On Saturday hundreds of activists took part in SlutWalk London 2012 to demonstrate against victim-blaming in cases of rape. The protest is part of the global SlutWalk movement and also involves the campaign groups Women Against Rape and Global Womens Strike among others.
The global SlutWalk campaign was formed following the international outcry after a police officer in Toronto, Canada addressing students in January 2011 said that in order to avoid being raped "women should avoid dressing like sluts".
The group put out a statement saying: “SlutWalk wants justice for the thousands of rape survivors who were told by the police and courts that they were dressed too provocatively, they didn’t scream loudly enough, they were too drunk or too young or too mentally ill to understand what had happened to them, they must have consented because the rapist was their (ex)husband or (ex)boyfriend, they were sex workers and should be prosecuted rather than their attackers, they were asylum seekers and should be sent back to the detention centre or deported.”
“By marching again this year, we are letting the authorities know that we will not go away until they take rape seriously by thoroughly investigating and prosecuting, so that more rapists are convicted, men generally are discouraged from sexual violence, and women get the safety and justice we deserve. We all have a right to live free from the fear of rape.
“We demand a change in police and prosecution priorities, so more rapists are convicted and we get the safety and justice we deserve. We want the freedom to live without fear of rape.”
We are delighted to be joining women, girls and our supporters of all ages and backgrounds at SlutWalk in London, part of global protests against rape and victim-blaming. As we prepare to join, we we’re circulating a response to Black Women’s Blueprint, the US group that discouraged Black women’s participation, though women of colour on every continent joined or organise marches.
Women of colour involved in Global Women's Strike stated:
"This Saturday 22 September we aim to bring out our experience fighting rape by landlords, police, partners, soldiers, immigration officials, security guards, clients, employers, boyfriends. We think that thousands of women publicly identifying as “sluts” is a piece of power against rapists and other attackers who use the excuse of what we wear and how we look to dismiss violence against us. We hope to see you there!"
- Women of Colour @ Global Women Strike UK and US
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From their website:
Why I am marching
I’m marching because my body is MINE and I can wear what ever I chose to.
I’m marching for all those girls in abusive relationships that never leave and never call it rape and never report it.
I’m marching because my father hasn’t spoken to me in over two years because I’m a “slut” and “sex slave.”
I’m marching for all those ignorant men out there who blame women for men’s vile actions. We blame ourselves anyway. We judge ourselves and chastise ourselves and hurt ourselves.
I’m marching for the deputy head at my CATHOLIC SCHOOL that told me “don’t start things you can’t finish.” Reassuring words to tell a traumatised teenager. What hurts more is that I know she has experienced the same thing.
I’m marching for them not removing him from my classes and moving me instead to lower sets, even though I’m more intelligent than him, further instilling the idea in other’s minds that I’m at fault, I’m to blame and I’m a liar.
I’m marching for all those women whose cases are swept under the carpet by people in positions of power, people who are supposed to help us.
Every day I am angry. Even in my dreams I am livid.
He took all my power away.
He took away my peace of mind.
He took away the control I felt I had over my body.
I will wake up every day and I will live and I will survive this because it has not and will not kill me. I was a victim once but that doesn’t mean that’s my label forever. I am not a slut and I am not a victim. I am a human being who was hurt and is hurting and I’m doing my damn best to heal.
I have never been able to write this down and even though it has caused a lot of tears writing it, I’m glad that Slut Walk has given me a reason to.
No one should have the power to silence us.
Original article on IMC London:
Comments
Hide the following 12 comments
personal issues
23.09.2012 19:08
And when I say this, I am not saying whatever has happened to you was you're own fault. Males have fucked up sexual impulses - impulses which can be exacerbated by women wearing revealing clothes. It's fucked up but it's pretty obvious.
If a girl chooses to wear clothes which would deem her a 'slut' - basically any piece of clothing which works to sell the wearer of it to all gazing eyes, be it male or female, she must understand the risk she is running as due to our society being so morally and mentally messed up. The individuals mental and physical health is not important, nor even cared about. So we have quite a few sick minded young men, and women roaming our streets.
I think the slutwalk only works against the true liberation of women and hope for true equality between the two sexes. I understand fully that you are doing whatever you choose to for a reason, but I worry that this sort of thing will simply encourage and normalize other girls to wear 'slutty' clothes. You are making the problem worse, I feel. By dealing with ones own personal issues on a platform that you effects and is on display to all other women.
counter-productive?
