we still need MPs to enact similar legislation in Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, where a private members bill by MP Katrine Hilydard has received overwhelming support.

Just last month, the federal Minister for Women Kelly O’Dwyer called for a national response against Wicked Campers’ “sexist, misogynist and offensive slogans”, writing to state and territory ministers seeking their urgent support.

Also in March, festival promoter Adrian Buckley announced that Wicked Campers would be banned from Wollombi music festival. We welcomed this news, and are calling on other music festivals to do the same.

Splendour in the grass
Rainbow Serpent
Woodford
Big Pineapple

See also:

Petition: Drive Wicked Campers off the Road

Wollombi bans Wicked Campers. Others must do the same

Federal Minister for Women Kelly O'Dwyer calls for national response to Wicked Campers

WARNING: Graphic content

*Content warning- extreme sexual violence*

'Humour' that demeans women and trivialises family violence is not funny

‘Porn is presenting rough sex and anal sex as something normal, and teenage boys are learning from their screens that it often involves violence and humiliation’ – Nikki Gemmell

How encouraging to read the concerns a number of us have been attempting to raise for close on a decade now, in our national broadsheet The Australian.