Activist group claims victory after Coles withdraws lads mag Zoo Weekly from shelves

Hmmm….I guess I should petition Event Cinemas to pull Magic Mike because it eroticises the male form. I realise that it’s a different matter, but you have to think that the girls in the magazine are there by choice and have been paid plenty of money for their efforts. In my opinion, if these magazines promote a rape culture then we are doomed. Half the ads on TV are worse than this, as are plenty of ads with men in them (think a group of girls ogling the diet coke break guy).

“a magazine that promotes rape culture”

I have now seen it all.

I hope Bauer gets their legal team onto that claim by ‘Shannon’ as I think they may have a good case for slander their.

‘Concerned’ and ‘Outrageous’ are deliberately missing the point by trying to make it about something else. I dearly hope nobody close to you has experienced the rough end of misogynist culture, because your kind of ‘support’ and ‘helpful advice’ would push a suicidal person over the brink (i.e., money was thrown at them; men take off their clothes in movies too!)

The above comments from Concerned and Outrageous are hard to fathom. Guys we don’t want our kids exposed to such baseness. These mags don’t belong in a supermarket. TV and movies are notorious for inappropriate images of every kind – that is precisely why parents monitor such media. We need CHOICE – choice to be Free From this stuff – and putting this stuff in our face is not giving us choice.

Glad it is gone. Hopefully their sales plummet further and Bauer pulls the plug.

@Kevin

Not sure if you’re being sarcastic.

How does removing a magazine from shelves give anyone more choice? Thought it would be the opposite.

Also, how is choosing what movie or TV kids watch any different to what magazine they read?

Zoo is one of the crappiest mags out there IMHO, but to say it promotes ‘rape culture’ might be going a tad far … extending that logic, are women dressing ‘provocatively’ promoting rape?

I think it is difficult for men who read this magazine to accept that what they are reading might be inappropriate, or promoting of culture that is damaging to some (or all) of us. It would be hard for people in their situation not to get upset and take it personally. I think that even if they read this stuff, and even if they have damaging attitudes that this stuff promotes, underneath they don’t really want to hurt anyone. I hope and suspect that once they really realise what they do is experienced as disrespectful or hurtful by many women, they will be motivated to change. I hope the rest of us can support and accept them in this if they do want to.

Next they’ll petition Coles to close on Sundays and make going to church compulsory.

That’s exactly what’s missing in the world today, Blind Freddy.

As a father of young girls, I’m happy to see this magazine off the shelves. Children certainly don’t need to be viewing these mags which are pretty much ‘in your face’ as you pass through the isles.
Well done Coles, with over 38,000 signatures from men and women, it’s obvious we don’t want to see this sort of stuff, especially for our young kids.

Rape Culture?! Get real women. There’s more rape culture in 50 Shades of Gray than this harmless Best & Less catalogue. Unbelievable…

Tut tut tut. Objectification of the opposite sex ….

Cleo’s Media Bachelor of the Year, anyone?

To all of you who are appalled by this, I suggest you educate yourselves around the subjects of misogyny, the patriarchy and rape culture before you dismiss it as “political correctness gone mad!” or “censorship”. Because comments such as these are unhelpful, and show that you are actually part of the wider problem

Strikes me the Censorship Board may soon be redundant…
http://www.classification.gov.au/Pages/Home.aspx

If you look into the claim you’ll find that the claims are not about the imagery presented in the magazines, if that were the case the petition would look at far more titles. This particular call-out is on the written content, some of which is undoubtedly harmful.

Good riddance! Next…Woolies. Then General Stores and Service Stations. Get rid of Masturbation Magazines! About time. Years ago I walked into a Service Station and asked if they had any newspapers. They looked at me as if I was from another planet and said ‘no, we’re not allowed to stock them’. There, straight in front of me right at eye level was a smorgasboard of pornographic magazines. I replied loudly ‘Oh so you’re not authorized to stock a newspaper however it’s OK to sell pornography? Not ok!

I see girls dressed like that at the supermarket where i live. Are they also promoting rape culture? If you don’t like it stay out of the supermarket.

High fives, ladies! The magazine industry is ALL OURS! Our next target is the beach, where I also saw bikini women in a public place. These women are displayed right in my face and I don’t want to see that. Sign my petition called: BAN THE BEACH!

The woman’s whole argument rested on quotes from the UK Zoo magazine and were out of context and 7 years old. And EVERYBODY fell for it!

Since when did the left become the right?!

Yay! Let’s band stuff!

If you don’t like something, don’t buy it!

DON’T BAN IT!

Coles gets rid of a lossmaking title and keeps the clap-happy crowd happy.