Be careful.
23.09.2012 21:05
There will have been a tremndous number of causes represented on this march from many different groups.
Rather than make an opinion about what the thing looks like from this report alone, it would be better to understand what the various groups were saying. That isn't in this report.
Women Against Rape and Global Womens Strike were present.
"This Saturday 22 September we aim to bring out our experience fighting rape by landlords, police, partners, soldiers, immigration officials, security guards, clients, employers, boyfriends. We think that thousands of women publicly identifying as “sluts” is a piece of power against rapists and other attackers who use the excuse of what we wear and how we look to dismiss violence against us. We hope to see you there!"
Of course, a woman doesn't need to be dressed as a 'slut' to be raped. The majority aren't dressed like 'sluts' when they are raped. But when the crime is eventually investigated, the way the woman is dressed doesn't take long to 'crop up'.
In exactly the same way that somebody who dies in police custody was usually 'misbehaving' when the crime is investigated.
Or when somebody who doesn't move out of the way fast enough upon a police order is usually 'obstructive', especially when they are pushed over and die.
Jean Charles De'Meneze was apparently wearing a large overcoat with wires sticking out of it when he was chased and executed on the London Underground. He didn't even have a coat on.
We all know what this story is REALLY about. And we can only guess at why these women were marching in the first place.
Don't let Indymedia become an instrument of the oppressor.
anonymous
a reply to the first commenter
24.09.2012 00:21
Really? So it's nothing to do with a society that systematically attacks womens' self-esteem and then tells them that the only way to get it back is by being attractive to men then? Nothing to do with an advertising/"beauty" industry that sends the message that the only way to be attractive is to look a certain way, buy certain products etc?
"It is wrong and simply does not need to happen."
Why is it "wrong" for women to wear revealing clothing?
I agree that it's wrong for women to be *pressured* to wear revealing clothing. But I also think it's wrong for women to be pressured *not* to wear revealing clothing. Which is what you seem to be doing.
"Males have fucked up sexual impulses - impulses which can be exacerbated by women wearing revealing clothes. It's fucked up but it's pretty obvious."
I feel a bit like you're making excuses for rapists here. I know that's probably not how you intended it. No matter how a woman is dressed, surely anyone with a bit of basic humanity would still recognise her as a human being and treat her accordingly. I know there are some sick attitudes around, but the attitudes are the problem, not the woman's clothing.
"If a girl chooses to wear clothes which would deem her a 'slut' - basically any piece of clothing which works to sell the wearer of it to all gazing eyes, be it male or female, she must understand the risk she is running as due to our society being so morally and mentally messed up."
Yes, OK, there is a risk involved in wearing revealing clothes (though most rapes are actually perpetrated by someone who knew the victim, not some guy off the street). BUT the answer to this risk is not to pressure women to dress differently! The answer is to teach men not to have such fucked up attitudes!
One final thought: How would you feel if I told you the way you dressed was "wrong" and exacerbated the risk of sick-minded people attacking and violating you? Please take a moment to genuinely try to imagine people judging you in this way.
anon
careful? WTF?
24.09.2012 00:28
Eh? What are you on about? Can you please explain your theory that we are all meant to find so obvious?
"And we can only guess at why these women were marching in the first place."
No. You don't need to guess. Many of the women involved have written testimonials, the organisations involved have written press releases, leaflets. See:
If you're suggesting that there is something more fishy going on please be explicit, because at the moment you are just making no sense.
confused
Okay, I have thought.
24.09.2012 08:18
I'm sorry, but I think the problem of women being looked upon as pieces of meat directly comes from girls wanting to dress like sluts, this is why I don't think girls should dress provocatively.
Unless they are doing so for their partner or in the pravacy of their own homes. But dress like you'd dress to seduce a loved one, in public - girls who think that that is fine, in my opinion are the definition of 'sluts'. Why the hell would any girl who has a man who loves her and whom she loves, wish to dress in a manner that shows her in a seductive way to other men? I believe a womans body and companionship should be exclusive to her loved one. But in present times, that seems to be looked upon as old fashioned.
'I know there are some sick attitudes around, but the attitudes are the problem, not the woman's clothing. '
Yes - but it is a problem which needs to be adressed. As long as the problem remains to be there, unadressed, I think it is unwise for women to be running an unnecessary risk by wearing revealing clothing out in public, for all to see.
