Come to the Slut Walk, but dress like a lady!

[Sinister Rouge]

owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3519960

 

Kind of confusing, no?

[holierthanyou]

Why the fuck did she decide to call it a "slut walk"?

[tropaka]

The links are spam to me. Someone give a better descriptionl

[Minerva]

Why the fuck did she decide to call it a "slut walk"?

Slutwalks have been happening all over Canada for a year now. It was in reaction to an incident where a Toronto police officer was talking to a crowd of university students and included "women should avoid dressing like sluts" in his list of safety tips. Women were outraged, and the slutwalk movement was born.

[Sinister Rouge]

"The organizer of a “slut walk†next week in Port Elgin would rather have the women who attend carry signs than dress provocatively.

“I’ve encouraged women to use signage to do their demonstrating. I’m trying to shy away from the dressing promiscuous because sometimes I think it takes away from the seriousness of the statement that we’re making,†Bobbie Pahl said Thursday in an interview.

The first slut walk was held in Toronto last April in response to remarks made by Toronto Police Const. Michael Sanguinetti. He told a personal security class at York University in January that women who don’t want to be sexually assaulted should “avoid dressing like sluts.â€

“We know statistically, we know scientifically . . . that sexual assault has absolutely nothing to do with the way you look,†Pahl said. “We have nuns that are raped, we have 90-year-olds that are raped, we have fat women, thin women, pretty women, sexy women, not sexy women, we have women in burqas that are raped.â€

The slut walk idea went global almost immediately after the Toronto event, with walks held around the world. Tuesday’s event in Port Elgin is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. at Maughters Like Minded Boutique, Pahl’s store on Goderich St.

“We’re going to rally here then walk down to the Walmart parking lot and back,†she said.

Pahl, 48, moved to Kincardine about three years ago from Kitchener-Waterloo where she worked as a social worker. She since opened Maughters, which she said has become something of a meeting place for women and girls.

She decided to organize the slut walk about a month ago, in part because in conversations at the store, “it shocked me how many women were not aware†of the prevalence of sexual assault in Canada and that there is still an “environment that says a woman is guilty of something when a man rapes her.â€

“It surprised me how many women think it’s something that we’ve addressed here and that it’s not that bad in Canada any more, when it is,†she said.

“The sexual assaults on me when I was young dictated my life,†said Pahl, adding she has also been a foster mother to eight girls, all of whom had been raped multiple times.

Pahl, who created a Facebook page for the Port Elgin slut walk, said she has been approached by a woman who said “it wasn’t appropriate to use the word slut†in describing the event.

“I thought I can’t believe this. I looked at her and I said you’re outraged that I would organize a walk utilizing this word rather than being outraged that one in three of the young women in this country, and that’s minimum, that one in three will endure sexual assault. We have women as old as 81, 82 years old being raped in their own beds and people are outraged because I might use this word . . . that speaks to the need for the walk,†she said.

Pahl is inviting men to also take part in the slut walk because, she said, there needs to be a dialogue among men and women.

Men “are a powerful presence. The type of men that rape they don’t care what women think, they don’t care what women say . . . but they do care what their brothers think,†she said."

[holierthanyou]

Slutwalks have been happening all over Canada for a year now. It was in reaction to an incident where a Toronto police officer was talking to a crowd of university students and included "women should avoid dressing like sluts" in his list of safety tips. Women were outraged, and the slutwalk movement was born.

Yep, sorry I wasn't really clear in what I meant. I meant to ask why she would call it a "slut walk" given that she wanted to make up her own set of rules for it and have everyone dress like ladies with parasols.

[Minerva]

Yep, sorry I wasn't really clear in what I meant. I meant to ask why she would call it a "slut walk" given that she wanted to make up her own set of rules for it and have everyone dress like ladies with parasols.

My bad. I don't get that either. "I'm going to organize a protest against policing how women dress...now let me tell you ladies what not to wear to the protest".

She'll be in for a rough surprise when she realizes that no matter how much work you put into your protest, people will do things you disagree with.

