http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/melinda-tankard-reist/ Melinda Tankard Reist is a Canberra author, speaker, media commentator, blogger and advocate for women and girls. Her third book is Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls (Spinifex Press, 2009), now in its third printing. Her forthcoming book, co-edited with Dr Abigail Bray, is Big Porn Inc: Exposing the harms of the global pornography industry (Spinifex Press) due for release in September. http://www.melindatankardreist.com http://www.collectiveshout.org en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-marketing-campaign-thats-totally-below-the-belt/ “I enjoy pussy on a night out sometimes with cucumber as they go hand in hand…” “Pussy is great by itself, but you know sharing with friends, it’s nice to experiment and I would recommend sharing pussy with friends…” Where did I find these quotes? Comments posted on a porn site? Men discussing their sexual preferences perhaps? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Melinda Tankard Reist) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-marketing-campaign-thats-totally-below-the-belt/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/The-marketing-campaign-thats-totally-below-the-belt/#item7420 Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:50:44 +0000 Melinda Tankard Reist | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Violence-against-women-is-endemic-to-our-sick-culture/ As White Ribbon Day comes around again on November 25, I’m wondering what it actually does to address a culture that celebrates – indeed eroticises – violence against women. Sure, men buy white ribbons. They attend events where they eat sausages and swear not to hurt women. They raise money (none of which goes into services supporting survivors of violence). Of course it’s good that men stand up and pledge not to be violent and put white ribbons on their shirt collars. We need men to be engaged in the issue. But since the inception of White Ribbon Day, violence against women and children has continued unabated. And the culture that helps to makes violence against women permissible, even something to be celebrated, remains unaddressed. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Melinda Tankard Reist) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Violence-against-women-is-endemic-to-our-sick-culture/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Violence-against-women-is-endemic-to-our-sick-culture/#item7215 Tue, 22 Nov 2011 19:55:09 +0000 Melinda Tankard Reist | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/should-women-walk-away-from-the-word-slut/ Using slut as the flagship word for this new movement puts women in danger through giving men even more license to think about women in a way that suits them, and not as targets of violence and terrible social discrimination. The global phenomenon that is SlutWalk makes its Australian debut today in Melbourne, with other walks planned for Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. While I support all efforts to challenge violence against women in all its manifestations – my blog is a witness to the global level of that violence – I hesitate to join the marching ranks. I welcome any confrontation with those who would blame the victim in rape. No woman deserves rape or invites sexual assault. I support the basic intention of the march. But I fear it has become more about the right to be ‘a slut’ than about the right to be free from violence. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Melinda Tankard Reist) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/should-women-walk-away-from-the-word-slut/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/should-women-walk-away-from-the-word-slut/#item5942 Thu, 26 May 2011 19:40:53 +0000 Melinda Tankard Reist | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-is-not-the-tale-of-charmer-and-a-sexy-french-maid-/ A hotel worker’s allegations of sexual assault by International Monetary Fund chief and possible French presidential candidate Dominique Strauss-Kahn are disturbing. But also disturbing is the way the case is being reported in some sections of the media. Strauss-Kahn has been arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a woman at his expensive hotel suite in New York. This is a summary of the story from the New York Times: According to the law enforcement official, the woman entered Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s suite early Saturday afternoon by saying “housekeeping”. She heard no answer and believed that the suite was unoccupied. She left the door open behind her, as is hotel policy. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Melinda Tankard Reist) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-is-not-the-tale-of-charmer-and-a-sexy-french-maid-/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-is-not-the-tale-of-charmer-and-a-sexy-french-maid-/#item5863 Tue, 17 May 2011 19:45:17 +0000 Melinda Tankard Reist | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pippas-arse-has-become-porn-for-the-slobbering-masses/ The fetishisation of the female backside reached royal heights this week with the global worship of Pippa Middleton’s bum. The frenzied prostration before the bottom of HRH Catherine Middleton’s younger sister and bridesmaid highlights anew the objectification of women deeply entrenched in our culture. This was in the Daily Mail: Many women admired her dress, but an army of male fans were happily distracted by her shapely rear as the procession went up the aisle. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Melinda Tankard Reist) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pippas-arse-has-become-porn-for-the-slobbering-masses/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pippas-arse-has-become-porn-for-the-slobbering-masses/#item5758 Tue, 03 May 2011 19:55:53 +0000 Melinda Tankard Reist | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/counterpunch-women-arent-playthings-slaves-and-bitches/ How convenient to caricature someone whose work you oppose by reducing them to a cartoon parody. Like I haven’t had enough Helen Lovejoy clichés to last a lifetime? Oh, and look, another media studies academic watching The Simpsons. Are we impressed yet? Warning: Contains graphic violent and sexual images Where Stephen Harrington sees “a graphic critique of post-feminist female sexuality”, I see Kanye West holding a woman’s decapitated head. Where those like Harrington see ambiguous, complicated narrative and linear narrative fantasy, I see semi-naked dead women swinging from ropes around their necks. When I see Rick Ross in the ‘Behind the scenes’ You Tube clip tucking into a plate of raw meat before a spreadeagled dead woman on the table, I see the brutalization and degradation of female sexuality. I don’t think ‘check out that satire!’ feedback@thepunch.com.au (Melinda Tankard Reist) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/counterpunch-women-arent-playthings-slaves-and-bitches/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/counterpunch-women-arent-playthings-slaves-and-bitches/#item5140 Tue, 15 Feb 2011 19:35:28 +0000 Melinda Tankard Reist | Author bios | The Punch