What is this SlutWalk Thing Anyway?

Few people seem aware of the prevalence of modern feminist efforts, many of them being confined to the internet, covered little by the media, or regionally-focused. But the few efforts that have caught on internationally still don’t seem to be recognized by the average citizen, so this will be the start of a series to remedy that.

This week we’ll cover “SlutWalks,” one of the only existing public efforts to destigmatize female sexuality and end common myths about sexual assault.

The concept of a “Slut Walk” emerged in early 2011 after a talk at a safety forum on York University’s campus. During a piece on crime prevention, a police officer chimed in to add his thoughts, noting his belief that “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.” Though the officer was reprimanded and apologized after his words gained significant media coverage, two individuals, Sonya Barnett and Heather Jarvis felt that wasn’t enough. Recognizing problems both with his usage of the term “slut” and the social mores that supported his comment, they organized an event in Queens Park at the beginning of April to make a stand against similar attitudes, encouraging all participants to come without shame.Though they expected roughly 200 individuals to appear, over 3,000 showed up, some in fishnets, some in jeans and t-shirts. After a round of speeches discussing various topics related to their cause, they marched from the park to the Toronto Police Headquarters, where they briefly protested the police’s perspective on sexual assault.

After this event received significant media coverage, the movement slowly began to spread to other cities, slowly increasing momentum as they received national and international acclaim. Women turned out in London, Sydney, New Delhi, Boston, and over 250 other major metropolitan areas to support the cause, showing up in varying degrees of “slutty attire” or simple day-to-day wear. Though the initial interest in the event has died down a little, the movement is still going strong to this day; the Toronto march is now an annual event, with the group's Facebook page being consistently used as a means to expand outreach about varying consent problems.

So why is this movement so compelling for so many people? Well, for one, it’s pretty revolutionary, in the sense that it hasn’t been done before. Plenty of people have marched for equal rights and feminist causes, but few have done it nearly nude. Plenty of people have decried rape culture and victim blaming before, but rarely in march form. And while a number of scholars in recent years have restored the academic interest in women’s sexuality, those discussions rarely garner media coverage. Slut walks do garner interest though, positive or otherwise. They bring discussions of women’s rights, women’s interests, and consent into the public sphere, dragging it from the realm of academia and Cosmopolitan articles to the public square. Further, the help demolish harmful misconceptions like dress playing into the reasons for rape (most of the crimes being planned in advance by people known to the victim).

Not all of the attention they’ve gained has been positive though; some in the media question the need or efficacy of the work, while others critique the type of feminism that they’re promoting or the vitriol of the marchers. In regards to the need or efficacy or their work, this article makes a fairly comprehensive case that Slut Walks are addressing a serious issue and encouraging change in other areas. Besides cases where the attire of underage rape victims was used as proof they were “asking for it,” there is a significant body of literature that indicates that other nations still struggle with misconceptions concerning rape. Egypt, for instance, saw an upsurge of sexual assaults during the 2011 Revolution. When the UN investigated a large number of these cases, they found that over 75 percent of women assaulted were wearing conservative clothing and no makeup. Interestingly enough, over 90 percent of women in the report believed that other women encouraged sexual assault thru the way they spoke, walked, or the clothing they wore. Even if critics are right about Slut Walks being useless in the US, they at least have significant importance abroad, especially if other countries’ major cities continue to host them.

While many modern-day feminist efforts are ignored by the media, slut walks have gained a great deal of notoriety. Whether that’s due to their provocative nature or the message they promote, it means that the average individual is exposed to more perspectives on sexual assault than normal, hopefully forcing a continuous reevaluation of their beliefs. This is a significant change in how feminists engage the public in cultural conversations; hopefully we’ll see more movements like this in the future.