Collective Shout: Difference between revisions
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Collective Shout is an Australian activist | [[Collective Shout|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. | ||
===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== | ==Incidents== | ||