#179 “He Chose Porn Over Me” with author Melinda Tankard Reist

FiLiA

FiLiA Spokeswoman Raquel Rosario Sánchez speaks to author and activist Melinda Tankard Reist about pornography’s desensitisation of male sexuality and its traumatic effect on women and girls. Hear also about Melinda's work with children and teenagers in schools, her campaigning work with Collective Shout, and the way forward out of a culture of sexualised violence against women and girls.
Melinda Tankard Reist is an author, speaker, campaigner, and advocate for women and girls. She is best known for her work addressing sexualisation, objectification, the harms of pornography, sexual exploitation, trafficking, and violence against women. She has recently been appointed Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Culture and Ethics, Notre Dame University, Sydney.

She is the Founder and Movement Director of the campaigning organisation Collective Shout. She is the editor of six books including Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls (Spinifex Press, 2009), Big Porn Inc: Exposing the harms of the global pornography industry (Spinifex Press, 2011, co-edited with Dr Abigail Bray), Prostitution Narratives: Stories of survival in the sex trade and Broken Bonds: Surrogate mothers speak out (Spinifex Press, 2019, co-edited with Jennifer Lahl and Renate Klein).
Recently, Melinda published He Chose Porn Over Me, a collection of essays written by 25 women who share their stories of broken relationships and enduring abuse by porn-obsessed male partners.
He Chose Porn Over Me was launched in early August 2022 during a global event hosted by Collective Shout. The book is available from the FiLiA Bookshop and at bookstores worldwide and via its publisher Spinifex.

You can learn more about Melinda’s work against a culture of sexualisation and objectification of women and girls on her website. You can learn more about the campaigning work of Collective Shout on their website.

Melinda can also be found on social media such as Twitter and Instagram.