Collective Shout

A new play called That Pretty Pretty; Or, The Rape Play is opening at Darlinghurst's TAP Gallery theatre in east Sydney.

It is the debut production from Workhorse Theatre Company and it includes jelly wrestling by scantily clad actresses, bondage, rape and killing scenes and an extreme sexual assault featuring the use of a grenade, all in a black comedy labelled sickening in some overseas reviews. The story follows a pair of ex-stripper sisters who go on a killing spree across America, taking pro-life activists as their victims.

Workhorse co-founder and performer Troy Harrison admitted the work was chosen for its shock value and images of the more controversial scenes were deliberately used in the publicity material. he said:

Yes, we were looking at another play but we wanted to start with much more of a bang, this being our first production, so we did choose this play because it is very confronting.

However, Collective Shout, an organisation that campaigns against the objectification and sexualisation of women in the media, warned against the depiction of violence against women for entertainment's sake. A spokeswoman said:

Survivors of sexual assault or violence are often left traumatised as a result of abuse,

Sexualised representations of violence against women trivialise and undermine the very real pain and trauma they endured.

Update: More bollox from Collective Shout and the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney

Thanks to Michael
10th February 2012. See article from sydneycatholic.org

Speaking of the new play called That Pretty Pretty; Or, The Rape Play opening at Darlinghurst's TAP Gallery theatre in east Sydney, the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney wrote an article:

Judging by the publicity for the play, including an explicit raunchy promotion, it is almost certain that if the play had been made into a film, it would have received an X-rating from Australia's Classification Board.

[What a load of bollox, the play does not feature real sex so simply would not be X rated, just R18+ rated. I thought christians had some sort of commandment against lying].

But while films are assessed and classified, there seem to be no such restrictions for live performances , says Caitlin Roper, state co-ordinator with the increasingly powerful and influential grass roots organisation, Collective Shout:

As far as I know there are no rules limiting what can be seen in a live performance and the press releases sent out to promote this play are particularly disturbing. The images which are also on Facebook include scantily clad women jelly wrestling as well as images depicting bondage, violence and sex, and are typical of porn-inspired male fantasies.

Boundaries are continually being pushed with violence becoming more eroticised. The suggestion women enjoy being aggressed by male partners is disturbing but to then show men inflicting violence on women, as seems to happen in this play, can not only make violence against women seem more acceptable but even desirable.

Caitlin is also concerned about the blatant flippant attitude shown by the theatre company producing the play and its disregard for women who have survived sexual assault, rape, violence and abuse.

These women are almost always deeply traumatised and sexualised representations of violence such as portrayed in the play's publicity, trivialises and undermines the very real pain and emotional distress they have endured, she says.

Australian anti-sexualisation nutters write about a promotional campaign by the Mossimo store featured on the store's website, Facebook page and shop windows.

Mossimo Peepshow is sexist rubbish .

The promotion is called Peepshow. Through the use of peephole imagery and words like strip on their signage, the promotion makes clear reference to the sex industry and voyeurism.

The message to women here is, you are valued for your appearance and your ability to sexually arouse men. That's your role in society.

The message to men, Peeping at women in their underwear isn't a crime after all, stalking is just a bit of sexy fun and women like it. Look how happy Miss Universe is!

Did we mention Miss Universe is involved? The Mossimo facebook page has created an app that not only invites you to peep at Miss Universe , it also allows users to create their own peepshow. Just upload your photo, allow Mossimo to assign you a ridiculous name like Naughty Nadia and you're on your way to winning a prize.

Telstra is not the boring government-owned phone utility it once was, the company now offers Telstra Babes softcore pornography over video-capable mobile phones.

We have a range of web pages offering different content for the many niche interest groups that make up our customer base, a Telstra spokeswoman said.

Campaigner Melinda Tankard-Reist of the nutter group Collective Shout said Telstra's attitude was disappointing and raised serious questions.

This is a mainstream communications company. When did they make a decision to go down this path? Was it at a corporate level?

The material is produced by Playboy and Girls Gone Wild. The telco said warnings were displayed and that the content was relatively tame. The spokeswoman said:

We have stringent guidelines pertaining to all content across our sites and in particular, the 'glamour' pages, which are among the mildest in the category among industry providers.

Tankard-Reist rejected that defence and ludicrously claimed that the companies supplying content to Telstra had disturbing associations:

Playboy isn't just your father's magazine under the bed any more, she said. Playboy hosts a range of hardcore, explicit, triple-X content across a range of cable television channels. You couldn't even print the names of the titles they show.

The Girls Gone Wild genre is harmful to women and girls and there have been allegations that girls have been made drunk to coerce them into filming sex acts or simulated sex acts for the camera.

Shareholders would be surprised to know the company is hosting and distributing pornographic content. It's a significant issue for its reputation.

Australian anti-sexualisation nutters Collective Shout! , launched a campaign against an Australian clothing store, Mossimo , who introduced an advertising campaign in shops and on Facebook alluding to peep shows.

Collective Shout! reported the campaign to Australia's advertising censors at the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB).

The ASM report explained:

Window display with the words Peep show and take a peek inside accompanied by images of men and women in lingerie. In one image the woman is pulling at the man's underpants so that they are coming away from his waist

Example Complaint

These windows are in plain view of children and provide complete approval of something that is illegal. It takes away the choice I get to make as a parent regarding the view my children should be allowed to make but it also made me feel the complete objectification of women. On the one hand I am being encouraged as a parent to protect my children from this sort of thing on the internet and provide strict parenting controls to protect and value my children but in a shopping centre they are being confront with something that not only provides a distorted perception for women but ok's doing this in secret. This is entirely unacceptable material for display to the general public.

