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Melinda Tankard Reist

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Melinda Tankard Reist
BornMelinda Tankard
(1963-09-23) 23 September 1963 (age 61)
Mildura, Australia
OccupationCommentator, author, blogger
GenreNon-fiction
SubjectAnti-pornography, anti-prostitution, anti-abortion, feminism, violence against women, conservatism, Christianity

Melinda Tankard Reist (born 23 September 1963)[1] is an Australian political activist, writer, speaker and media commentator principally known for her anti-pornography campaigns. She describes herself as "an advocate for women and girls" and a "pro-life feminist".[2][3][4]: 84  Her campaigns to ban X-rated films have gained national attention in Australia.[4]

Tankard Reist is the founder of Collective Shout, a non-profit organisation best known for leading a successful campaign to block artist Tyler, the Creator from touring in Australia due to lyrics considered misogynistic,[5] as well as the removal of hundreds of Steam and Itch.io games alleged to have depicted rape, incest, and child abuse, but which journalistic reports said included removals of non-pornographic games with LGBTQ content and domestic violence recovery content.[6][7][8]

Early life

Tankard Reist was born in Mildura, Victoria. She completed her secondary education at Mildura High School and then studied journalism at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. She took up a cadetship at the Sunraysia Daily, where she worked from 1983 to 1987. As a recipient of a Rotary Foundation scholarship, she furthered her studies in journalism at the California State University, Long Beach, during 1987 and 1988.

Career

On her return to Australia, Tankard Reist worked as a freelance contributor to newspapers and ABC radio. From 1991 to 1993, she lived in Southeast Asia, where she was involved in voluntary aid work, including caring for infants with disabilities who had been relinquished for adoption. On her return to Australia, she took up a position as an advisor to independent Senator Brian Harradine from 1993 to 2005.[9]

In 2009, Tankard Reist spoke at a forum called, "Event: Inspiring Christians Series" in the Belconnen Baptist Church on behalf of Sheridan Voysey.[10]

Tankard Reist was on the founding committee of Karinya House for Mothers and Babies, a supported accommodation and outreach service for women facing pregnancy without support, and Erin House transitional housing for women post-birth.[citation needed] She worked as a consultant for NGOs with a focus on global poverty, including World Vision Australia from 2005 to 2008, where she was involved in the development of the organisation's Don't Trade Lives campaign.[citation needed]

Tankard Reist is a contributing editor for five books published by Duffy & Snellgrove and Spinifex Press, including works co-authored with Abigail Bray and Caroline Norma.[11] In response to criticism that Reist's views were "pro-life" and thus she "can't be a feminist", her self-described radical feminist publishers at Spinifex Press defended Reist's feminism as authentic in a 2012 Religion & Ethics column (via ABC).[12] Spinifex Press held anti-trans events.[13]

Women's Forum Australia

Main article: Women's Forum Australia

She was the founding director of Women's Forum Australia, which describes itself as "an independent think tank that undertakes research, education and public policy development on social, economic, health and cultural issues affecting women."[14] The group was described in the academic journal Women's Studies International Forum as an "anti-abortion lobby".[4]: 84  It also promotes a trans-exclusionary ideology and campaigns against transgender rights.[15]

Collective Shout

Main article: Collective Shout

In 2008,[4]: 84  she co-founded Collective Shout for a World Free of Sexploitation (or simply Collective Shout), which self-describes as "a grassroots movement challenging the objectification of women and sexualisation of girls in media, advertising and popular culture."[16] Reist is also the "movement director" of the organisation.[17] The campaigns manager for the group is Caitlin Roper, author of Sex Dolls, Robots and Woman Hating: The Case for Resistance.[18] The group rose to prominence in 2025 after lobbying against the digital distribution platforms Steam and Itch.io. Collective Shout has been described as an anti-porn lobbying group by The Guardian, Le Monde and other news outlets;[19][20][21][22] as well as specialized gaming and LGBGTQ+ news outlets.[23][24][25][26]

