"Women should stop dressing like sluts to avoid being victimised".
A statement given by a police officer in Toronto January 24th 2011 that sparked a Worldwide outrage...from this outrage Slutwalk was born.
Slutwalk began in Toronto, but has gone on to become a Trans-atlantic movement, with protests happening in the UK,India, Amsterdam, London Sydney,Santa Cruz,Texas. Slutwalk is a Worldwide march of solidarity, for anyone to do anywhere (wearing anything), that raises awareness of the message that no matter what you wear, look like your gender expression, how much/little sex you have, what you've been called, how you're body has been de-valued in the past... No means no, in any situation! The movement has been produced from one officer's bigoted comment is just amazing, and has given women faith that things can change, and not to just sweep comments like this under the carpet, thankfully that these women did something about the harassment that they received, however their are Voices Unheard around the globe, women who have received harassment like this, and not reported it because they think it's the norm, it's not .
"Of course we don't blame the victim but..."
She looked older than she was, she was drunk, she was dressed provocatively...the list goes on.
One aim of the Slutwalk movement is to work on dispelling the idea of 'Slut-shaming', the idea that just because a woman was say, drunk, or wearing very little clothing, she somehow deserved what happened to her. I know what you're thinking, in what world does a woman deserve to be raped, but then unfortunately you get cases like this one.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-17781842
The backlash that followed the Ched Evans case was unbelievable. A stream of what is currently referred to as 'rape apology' (rapists that do whatever they can to imply that the survivor deserved what happened to them) started on Twitter, this particular gentleman caught my eye
@Joseph Westley "In a premier Inn with two footballers after a night out. Expecting Tiddlywinks?"
So many things are wrong with that statement, but let's just focus on the fact that Mr Westley has twinned being in a hotel room being akin to a woman's consent, pretty shocking, and this is why we march, to combat viewpoints such as this one and to raise awareness that this kind of ideology is not ok, and that rape, in whatever form, is never ok.
Some groups have criticised the Slutwalk for 'opressing' women even further by the use of the word 'Slut' in the title of the event. An example of this being an article in the Guardian, that read..
What these groups seem to disregard is that by re-claiming this word to (and utilizing it to their advantage) the founders of Slutwalk have brought empowerment to women, by putting positive connotations and feminist solidarity behind a word that has been used as a derogatory insult for years. Heather Jarvis (a queer sex and body-positive feminist, and co-founder of the Slutwalk movement) comments on the reclaiming of the word by stating that
"'slut' is not going away, not even close. So why not challenge it and utilize language to our benefit?"
We'll be holding our own Slutwalk in Edinburgh (date still to be confirmed)
We invite people of all gender expressions and orientations, all walks of life, levels of employment and education, all races, ages, abilities, and backgrounds, from all points of this city and elsewhere to come as you are, dressed as you feel comfortable. Look at your local Slutwalk movement too, I know Toronto's is on the 25th May this year
Pussy Manifesto, out
xx
"Of course we don't blame the victim but..."
She looked older than she was, she was drunk, she was dressed provocatively...the list goes on.
One aim of the Slutwalk movement is to work on dispelling the idea of 'Slut-shaming', the idea that just because a woman was say, drunk, or wearing very little clothing, she somehow deserved what happened to her. I know what you're thinking, in what world does a woman deserve to be raped, but then unfortunately you get cases like this one.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-17781842
The backlash that followed the Ched Evans case was unbelievable. A stream of what is currently referred to as 'rape apology' (rapists that do whatever they can to imply that the survivor deserved what happened to them) started on Twitter, this particular gentleman caught my eye
@Joseph Westley "In a premier Inn with two footballers after a night out. Expecting Tiddlywinks?"
So many things are wrong with that statement, but let's just focus on the fact that Mr Westley has twinned being in a hotel room being akin to a woman's consent, pretty shocking, and this is why we march, to combat viewpoints such as this one and to raise awareness that this kind of ideology is not ok, and that rape, in whatever form, is never ok.
Some groups have criticised the Slutwalk for 'opressing' women even further by the use of the word 'Slut' in the title of the event. An example of this being an article in the Guardian, that read..
“Advocates would be better off exposing the myriad ways in which the law and the culture enable myths about all types of women – sexually active or “chaste” alike. These myths facilitate sexual violence by undermining women’s credibility when they report sex crimes. Whether we blame victims by calling them “sluts” (who thus asked to be raped), or by calling them “frigid” (who thus secretly want to be overpowered), the problem is that we’re blaming them for their own victimisation no matter what they do. Encouraging women to be even more “sluttish” will not change this ugly reality.” - Gail Dine
What these groups seem to disregard is that by re-claiming this word to (and utilizing it to their advantage) the founders of Slutwalk have brought empowerment to women, by putting positive connotations and feminist solidarity behind a word that has been used as a derogatory insult for years. Heather Jarvis (a queer sex and body-positive feminist, and co-founder of the Slutwalk movement) comments on the reclaiming of the word by stating that
"'slut' is not going away, not even close. So why not challenge it and utilize language to our benefit?"
People have raised questions as to why girls are dressing in skimpy clothes for these marches, does this not portray a negative message? Sonya Barnett (another co-founder of the Slutwalk movement) answers that this kind of negativity further enforces the stereotype that people should be ashamed to be sexual beings..you can dress how you want to, if you feel confident dressing in next to nothing then so be it, no still means no, just because i'm wearing a short skirt in the summer doesn't mean I want my ass pinched thanks very much. And this kind of stigma works both ways, a woman wearing joggers and a jumper is at risk of assault too, this message was shown by a demonstrator at Chicago Slutwalk, who held up a sign saying "My friend was raped wearing a snowsuit".
Slutwalk has brought a whole new awareness of the discourse surrounding rape apology and slut-shaming, discourse that I have not come across anywhere else in society (this is a super shiny thing) hopefully our march in Edinburgh this year will have a great turn-out and raise awareness of this important message, I wrote this to try and explain the connotations behind the controversial title of "Slutwalk" hopefully this has come across..
We'll be holding our own Slutwalk in Edinburgh (date still to be confirmed)
We invite people of all gender expressions and orientations, all walks of life, levels of employment and education, all races, ages, abilities, and backgrounds, from all points of this city and elsewhere to come as you are, dressed as you feel comfortable. Look at your local Slutwalk movement too, I know Toronto's is on the 25th May this year
Pussy Manifesto, out
xx
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