Mossimo Response

Mossimo is a cheeky, irreverent and light-hearted brand! In the same vein, the Mossimo Peepshow Facebook campaign is a cheeky, irreverent, light-hearted and slightly controversial promotion that is consistent with Mossimo Underwear's brand positioning.

Mossimo believes that the Mossimo Peepshow Facebook app represents the best way to talk to its target audience in a language and a medium with which they are both familiar and use regularly. In this respect, the company believes that is no different to underwear advertisements in catalogues, print or other media channels, which are employed by other brands to talk to their customers. Indeed you could argue that the annual Victoria's Secret Parade which airs on Channel 10 despite being rated PG is far more risqué.

ASB Decision: Breach of the code for condoning sexting

The Board considered that the overall impression of the images was suggestive of images taken in a person's home and is suggestive of sexting - the practice of, in particular, young people sending explicit photographs of themselves via mobile phones.

The Board noted that sexting is an issue of concern in Australian society. The Board considered that the woman appears young and that the issue of sexting is of particular concern where it concerns young men and women and older children. The Board considered that the images of Liz on the website were sexualised and suggestive of sexting .

The Board considered that these images were not appropriate considering that the target audience of the advertisement is likely to include young men and women - the same audience considered to be at risk with regards to the issue of sexting .

The Board determined that these images did not treat sexuality and nudity with sensitivity to the relevant audience and that the images breached section 2.3 of the Code.

The Board then considered section 2.6 of the Code:

Advertising or Marketing Communications shall not depict material contrary to Prevailing Community Standards on health and safety.

While accepting the Advertiser's commitment to refusing to publish inappropriate photos, the Board considered it possible that younger people would see the current advertisement as condoning or at least giving some legitimacy to the behaviour of uploading images of themselves in underwear and that this is a message that the community views as unacceptable.

The Board considered that this advertisement depicted material contrary to prevailing community standards on online behaviour and safety and was in breach of section 2.6 of the Code.

The Australian nutters of Collective Shout! are getting well wound up by Lingerie Football League.

This is an outlandish bit of American razzmatazz being brought to Australia. Exhibition matches feature two American teams of female footballers playing in bras and knickers.

Unsurprisingly the extremist feminists of Collective Shout are unimpressed  and are trying to get the matches banned from the netball venue that more usually hosts the Queensland Firebirds in Brisbane.

All-Star exhibition games between the LFL's Eastern and Western conferences - the second is scheduled for Sydney next Saturday - are virtual dress rehearsals, test events to gauge whether franchises should be set up in Australia's four main cities next year.

That scenario appals Collective Shout representative Melinda Liszewski, who is spearheading the drive to banish the LFL said:

We have female athletes and female sporting groups in this country working hard to promote the equality of women in sport and to see women valued for their athletic ability and their skill -- not how they look or how sexually appealing they are to men.

The Lingerie Football League undermines that message by saying sure we'll let you play football but get your gear off.

It sends a really nasty message to girls: if they want to be recognised in their sporting field then they need to be exposing their bodies, posing for Playboy, running around in their lingerie.

Federal Minister for Sport Kate Lundy was also not among the LFL's reputed 65 million fans worldwide, labelling it a cheap, degrading perv .

Lingerie Football isn't just a distraction; it's an assault on sport. We can do so much better than LFL. And most importantly, our daughters deserve more.

Founder and chairman Mitch Mortaza launched the LFL in 2009. Contracts stipulate players will be fined $500 if they wear anything under their lingerie; they must also accept accidental nudity was an occupational hazard. Mortaza explained:

The athletes do it of their own free will - thousands of them line up in the States every year, he said.

They are all former collegiate athletes, remarkable women that want to be given an opportunity to play a sport and have it receive the recognition of major men's sports.

James Franco is the producer of pornographic documentary Kink, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January. The title Kink refers to a BDSM porn website, where extreme violence against women and torture are the norm. Common acts include non-simulated actual footage of rope, metal and wood bondage, underwater suffocation torture, electric shocks, sex with machinery, gang rape, slave training and public humiliation.

Promotional material for the website:

In our videos you will watch as some of the best riggers in the business bind, torture and fuck gorgeous women.

paddled, caned and flogged until their bodies are marked and red.

Pushing the very limits of their endurance and pain tolerance.

Porn star Aurora Snow shared her traumatic experience making a Kink film.

"They are a company that looks for the moment when a girl has been mentally and at times physically pushed too far; the borderline of tears and pain. Sometimes talent leaves with giant bruises that take weeks to disappear."

"The scenes will push a girl over the edge. It's standard practice on set to take breaks in between filming and during these breaks the talent is fawned, told how amazing they are, catered to, etc. It makes for a very confusing experience when trying to evaluate one's own feelings about what's really happening."

...read the full rant

Genderist campaigners have whinged about a Melbourne art exhibition, Colour Me Dead , by artist Philip Brophy.

A 20-minute video installation called T he Morbid Forest shows two men watching female actors - before images of their naked and apparently dead bodies are flashed on a big screen. Other apparent victims of the two men include a young toddler and a baby.

Centre Against Sexual Assault Forum spokeswoman Carolyn Worth said victims of crime might find the content of the exhibition distressing :

A clear warning would be appropriate. It might be very confronting and distressing for some people forced to confront that reality.

Women's campaigner Melinda Tankard Reist said:

Artists need to exercise responsibility by not reinforcing the sexualisation of violence, or using violence against women as sexual titillation.

Artist Philip Brophy said the images were intended to reflect a change in the perception of nature from something created by God to something darker .

Ian Potter Museum of Art director Kelly Gellatly said the imagery could be confronting for some people . But she said the exhibition was well attended and well received .

The exhibition is at the Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne until September.