If you told me the way I dressed was wrong, I'd think about why you might be saying this.
/watch?v=gpgplgYCLq8
"I believe a womans body...should be exclusive to her loved one"
24.09.2012 09:16
@
liberation?
25.09.2012 07:30
Women in the world who are really suffering, in the less wealthy areas, will find it hard to relate to the slut walkers, who in my opinion have gone too far too blindly down the wrong path to liberation.
By the way, I am not a man, but a women who does not go out of her way to tease and frustrate men as a way of feeling power over them.
virgin
The power of the feminine.
25.09.2012 12:45
In front of me was a high street which was very very busy.
So I had eaten my lunch and was just watching the people walking by doing their thing.
I remember seeing a Muslim woman in a Burqa walking toward me from a distance in amongst the crowd and I watched her as she was walking. What surpised my was how she would deal with the men walking past her who attempted to make eye contact with her. She would come across a man, and if he made eye contact with her she would snap her gaze away and walk proudly past him. Its difficult to say this in words, the sight of it was a lot more impressive to watch. It was the way she did it. I was fascinated by her.
I remember thinking to myself, that is an empowered women. She is in complete control of herself and every male she happens across.
She is a master.
A while later I realised something that still impresses me to this day. I went away being impressed with this woman BECAUSE I couldn't make a judgement based on how attractive I found her, what colour and length her hair was, the shape of her breats or legs, whether she had a pretty face. I made my judgement purely based on her being female and nothing else. Then I realised that the men she had passed by in the street were also doing that.
It was a display of the power of her feminine identity - and nothing else.
So I kind of think now that western women are empowered and they are free. But by rejecting the spangle of fashion and the veneer of political correctness, Muslim women are MORE free. And by that freedom, their men are liberated.
Not everybody will agree with this of course, but I am hugely grateful to that muslim woman - for no other reason than she was as free as a bird.
anonymous
Groan
25.09.2012 18:28
So not looking men in the eyes is a sign of 'empowerment' is it? Sorry, have I just been taken back to the 19th century?
I can't get over how crap the politics are on this thread.
(A)
@groan
26.09.2012 10:05
It's almost becoming a new form of colonialism; anarcho-colonialism whereby poor ignorant brown people are told how it is by rich white kids who have had very very easy lives and who live in a bubble. I think I am a better anarchist than any of you lame punks, with your superficial clichy dress code and your crap music. Its spoilt kids like you who give anarchism a bad name.
I do not support 'slutwalk' and I will not be bullied into supporting it by peer pressure from the 'cool kids'. It is counter-productive and reactionary, and it does not help with the serious issues of rape and violence against women (or men, who are also people).
If you don't want to be treated like a slut, then don't dress like one!
Justifying rape? No just being reasonable, unlike the reactionaries who would rather go from one extreme to another and have all men castrated...... It is a fact that if you dangle your bits in front of a man, he might go wild with desire, so if you don't want men (or women) to go wild with desire for you then don't dangle your bits in their faces!
What kind of anarchists are you when you demand that the police should protect you from a problem that you are sustaining?
I work hard every day to try to bring about proper female emancipation, and 'slutwalking' makes that more difficult.
So please stop!
virgin
@ virgin
26.09.2012 12:49
Straw man argument to make up for your feeble analysis. Sexual violence is a global phenomenon, in case you hadn't noticed.
"It is a fact that if you dangle your bits in front of a man, he might go wild with desire"
Jeez, what do you think they are, rabbits on heat? Lots of men behave like misogynist pricks because that's socially acceptable, not because its in their nature.
As a matter of fact I'm not a massive fan of Slutwalk as a campaign as I consider its rhetoric and style narrow and Western-centric.
However, I'm even more sick of attitudes like yours that emphasise the need to accomodate sexist men's behaviour rather than rock the boat a bit.
Face it, as women, we will always be treated according to our appearance so long as we merely reinforce the virgin-whore dichotomy. Whether we look shabby, sexy, 'boyish', or dress head to toe in niqab, whether we've got big boobs or a slim figure - we will always get harassed, dismissed, abused and patronised and our bodies will always be used to play politics so long as we believe dressing in ways most likely to appease men (whether 'slutty' or otherwise) is the answer to the problem.
Time to move on?
Tired of this shit
LADIES LADIES
27.09.2012 20:30
Colonel Bufton