Melinda Tankard Reist has been pilloried for her stance on pornography, as a pro-life supporter and for declared Christian beliefs. There have been vociferous calls for her to surrender her feminist badge. Tankard Reist also receives daily hate emails threatening her with acts of sexual violence.
Psychoanalyst Carl Jung is reputed to have said 'I'm glad I'm Jung and not a Jungian'. The price of any definition of allegiance can be the pressure to conform to narrowly defined 'right' principles, to have acceptable, 'right' allegiances, and involves the risk of being branded an outsider.
More importantly not being admitted to the club seems to mean that arguments are not to be considered on their merits or examined with true rigor. This has been the fate of Melinda Tankard Reist who describes herself as an activist and feminist.
In an article in the Drum titled 'Tankard Reist Furore: Feminists on the attack' Claire Bongiorno also questions labelling as critique. Bongiorno reports that leading feminists such as Eva Cox and Anne Summers have specifically questioned Tankard Reist's right to call herself a feminist, thereby removing an invisible stamp of approval. But have her arguments been fully and fairly considered?
Tankard Reist has been denounced as unworthy to claim feminist credentials on at least three counts.
Firstly she is arguing that pervasive and extreme pornographic depiction of women's sexual expression is limited, degrading and a negative influence on young women and men's sexuality. She maintains that the porn industry deliberately targets boys as young as 11. She has also campaigned against the inappropriate sexualisation of children in advertising and marketing.
Secondly Tankard Reist is pro-choice, editor of a book titled Giving Sorrow Words: Women's Stories of Grief After Abortion. Thirdly she is criticised for having worked as an advisor to Senator Brian Harradine, a strong opponent of abortion.
Overarching all of this, she is discredited for her Christian beliefs. When asked about her Christianity informing her values, she states that she tries and mostly fails to follow the teachings of Jesus.
But why should any of this the be a cornerstone for judging her argument ?
It is playing the woman, not the ball, and more closely resembles rowdy one-eyed barrackers at a football match, opposing all about the 'other' team while applauding their own. If this sounds familiar you may be recalling Federal parliamentary debate, which commonly descends to jeers and cheers rather than forensic examination of the proposals as they relate to the common good.
The central difficulty of assumptions made by pigeon-holing a person's beliefs and values is that the argument is not heard. I am no fan of Reverend Fred Niles, especially in regard to his views on homosexuality, but he can occasionally say something I agree with.
So there may be sound rigorous arguments for concern about internet pornography or the lack of informed choice, beyond abortion, for some pregnant women, but these are howled down.
It could be argued that Tankard Reist's views do not conform to the extracted 'rules' of a previous fearless work, Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch.
Greer was arguing for the liberation of women in many areas, including sexual expression and reproductive choices. She was a breath of fresh air in a rigidly configured view of women's destiny. It was an era when women were urged to burn their bras as a symbol of release.
But times have moved on, and the new call of today could be for women to ditch their silicon implants and for the role of motherhood to be more highly valued.
Thirty years on, Greer has declared that she did not want to be a high priestess of feminism. Her views on the pressure of women to conform to a marketed cosmetically altered stereotype of a boyish body with large breasts are not out of sync with the views of Tankard Reist.
Greer's views are often intellectually complex, contrarian and difficult to pigeon hole. That is a strength. But what may have been extracted from her views and the constant evolution of the feminist movement has been diminished by being reduced to a formula such as that used in the denunciation of Tankard Reist.
We could do well to heed the words of Greer, the reluctant icon: 'Some of you may disagree with what I am saying. I am not worried about disagreement. I just want you to think about what I am saying.'
Lyn Bender is a Melbourne based psychologist.