Consent is Sexy.
This Saturday London played host to the latest SlutWalk protest. The march was a great turnout and saw people from all walks of life take to the streets to denounce sexual abuse of any nature. For all those who don’t know, the SlutWalk movement started in Toronto last year after policeman, Michael Sanguinetti, suggested that to remain safe women should ‘avoid dressing like sluts’.
Even without the need of translation services, his opinion spread around the globe and the SlutWalk movement was born. Worldwide, young women and their friends have dressed provocatively and brought signs, slogans and sound systems with them to march and demonstrate their reluctance to accept blame for such incidents, as Sanguinetti was suggesting they should.
Everyone who participated in the march in London this weekend, which began at Hyde Park Corner and ended in Trafalgar Square, was well received by crowds of photographers, police and tourists who stopped to watch, often joining in themselves. The array of inspirational chants throughout the day ranged from, ‘sexual abuse – no excuse’ to ‘where ever we are, where ever we go, yes means yes and no means no’, with my personal favourite being the continuos ‘teachers – sluts, pensioners – sluts, lesbians – sluts’. You get the gist.The costumes and signs that the crowd came in and with were equally surprising, with many turning up in just their underwear.
The responses to the SlutWalk movement have been many and incredibly varied. Some influential male figures have suggested that dressing appropriately is ‘risk management’, however many men feel that by taking this stance is to suggest that every man is a rapist by nature. Regardless of the reception that those involved received, it seems obvious that the movement will only continue to grow in strength and numbers, inspiring supporters and victims alike.
Women should be able to dress how they want. It takes a real man to see a woman dressed in skimpy clothing and still see the woman, not an object. I think this movement is awesome, keep it up.
Thanks for the comment! If you haven’t already been to a SlutWalk demo then I think you’d love it!
ah, that’s really interesting. Thank you very much for sharing!
Subhan Zein
Thanks for stopping by
I subscribe to the ‘risk management’ view on this issue. In general, men are civilized and can be trusted, but, speaking as a man, I know full well that there are plenty of men willing to objectify and abuse women.
In this case then don’t you think it’s the men who should modify their behaviour and not the women? ‘Risk management’ suggests that a woman should have to dress in a certain way as not to ‘provoke’ a man into assaulting her…It would be absurd to suggest a man does the same thing to prevent a woman abusing him. If these so called men can’t control themselves then it stands to reason they should be removed from society.
Truly a great blog – I had no idea about the SlutWalk, but am in FULL support. Thank you for sharing this and the response that the SlutWalk produced.
Hey there, thanks for checking out Words Fusion, I’m glad you found this post and pledge your support!
I’ve seen a number of SlutWalks and feel that though there are some good intentions behind that movement, it also creates lots of prejudices, myths and misconceptions. I personally see nothing wrong with ‘dressing appropriately’ as one of the ‘risk management’ strategy when it comes to rape prevention, though ‘sticking with the friends’ would probably be more important.
‘Dressing appropriately’ strategy does not suggest that every man is a rapist by nature. It does not put the blame on the victim and it does not justify rape. It simply takes into considerations that all humans (whether males or females) have biological (e.g. physical body) as well as spiritual (e.g. soul, mind, feelings) components. It also takes into consideration that there are some nasty people in the society who don’t care about other people’s thoughts or feelings. All they are interested in is another person’s body Therefore the person with ‘more body’ on display and with no friends around has a higher chance of catching attention of a rapist than other people (in the same way as the person who walks alone waving $1,000 of cash notes in his hand has a higher chance of catching attention of a robber, than other people on the street).
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