[ilovetchotchkes]

Someone on my FB put up this week a pic that had a picture of a teenage boy that said something like "Women don't need to be told how to dress, I need to be taught not to never rape" or something like that. Basically the sentiment was we need to teach our guys that its unacceptable and that women's outfits have nothing to do with it. I'm SURE i'm misquoting it.

[Kishiria]

I wasn't able to go to the Slutwalk just passed here in San Diego, but when the next one comes around I intend to wear jeans, a t-shirt and the burqa I bought in Afghanistan with a sign that reads, "Am I covered up enough for you?"

[flojo]

I wasn't able to go to the Slutwalk just passed here in San Diego, but when the next one comes around I intend to wear jeans, a t-shirt and the burqa I bought in Afghanistan with a sign that reads, "Am I covered up enough for you?"

I love this!

Please do!

[Kaylee]

I think telling people how to dress sort of misses the point.

I took part in one of the Slut Walks in NC last year, and about 1/2 of the women were dressed in jeans and t-shirts or other fairly conservative clothing, so it's not like it's mandatory to dress in something you might not be comfortable in.

I wore a long dress and headcovering with a sign that said "This is what I was wearing.... It's not about the clothes", got a few strange looks but more from bystanders than from other women who were marching.

[Sinister Rouge]

The very fact that she uses the phrase "dressing promiscuous" is, to me, a complete indictment of women. She's absolutely saying that a woman's clothing reflects her sexuality, which isn't all that different from that that police officer said.

[Minerva]

The very fact that she uses the phrase "dressing promiscuous" is, to me, a complete indictment of women. She's absolutely saying that a woman's clothing reflects her sexuality, which isn't all that different from that that police officer said.

This.

[Lady]

See I would be a smart ass and wear a pearl necklace with my slutty attire.

[Third]

Basically the idea is women can prevent being raped by how they dress. It's victim blaming. Yes, we can all do things to make ourselves less of a target [like not leaving a ladder outside your house so you won't be robbed] but when it comes to don't dress like that, don't wear your hair in a bun, don't smile at a man because he might think you are inviting him to rape you that crosses the line.

It also gives certain women a false sense of security. That somehow their clothing is a field of protection. These two girls - Pearls of Wisdom [related to the Pearls] believe dressing down [in track pants] or wearing a jacket when it's hot to hide their body shape will someone prevent rape and being kidnapped for the sex trade. Some women believe this. It's a same. Old ladies, nuns, little girls...men...boys..are as likely to be raped as the woman in a short skirt.

[Lainey]

Yes, we can all do things to make ourselves less of a target [like not leaving a ladder outside your house so you won't be robbed]

Totally off-topic, but my husband does this, and it drives me up the wall. This house has already been robbed once. :evil:

[olafgypsy]

Some of my students gave a class presentation on the Slut Walk movement last semester. They made the point that the founders and participants were trying to reclaim the word "slut" for women, sort of how lesbians have tried to reclaim the word "dyke."

The whole movement reminds me of this awesome monologue from Eve Ensler's _The Vagina Monologues_, "My Short Skirt":

http://rine-vendea.xanga.com/576215653/item/

http://www.vday.org/anniversary-events/video/skirt

[Witsec7]

Some of my students gave a class presentation on the Slut Walk movement last semester. They made the point that the founders and participants were trying to reclaim the word "slut" for women, sort of how lesbians have tried to reclaim the word "dyke."

The whole movement reminds me of this awesome monologue from Eve Ensler's _The Vagina Monologues_, "My Short Skirt":

http://rine-vendea.xanga.com/576215653/item/

http://www.vday.org/anniversary-events/video/skirt

I heart the Monologues. It was a gift I gave myself for my 50th birthday. A try out and a part in our local V day performance.

[olafgypsy]

I heart the Monologues. It was a gift I gave myself for my 50th birthday. A try out and a part in our local V day performance.

experiencedd, that is SO awesome. I am jealous!!

"My Short Skirt" makes me cry every single time I see it performed. I want to frame it and hang it in my daughters' rooms when I (hopefully) have daughters some day.