Win – win.

Both Coles and Woolworths are workplaces where women are employed, some of them schoolgirls under the age of consent.

Prominent display of hard or soft porn in a workplace, especially when it is ongoing & in the face of repeated complaints, renders the offenders liable to a charge of sexual harassment and a claim for civil damages.

Perhaps Coles took Zoo off the shelves because there are just not enough tasteless bogan morons around to read the total crap that’s in it any more.

This is a great result. Men (and women) who think this is over the top and dismiss it, simply deny and deluded that this kind of magazine, internet porn etc. (which have the same audience) has no impact whatsoever on the emotional state of males. The number of sexually aggravated crimes against women, committed by males (not the other way round), through the blatant objectification of women that this and other mediums promote can easily be connected. And please, the passive ways that women ‘objectify’ men (Cleo’s Bachelor of the year – ho hum) is poles apart from how men have been proven to violently and/or degradingly objectify women in the work place, at home and public. Well done Collective Shout, much more to be done.

You have to remember that Collective Shout is a right wing religious group masquerading on feminist issues generally selecting easy targets where they gain traction with women’s groups. I personally didn’t read Zoo Magazine and I don’t think it was much of a win as readership was on decline with everything moving online anyway and with recent surveys showing a lot of those viewers of pornography are indeed women themselves approx (20-30%) who admit to it.

about time. the magazine does not belong in a family super market.

Anyone interested in starting a petition to have all women’s underwear stores forced to black out their windows so innocent children can’t walk past and see the semi naked mannequins?

Bras n Things has gotten away with too much for too long.

Is the suggestion that women photographed wearing bikinis that is somehow promoting “rape culture”? Should we ban women walking around on Bondi Beach because that too is “rape culture” by the same standards? As though by wearing a bikini they are responsible? This puts the blame on women that by dressing provocatively they are somehow responsible for people who break the law. What’s next? All women should “cover up” in public for fear of promoting “rape culture”? There are plenty of other countries that subscribe to this way of thinking. Are we to join them? ZOO is pretty sexist, yes, Is it a great role model for women, heck no. But an “environment of rape culture”?? Logic?

@ Rachel, I’m certainly not appalled, I don’t even read or like the magazines. Coming from overseas however, I see how over regulated Australia is, and in my opinion this is just another case of removing choice – whether that’s about buying more than one drink after midnight, riding a bicycle without a helmet (or without a licence if they bring that in), or looking at a magazine. You have a choice not to look if you so wish. You see more on the streets and beaches of Australia than you do in those magazines. Or watching the latest Rihanna video. I understand it may not be to everyone’s taste (mine included), but in a society that prides itself on liberalism it’s a tad over the top.

Did all the men in India read Zoo before committing mass rape on that poor woman on the bus? The problem is more deep-seeded than a light hearted lads magazine.

This is insanity.

Dear Concerned Citizen…a tad over the top??? Years and years of so called liberalism, saturation of degrading media of women everywhere you look! Rihanna is not much different to a porn star. It’s in the context… you probably are so used to it that it’s all quite ok and acceptable. Imagine what these magazines and internet pornography have done to many minds, and infecting many even before the brain is fully wired. This is not a drink or a choice. This is soul destroying degrading exploitation of women. A lot of which have had a gut full of it. Too much under regulation I’d argue…and as far as likening it to what you see at the beach? No….that’s no comparison. It’s all in the context! Words…and sick messages degrading women.

To the women, including the ones who are clearly using men’s names on this comments section: This petition is the stupidest thing I have ever seen. Stupider than anything Zoo Australia has ever written.

There are so many flaws in this feminist agenda I hardly know where to begin. Nobody walks past a Zoo cover and then decides “it’s rape time!”. The few quotes clipped on the petition page were taken from the UK magazine, and already resulted in firings when it was printed… SEVEN YEARS AGO!

You have absolutely no knowledge of what you are talking about. While there are REAL feminist issues to focus on, this is just a matter of jealousy and you don’t want to accept it.

If everyone is worried about the damage that so called “masturbation magazines” cause then we will need to pull Mens Health from the Woolworths in Darlinghurst quick smart.

Not so much a victory as a reflection of falling sales of Zoo plus the fact that everyone’s getting all this and more on XArt or YouPorn or RedTube or etc etc etc etc etc

Women should be covered up head to toe, like in a burka, not in a bikini. Because if we don’t protect our Australian Christian morals, the Muslims would have won. Oh wait….

