Collective Shout, Itch.io content bans, and radical feminism
Just in case anyone wants to argue that the recent wave of anti-nsfw (and specifically “anti-porn”) campaigning isn’t based in transphobia and specifically transmisogyny, here are some fun facts about Melinda Tankard Reist, the Director of Collective Shout (the organization behind most of these campaigns):
She was also a founding director of Women’s Forum Australia, a conservative think tank that actively campaigned against abortion legislation, spread conspiracy theories about the health dangers of wi-fi, and succsefully got trans-positive sex ed books taken out of stores after abusing and harrassing employees.
She worked as a political advisor to Brian Harradine, a far-right Australian Senator with ties to conservative Christian groups who opposed same-sex marriage, abortion, and pornography.
She publishes her books through Spinifex press, a self-described “radical feminist” publishing house that has worked with other transphobic authors in the past.
And some about Collective Shout’s Campaigns Manager, Caitlin Roper:
Wrote Prositution Narratives, a collection of stories meant to act as evidence for the abolition of sex work (edited by none other than Melinda Tankard Reist, published by Spinifex Press).
Compares queer theorists to “paedophile rights activists”.
Is a vocal advocate and supporter of FiLiA, a radical feminist conference that has repeatedly argued that “trans rights are inherently in conflict with sex based women’s rights”.
And, just for fun, some things you might not have known about Collective Shout:
Campaigned to have the visas of Tyler, the Creator and Snoop Dogg revoked on the basis of rap music “glorifying sexual violence against women”.
Has partnerships with several transphobic “women’s rights” organizations such as Exodus Cry (whose founder compared abortion to the Holocaust) and the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (which supported the EARN IT act and lobbied against the legalization of same-sex marriage)
