Two new articles from Melinda Tankard Reist

Melinda has published two new articles talking about the destructive effect that pornography can have on our society.

The first is "Going Gaga over raunch dressed up as liberation", in The Australian, about Lady Gaga and Beyonce's newest video clip.

The clip is just one more thing catering to pornographic male fantasies, part of a broader cultural story being read by young people forming their understanding of relationships and sexuality.

Women, aka bitches, love being violent to other bitches. Girl-on-girl action, lesbian cliches. Nakedness. Voyerism. Exhibitionism. Objectification. And what's so counter-cultural about groin-emphasising costumes, shredded fishnet stockings and a leopard-skin body suit?

The other is "Self Love" at ABC's The Drum Unleashed website. Melinda talks about John Mayer's recent Playboy interview where he discusses pornography and masturbation, and talks about also the wider effects of pornography on boys.

Mayer's ode to self-love shows how pornography has influenced his attitudes to women. Impatient with women in the flesh, he has turned to the image of a woman for his habitual computer sex. Porn is shaping the thinking of younger boys as well.

 

Boys who watch porn are more likely to think sexual harassment is acceptable and less likely to form successful relationships when they're older, according to Australian researcher Michael Flood.