Xart? Thanks, I’ve never heard of that one!

it was hard enough to see at Coles anyway.didnt give a rats about the bikini stuff ( see more on music vids AIMED AT KIDS) but was a good read for a laugh.basic meme,Internet humour.
Get a life

The great thing about the internet is you can now have a small group of peanuts bombard message boards under numerous aliases and appear like a much larger amount of people.
Most of the people commenting hear I doubt are regular Mumbrella readers just trolls going from site to site using the phrase `rape culture’ like Abbott uses the words `death cult’.

Coles should now stock the communist manifesto. We can replace tony and his band of cronies with a politburo, have a president nominated ( Julia can come back) , 5 year economic plans, embalm krudd and stick him in a mausoleum . Happy days

It’s worth repeating: the objections were to do with what was written not the photos. Here’s a quote from one bloke who supported the petition and definitely knows what he is talking about (he’s helped out plenty of victims of people who have acted out Zoo-style attitudes):
“When a child is misused, a woman assaulted, a girl raped, it’s part of a larger problem. The depiction of human beings as existing for the use of others.
That’s what gives permission, that’s what erodes safety, that’s what makes the
world such an ugly and dangerous place.
Until women and girls are depicted with respect, the corporate world is as responsible as the criminal world for the suffering and grief that blights this world.”
– Steve Biddulph Psychologist and author of Raising Boys
(and no, I’m not a feminist masquerading as a men. I’m the father of 3 children and I want to see them growing up respecting other people)

Great outcome – I look forward to doing my grocery shopping porn-free. Congratulations to all involved in this campaign. For two years I contacted Coles every time I was confronted with these magazines while shopping. For two years I was given the big fob-off. The success of this campaign shows what can be achieved when people band together for change.

Really good debate on here everyone. Regardless of your opinion, it’s been good to hear all of the different points of view.

Kym – The very quotes you are talking about are from Zoo Magazine UK (a completely different publication with nudity) and are over 7 years old. And the people responsible were dealt with at the time!

Bauer Media should get their legal team onto this.

The “RapeCulture” campaign is spearheaded by magazine quotes taken from an entirely separate publication printed in the UK seven years ago – yet it seems ZOO Australia is getting accused for them today.
The journalists over at the Zoo Australian team would have as much to do with those quotes as these feminists do. Yet these petitioners fight to make these journalists jobless AND accuse them of being responsible for the worlds rape issues.
If Zoo closes due to this campaign, the staff would be right to sue the lot of them.

Amazing get rid of Zoo because it promotes rape culture what a complete load of hogwash. Even 1 rape is too many but really a magazine does that. Do you really think that socio economic factors, easy access to porn via the net most likely far more violent than what Zoo can portray are not bigger contributing factor. I couldn’t be bothered to buy Zoo but I believe we all have the right if we chose we already have enough of a nanny state.

Are you that naïve that you actually believe that this campaign will actually prevent a single rape. Do you think that that a guy that reads Zoo becomes a rapist or someone has a desire or urge to rape will not because he didn’t read Zoo.

So now that you are so proud of you 38 k people that signed your petition why don’t you use your ground swell to make some real change and take on a real cause – get rid of all the women’s magazines objectifying women, creating stereotypes of thin “celebrities” leading to social issues, anorexia, bulimia, low self esteem etc.

I challenge you to get all magazines removed that photo retouch pictures of people making it unrealistic, all magazines that promote weight loss to a perceived body size or weight that doesn’t suit all women the exception being magazines that promote health.

I challenge you to prove you are concerned and that you didn’t pick an easy target and that this is about real issue and not an arm chair campaign started because you were bored sitting at home.

I leave you with a quote “Political correctness is one of the engines of nannyism. Allowing and even encouraging ‘offensive’ ideas is vital for the intellectually health of a free society. David Harsanyi”

** end of rant**

I’m sure Collective Shout’s next target would be Men’s Health with all their topless men on the cover, right? No? I didn’t think so.

ZOO was NEVER prominently displayed at Coles or at Woolworths. You are not bombarded with the cover because it is kept on the highest shelf where a small child can’t reach or see it. All you mummies with your precious children better not give them phones, let them watch TV or have access to the internet, because women in bikini’s and lingerie is tame compared to what is accessible via the internet and television. And you would be silly to think that in their teenage years, that they won’t be looking at that type of content.

If any of you decided to pick up the actual magazine, and not look to comments and excerpts that CollectiveShout has plastered over their website, you would see that they were taken from the UK version of the magazine and are 7 years old. That does not represent Zoo here in Australia.

This is a woman that gets offended by perfume ad’s in Myer’s… she wrote to them complaining that an ad for Viktor & Rolf’s Flowerbomb should have been taken down as it ‘offended her’. Why are so many of you enabling her very baseless and general ‘argument’ on how the magazine is a terrible example for women and men?