Writings

  • Tankard Reist, Melinda, ed. (2000), Giving Sorrow Words: Women's Stories of Grief After Abortion, Duffy & Snellgrove, ISBN 978-1-875989-67-6
  • Tankard Reist, Melinda, ed. (2006), Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics, Spinifex Press, ISBN 978-1-74219-048-8[27]
  • Tankard Reist, Melinda, ed. (2009), Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls, Spinifex Press, ISBN 978-1-876756-75-8
  • Tankard Reist, Melinda; Bray, Abigail, eds. (2011), Big Porn Inc: Exposing the Harms of the Global Pornography Industry, Spinifex Press, ISBN 978-1-876756-89-5
  • Norma, Caroline; Tankard Reist, Melinda, eds. (2016), Prostitution Narratives: Stories of Survival in the Sex Trade, Spinifex Press, ISBN 978-1-74219-986-3

See also

References

  1. ^ Who's Who in Australia. ConnectWeb. 2021.
  2. ^ "About Melinda". Melinda Tankard Reist. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  3. ^ Hills, Rachel (8 January 2012). "Who's afraid of Melinda Tankard Reist?". The Age. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d Gleeson, Kate (1 May 2013). "From Suck magazine to Corporate Paedophilia. Feminism and pornography — Remembering the Australian way". Women's Studies International Forum. 38: 83–96. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2013.02.012. ISSN 0277-5395.
  5. ^ Roper, Caitlin (12 August 2015). "Collective Shout ignores rape threats: Tyler the Creator tour cancellation won't be the last". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  6. ^ Farokhmanesh, Megan. "Steam and Itch.io Are Pulling 'Porn' Games. Critics Say It's a Slippery Slope to More Censorship". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  7. ^ Evans-Thirlwell, Edwin (22 July 2025). "Anti-porn group who tried to ban GTA 5 claim credit for Steam's sex game crackdown". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  8. ^ Taylor, Josh (28 July 2025). "Mastercard and Visa face backlash after hundreds of adult games removed from online stores Steam and Itch.io". The Guardian.
  9. ^ "Panellist: Melinda Tankard Reist | Q&A | ABC TV". Abc.net.au. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  10. ^ "Previous Events". 11 July 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  11. ^ "Tankard Reist, Melinda at Trove Books". Trove. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  12. ^ Klein, Renate (24 January 2012). "The authentic feminism of Melinda Tankard Reist". Religion & Ethics (ABC). Retrieved 18 July 2025.
  13. ^ "Terf Island Online Book Launch — Spinifex Press". www.spinifexpress.com.au. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  14. ^ "About". Women's Forum Australia. Retrieved 28 July 2025.
  15. ^ "Protect women and girls in sport". Women's Forum Australia. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  16. ^ "Questions and Answers". Collective Shout. Retrieved 19 July 2025.
  17. ^ "Our Team", Collective Shout website. Accessed 20 March 2022.
  18. ^ Cleckley, Donovan (2023). "Not Beloved, Only Broken: Sex Dolls, Robots, and Woman Hating: The Case for Resistance by Caitlin Roper (Spinifex Press, 2022)". Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence. 7 (4). doi:10.23860/dignity.2023.07.04.04. ISSN 2472-4181.
  19. ^ Taylor, Josh; reporter, Josh Taylor Technology (28 July 2025). "Mastercard and Visa face backlash after hundreds of adult games removed from online stores Steam and Itch.io". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  20. ^ "Les plateformes itch.io et Steam censurent des milliers de jeux vidéo, sous la pression des prestataires de paiement". Le Monde (in French). 25 July 2025. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  21. ^ Adam, Kathryn (19 September 2015). "Zoo models express disappointment at the magazine's closure". news.com.au. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  22. ^ Ore, Jonathan (31 July 2025). "How an anti-porn lobby on payment processors censored thousands of video games". CBC. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  23. ^ Litchfield, Ted (20 July 2025). "Australian anti-porn group claims responsibility for Steam's new censorship rules in victory against 'porn sick brain rotted pedo gamer fetishists', and things only get weirder from there". PC Gamer. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
  24. ^ Jupp, Lydia (31 July 2025). "Gaming Platforms Pull LGBTQ+ Titles After Campaign By Aussie Anti-Porn Group". Star Observer. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  25. ^ Riedel, Samantha (30 July 2025). "Payment Processors Are Pressuring Major Gaming Vendors to Pull LGBTQ+ and NSFW Titles". Them. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  26. ^ Hansford, Amelia (24 July 2025). "Itch.io to 'deindex' all NSFW games following pressure from anti-porn lobby group". PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBTQ+ news. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  27. ^ Bogue, Edith (2007). "Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics, by Melinda Tankard Reist". The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly. 7 (4): 848–851. doi:10.5840/ncbq20077423.
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