Melinda Tankard Reist

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Melinda Tankard Reist
BornMelinda Tankard
(1963-09-23) 23 September 1963 (age 61)
Mildura, Australia
OccupationCommentator, author, blogger
Genre Non-fiction
Subject Anti-pornography, anti-prostitution, anti-abortion, feminism, violence against women

Melinda Tankard Reist (born 23 September 1963 [1] ) is an Australian writer, speaker, blogger and media commentator. She describes herself as "an advocate for women and girls" and a "pro-life feminist". [2] [3]

Contents

Tankard Reist is the founder of Collective Shout, a non-profit organisation best known for leading a successful campaign to block artist Tyler, the Creator from touring in Australia due to his misogynistic lyrics. [4]

Early life

Tankard Reist was born in Mildura, Victoria. She completed her secondary education at Mildura High School and then studied journalism at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. She took up a cadetship at the Sunraysia Daily , where she worked from 1983 to 1987. As a recipient of a Rotary Foundation scholarship, she furthered her studies in journalism at the California State University, Long Beach, during 1987 and 1988.

Career

On her return to Australia, Tankard Reist worked as a freelance contributor to newspapers and ABC radio. From 1991 to 1993, she lived in Southeast Asia, where she was involved in voluntary aid work, including caring for infants with disabilities who had been relinquished for adoption. On her return to Australia, she took up a position as an advisor to independent Senator Brian Harradine from 1993 to 2005. [5]

Tankard Reist was also on the founding committee of Karinya House for Mothers and Babies, a supported accommodation and outreach service for women facing pregnant without support, and Erin House transitional housing for women post-birth.[ citation needed ] She was the founding director of Women's Forum Australia, which described itself as being "an independent women's think tank focused on research, education, and public policy development concerning social, economic, health, and cultural issues affecting women".[ citation needed ] Additionally, she worked as a consultant for NGOs with a focus on global poverty, including World Vision Australia from 2005 to 2008, where she was involved in the development of the organisation's Don't Trade Lives campaign.[ citation needed ] In 2009, she co-founded Collective Shout for a World Free of Sexploitation, a grass-roots campaigning movement which targets advertisers, corporations and marketers which objectify women and sexualise girls to sell products and services. [6]

Tankard Reist is also a contributing editor for five books published by Duffy & Snellgrove and Spinifex Press, including works co-authored with Abigail Bray and Caroline Norma. [7]

Writings

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References

  1. Who's Who in Australia. ConnectWeb. 2021.
  2. "About Melinda". Melinda Tankard Reist. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  3. Hills, Rachel (8 January 2012). "Who's afraid of Melinda Tankard Reist?". The Age . Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  4. Roper, Caitlin (12 August 2015). "Collective Shout ignores rape threats: Tyler the Creator tour cancellation won't be the last". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  5. "Panellist: Melinda Tankard Reist | Q&A | ABC TV". Abc.net.au. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  6. "Our Team", Collective Shout website. Accessed 20 March 2022.
  7. "Tankard Reist, Melinda at Trove Books". Trove. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  8. Bogue, Edith (2007). "Defiant Birth: Women Who Resist Medical Eugenics, by Melinda Tankard Reist". The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly. 7 (4): 848–851. doi:10.5840/ncbq20077423.