Next she will ban bikini’s at the beach, since there are so many people that are wearing next to nothing.. and perhaps she will move on to clothing stores like Bras n Things, or Honey Birdette, since they must also promote rape culture by advertising clothing on a woman.

How about the very, very explicit sex advice given in women’s magazines? Young teenage girls begin to read advice about having the best sex, giving amazing blow jobs to their boyfriends, being adventurous in the bedroom so you man will stick around….What’s that promoting to young women? That sex is the bottom line to catch and keep a man?

I don’t see CollectiveShout or Laura Pintur banning them. It is because it doesn’t fit into their narrow and vicious agenda. If they get offended by every little thing in life, then they should cover their eyes and walk the world blind.

What’s ridiculous is Bauer (the artist formerly known as ACP) has allowed things to escalate to this point. Bauer Management has shown no testicular fortitude in dealing with the vocal minority. Half the claims against the mag go back almost 10 years or were executed in the UK edition, not the local version. Bauer should have defended Zoo’s honour but it’s silence has been deafening. What’s the German word for “toothless”?

Cosmo gives me a cock complex, should we remove that off the shelves too?

That is good that young men won’t be able to see this kind of thing at Coles. They are now safe… or they’ll just find it on Instagram.

Monos, what a fabulous rant, I agree so much. The objectification of women, by women, through women’s magazines, is far more of a problem than silly tit mags that most women wouldn’t even see, except for the cover. The many, many pages of crap that friends of mine swill their way through each week, between the covers of women’s gossip mags, are far more harmful to women in so many ways – weight, self esteem, diet, celeb worship, unrealistic body image, plastic surgery mongers – yet these bearers of crap are allowed to go about their merry way, undisturbed. I’ve read the odd Zoo mag (bought by boyfriend) and they are sometimes funny, sometimes crass, but far less offensive than the standard fare in New Idea, Women’s Day et al.

So it seems it is ok to sell magazines with hunky topless men with sexy abs and women buying it. Or Magic mike? Men are being degraded to just a piece of abs or huge bulge at the crotch and that is ok. However when men enjoying a beautiful woman in a bikini, it is somehow violence against women. Somehow these stupid women think that men watching them become violent because they can’t think like men. Or is it just pure jealousy?

The world of PC, and the era of elevated claptrap, where buzz words and half knowledge combine to make opinion and gossip appear to be new found intellectual fact.

The tatty little mag’ was probably already losing readership because it could not compete with the HD moving images and stereo surround sound of the Internet’s erotica sites, which deliver for the needy, far more than a mere magazine could ever promise to do.

Once we get beyond first steps, first teeth and solid foods, we are soon passing the pubescent milestone, and well on the way to becoming sexual beings. This brings about a heightened interest in the opposite sex, and if not, then usually some form of human sexual identity, which involves identifying the person to whom we are attracted as a sexual being also.

Grave terms such as “sexual objectification” or ” Misogynist ” get bandied around without the slightest qualification. The notion that a thing so normal and beautiful as a sexual attraction can be associated with the disgusting act of Rape should be unthinkable; rape is not a sexual act at all, but a perverse and gravely violent one.

I do wish this ‘activist feminist’ group had the guts to address REAL issues, like this one, Collective Shout’s Melinda Liszewski.

Funny how women are too silent on subjects like religion, eh? Zoo was an easy and unjust target.

“She had posted a satirical cartoon on Facebook to protest proposed legislation to restrict birth control and women’s rights. Farghadani has since been found guilty of “spreading propaganda” and “insulting members of parliament through paintings.” She has been sentenced to 12 years in prison”

http://www.dailytelegraph.com......7496422587

You’ll probably also need to ban NW, Who, Women’s Fitness, Cleo, Cosmo. Did I miss any? They all have women or men half naked in EVERY issue.

It’s people like this that put a stain on feminism.

Firstly, the closure is solely related to sales or lack there of and the falling advertising, nothing directly to do with the campaign against the magazine. Lad’s mags have been in a downward spiral for the past 7 years.

Secondly to Katherine above, the reason you can’t buy a newspaper at this service station or that has to do with newsagents and the related supply agreements with the newspapers (similarly why a newsagent from miles away maybe your home delivery option rather than one 3 blocks away) – magazines on the other hand are supplied by different distributors and/or under different supply agreements.

To Katherine above, the reason you can’t buy a newspaper at this service station or that has to do with newsagents and the related supply agreements with the newspapers (similarly why a newsagent from miles away maybe your home delivery option rather than one 3 blocks away) – magazines on the other hand are supplied by different distributors and/or under different supply agreements.