• Activity
  • Votes
  • Comments
  • New
  • All activity
  • Showing only topics in ~books with the tag "australia". Back to normal view / Search all groups
    1. Sex education book 'Welcome to Sex' is a best-seller, but has been pulled off one Australian retailer's shelves after a conservative backlash, including death threats against one of the authors

      ‘Taking a leaf out of Trumpism’: Yumi Stynes on the ‘misguided’ backlash to sex book The book has been criticised by campaigners including Rachael Wong, the chief executive of Women’s Forum...

      The book has been criticised by campaigners including Rachael Wong, the chief executive of Women’s Forum Australia, an organisation critical of pro-trans activism. Speaking to 2GB’s Ben Fordham on Tuesday, Wong called it a “graphic sex guide for children”, adding that she felt “physically ill at the thought of children reading it”. Other conservative media figures have amplified the criticism.

      “This book was a response to genuine questions asked by adolescents to [magazine column] ‘Dolly Doctor’ for more than 20 years. [Dr Melissa Kang, one of the co-writers], was exposed to what kids were too ashamed to ask anyone else.”

      Critics have taken particular issue with small sections of the book that address inclusive sexual practices beyond penetrative sex, including “fingering”, “oral sex”, “scissoring”, and “anal sex”.

      They are also critical of the inclusion of what they term “gender ideology”. Others are accusing the authors of “grooming” children – a term that is increasingly misused.

      The backlash has been so intense Big W stopped selling the book in-store after staff members were abused, although the retailer has defended it and it remains available online.

      "I've seen people saying to me 'I want to kill you' or 'You should die'," Stynes told SBS News.

      72 votes
    2. Australia's barbaric policy confronted by Boochani's prison memoir

      Summary The article is an interview with Behrouz Boochani, a Kurdish refugee who has been detained by the Australian government on Manus Island since 2015. Boochani discusses his experiences of...

      Summary

      The article is an interview with Behrouz Boochani, a Kurdish refugee who has been detained by the Australian government on Manus Island since 2015. Boochani discusses his experiences of detention and the book he has written about those experiences.

      Extract

      I don't remember exactly when I started to write the first words but I remember that I thought my writing of this time was like a mission and duty ... to make readers aware of this prison camp. I imagined there would be unknown readers from around the world ... That's why I wrote it in a literary language. Not only for this historical period or those people who are involved in this plight ... I wrote this book so that it extends beyond geographical bounds and generational imaginaries.

      This chapter about the way they exiled us to Manus was one of the hardest parts to write … If you remember, years ago, I wrote a letter to you and complained that I was scared of writing, that I hate writing. You answered me, saying: ‘Behrouz I wrote about my relatives who were killed.’ Your grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins … I knew that I had to do it to survive. I knew that I could expose this system through these words … I could get back my identity through writing this book and not allowing this system to reduce me to a number.

      Link

      https://www.theage.com.au/national/australia-s-barbaric-policy-confronted-by-boochani-s-prison-memoir-20180821-p4zyt7.html

      4 votes