Collective Shout

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Collective Shout (CS) is an Australian activist organization founded in 2009 by Melinda Tankard Reist. It identifies as a grassroots movement focused on challenging the objectification of women and the sexualization of girls in media, advertising, and popular culture. The group engages in lobbying, public campaigns, and petitions to advance its goals, which include opposing content it perceives as promoting sexual violence, exploitation, or harmful stereotypes.

Collective Shout

Basic information
Founded	2009
Legal structure	Private
Industry	Lobbying, Activism
Official website	https://www.collectiveshout.org/

Mission statement

CS aims to combat the sexual exploitation and objectification of women and girls. It campaigns against a range of issues, including sexualized advertising, pornography, violent video games, and the normalization of themes such as rape, incest, and child abuse in media.

Methods and campaigns

• The organization uses public petitions, open letters, and direct lobbying of corporations, payment processors, and governments to remove content or restrict access to material it deems harmful.

• Notable campaigns include protests against films like A Serbian Film, video games like Grand Theft Auto V and Detroit: Become Human, and the lobbying of payment providers to block transactions for certain adult games on platforms like Steam and Itch.io.

• It has also targeted advertisements, music lyrics, and events such as the Lingerie Football League and Sexpo exhibition.

Focus on protecting vulnerable groups

CS frames its mission as protecting women and girls from harm caused by media that objectifies or sexualizes them. Their campaigns are explicitly targeted at content they believe promotes or glorifies violence, abuse, and exploitation. From their viewpoint, they are pro-safety and pro-dignity rather than anti-consumer. They argue that consumers, especially women and children, are harmed by the very content they seek to remove.

Targeting illegal and harmful content

A significant portion of their campaign focuses on content they argue would be illegal in Australia, such as depictions of rape, incest, and child sexual abuse. They state that their initial target was games tagged with "rape" and "incest" on Steam. Campaigning for the removal of illegal content is not inherently anti-consumer; it can be framed as enforcing existing laws and social standards to protect society from harm.

Using established corporate channels

Their strategy of lobbying payment processors (Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Stripe) relies on appealing to the companies' own corporate social responsibility policies and existing terms of service, which often prohibit illegal content and certain extreme adult material. They are not asking for new laws banning content for consumers but are leveraging the existing contractual relationships between businesses. This working within a established capitalist framework rather than being anti-consumer.

Affiliations and partnerships

CS collaborates with a network of organizations, including anti-trafficking groups, child protection agencies, and conservative advocacy groups. Examples include the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Australia (CATWA), Bravehearts, and the Australian Childhood Foundation.

Controversies and criticisms

• The organization has faced criticism for its campaigns against video games and media, with opponents arguing that its actions lead to financial censorship, disproportionately affect LGBTQ+ creators, and infringe on creative freedom.

• Some critics accuse CS of promoting moral panic and using emotionally charged language in its campaigns.

• The group has also been involved in legal battles, such as its victory against Sexpo in 2018 over the promotion of explicit content on public buses.

• Its 2025 campaign urging payment processors (Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Stripe) to stop processing payments for certain games on Steam and Itch.io raised concerns about financial censorship and the power of financial intermediaries to control online content.

Overall impact

CS has achieved significant visibility in Australia and internationally for its campaigns, resulting in tangible outcomes such as the removal of certain games, advertisements, and products. However, its methods and ideological stance have also sparked debate about censorship, freedom of expression, and the balance between protecting vulnerable groups and upholding artistic and creative rights.

Incidents

Protest against Grand Theft Auto V

In 2014, the group started a petition against Grand Theft Auto V it read, "It's a game that encourages players to murder women for entertainment. The incentive is to commit sexual violence against women, then abuse or kill them to proceed or get 'health' points." The video game was banned from two Australian department stores later that year.

Pressure campaign against payment processors

Main article: Valve allows ISPs and payment processors to censor content on Steam

In July 2025, Collective Shout launched a public campaign "demanding credit card companies and PayPal block payments" for games on Steam and Itch.io.

Itch.io responded by de-indexing games with explicit content on July 24. On July 31, they re-indexed free games with explicit content.

De-indexing continued on August 10th, this time of games with explicit content and of LGBTQ+ games without explicit content.

The group claims to have lobbied payment processors after sending 3,000 emails to Steam and receiving no response.

Alongside explicit content, the group also expressed a desire to remove Detroit: Become Human from gaming platforms for depictions of physical abuse against women and children.

The owner of the journalism website Vice allegedly instructed certain articles related to Collective Shout to be removed from their website due to "controversial subject matter." The author of the articles and several of her co-workers resigned soon afterwards in protest.

See also

• Steam