Slutwalk
There’s a new “movement” sweeping the globe. Is it human rights protests for Darfur? No. Are middle- and lower-income class US citizens protesting the ever-growing economic disparity? No. Is it the protests for demanding the end of wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and elsewhere? No. Is it people fighting for their right to affordable healthcare? No. Is it working class people trying to protect their collective bargaining rights? No. Are college students protesting outrageous tuition costs and predatory lending practices? No.
There are a number of women worldwide who are organizing events called SlutWalks to fight for their rights to dress, well, like sluts. SlutWalks began in Canada and are now spreading, much like a virus, to the UK and the US and everywhere else. What is Slutwalk? An initiative to fight sexual harassment, it is the mighty age of the Slutwalk. How women choose to dress up, present themselves has had social implications since time immemorial. Lately this age-long issue has again caught the eye of the world and made everyone sit up and take notice by the global campaign “Slutwalk”.
Held in the form of rallies, marches, parades , an international series of Slutwalk is a demonstration to protest against women stereotyping. Participants of slutwalk rallies across the world protest the sexual violence against women and more importantly the blame-the victim mentality or social habit of blaming of victims of sexual harassment for the violence perpetrated towards them. It is a demonstration of frustration and anger in women across the world at the notion of explaining or justifying rape or sexual assault of a woman by linking it to any aspect of a woman’s appearance.
Slutwalk has become a global movement to increase dialogue and raise awareness about prevalent attitudes in our society that blame the victim in the cases of sexual assault. It campaigns the against the ideas that victim of an assault asks for it by dressing or behaving in a certain indignified manner. How It All Began? – History of Slutwalk On January 24, 2011 Constable Michael Sanguinetti of the Toronto Police Service while speaking on crime prevention at a class of Osgoode Hall Law students remarked that “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order to not be victimized. His comments were posted on facebook and blogs by some students and finally made way to newspaper headlines. Constable Michael Sanguinetti was subjected to public ridicule and censure and was labeled a misogynist. Though he apologized for his remarks afterwards, his public apology did not cut any ice. There was already a big hue and cry over it among the Toronto women. Toronto women outraged by this incident decided to organize a rally to show they weren’t going to take it lying down anymore. Hence, SlutWalk: Women and men taking to the streets to demand accountability from the Toronto police.
Its goals were small and local focused; its message was equally simple and unequivocal. However, what stood out was its branding. Nearly 3000-4000 people gathered at Queen’s Park, Toronto on April 3, 2011 to protest. The rally began with condemn speeches and then moved on to the Toronto Police Headquarters. The movement demanded that those willing to participate in the march should be willing to identify as ‘sluts or allies’. And though women were requested to turn up in everyday attire symbolizing the ordinary women getting assaulted everyday in ordinary life.
Many of the protesters dressed up provocatively in revealing outfits to brand themselves as sluts. The idea quickly spread to include many cities across the globe. Slutwalk protest co- founders Sonya Barnett and Heather Jarvis decided to use the word ‘slut’ to slamback, observing that the term ‘slut’ has had negative connotations and they want to redeem the term. Sonya and Heather state that women “are tired of being oppressed by slut-shaming; of being judged by our sexuality and feeling unsafe as a result”.
What are they trying to accomplish? According to organizers and participants of the movement, they as a community are demonstrating their opposition to the attitude of blaming the victim by suggestively referring to their appearance and are trying to increase awareness in the society as a whole towards this brandishing of women victims of sexual assault. They are trying to demonstrate that the society is not going to tolerate victim-blaming and sexual harassement anymore and create an atmosphere of security and safety.
Simple message of the movement – No matter who you are, which caste or creed you are from, no matter how you choose to dress up and how people view your sexuality, you have a right to safety. This simple message has made possible for the movement to cut across barriers of community and nationality and helped it gain ground anywhere. And so, Slutwalk transcended Canada and became an international movement. Why the use of the term slut? Many women argue that the word slut represents double standards used in society while
