So, I went on Slutwalk.

Despite my reservations, my political panic and my determination to not be confused with any wannabe sluts, the London Slutwalk was nothing short of fantastic. The real message of the campaign shone through the torn fishnets as marchers waved banners that read ‘slut is a social construct’, ‘I am not a slut’ and ‘I was wearing jeans and a jumper’.

The event had 1500 ‘likes’ on Facebook, and so the organisers had sensibly assumed that only a portion would actually attend. If you have ever tried to organise an event on Facebook you will know that as a rule of thumb you should never expect more than half of your confirmed attendees to actually bother showing up, and so it is rumoured that the organisers expected only 500 on the day. The old adage there’s no such thing as bad publicity has now been proved true though, as over 3,000 people congregated near Hyde Park Corner ready to march.

The march itself was fun and shouty, and it was heartwarming to see youngsters chanting for the first time (I assume it was their first time because ‘stop slut shaming, start rapist blaming’ somehow morphed into ‘stop slut shaming, start racist haming (sic)’, which made me giggle, made the woman next to me guffaw and left her pal looking very confused…). It was also really awesome to see that at least 80% of the crowd were just wearing regular civvies, rather than ‘slut’ constumes, and that feminist groups were all taking the opportunity to circulate flyers and pamphlets, letting the younger protesters know that feminism didn’t start at Slutwalk and certainly won’t end there either.

There were news reporters and cameras moving through the crowd, which could well have glorified the ‘slut’ and ‘angry feminist’ element of the march – indeed, at one point a photographer complained that my friend and I had stopped chanting and so no longer looked angry – but if they didn’t realise the real motive from the march, the placards and the chanting, they sure must have realised it when they got to the rally.

With speakers from organisations such as Women Against Rape, Black Women’s Rape Action Project, and the English Collective of Prostitutes, WinVisible, Gender Action for Peace and Security, and an individual that spoke as a representative of the trans community, the rally covered a range of experiences and opinions that left many in the crowd comforted to know that they weren’t alone. It opened people’s eyes to the ways in which sexual violence has been masquerading in our societes for millenia as an uncontrollable male urge, and how the shame we are taught at a young age only acts to protect perpertraors of violence. We heard about female immigrants being offered papers in exchange for sex, and we heard of the frequent attacks upon sex workers, who are often too fearful of arrest themselves to report these crimes.

The Slutwalk organisers, both currently completing their A level exams, are now continuing their campaign under the name ‘Slut Means Speak Up’. Keep an eye on their blog for news on upcoming protests. It’s exciting to know that they didn’t want the march to be a one-off event and it will be interesting to see what they do with the publicity and support they achieved.

Conclusion: I had fun and will be following the campaign.

Slutwalk, part 2. I’m still confused.

The London Slutwalk is eeking closer…

I’m really excited about the Hijabs, Hoodies and Hotpants bloc that will be present at the London Slutwalk! This bloc is, to me, exactly what the Slutwalk is about: a real show of solidarity against rape myths. We will all have a different opinion on how each other chooses to dress (I personally hate floral leggings) and we will have different political stances around hijabs (or any female ‘covering’), hoodies and/or hotpants, but I’m pretty sure that we can all agree that there is no item of clothing, mode of behaviour or lifestyle choice that can justify being subjected to rape. It also highlights that the reasons for rape are vast and more often to do with control and violence than with an irrepressible sexual urge that arose at the sight of a fishnetted thigh.

BUT I STILL DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW OR WHY ANYONE IS TRYING TO RECLAIM ‘SLUT’!

I don’t want to be a slut.
I just don’t want my sex to be subjected to your judgment.

What are the slut-reclaimers planning on doing with the word once they’ve announced their reclaimance of it? Are they planning on changing its meaning, or do they just want to neutralise it? Because, while I am all in favour of this ‘wear what you want/shag who you like (consuensually, obvs)/don’t shag around/your sexaul activity doesn’t define you’ mentality, surely having a single word that describes a mode of dress and behaviour and pigeonholes a person based on their sexual expression completely negates any plight for sexual liberalism.

And what the fuck are you doing holding a fundraiser in a ‘gentlemen’s club’?? These establishments are profiting from the wholesale commodification of women. They only exist because our society is sexist enough to have conceived them and then permitted their continued existance. Jeez…

But I’ll still see y’all on the march, yeah? Solidarity and all that. But, just not as a slut-reclaimer.

Slutwalk

The London Feminist Network forum is filling my inbox with angry emails again. I subscribe to their mailing list in a bid to keep up to date with feminist happenings (causes, petitions, protests, events, lectures…etc) and every now and again an interesting discussion arises that brings into question the future of feminism.

A few weeks ago I stumbled across Slutwalk, a worldwide campaign that encourages women to march and protest against rape. The walks were started in Toronto after a group of women were told by a police officer that they should stop dressing like sluts if they want to avoid getting raped. Obviously this advice didn’t go down too well with the women in town and so they set up the first Slutwalk protest, more of which are set to begin in the UK this month and over 5,200 noted on Facebook to attend the Hyde Park walk. They encourage women and girls to demand the right to not get raped, whatever they are wearing, and to put an end to ‘slut-shaming’ and victim-blaming in rape cases. The name is an attempt to reclaim the word ‘slut’, as is the encouragement of ‘slutty’ outfits on the march.

A valient cause, right? And in essense it is the same cause that the Reclaim The Night marches have been fighting since the 1970s. But for some reason the London Feminist Network is very angry about the Slutwalks…

They are objecting to the name ‘Slutwalk’ and claim that there is no power to be gained from reclaiming mysoginist words.

Fair enough.

The march’s organisers hope that by reclaiming the word ‘slut’ women are also able to reclaim the power held over their bodies and female sexuality. It’s a very riot grrrl philosophy, and it’s one that is direct and effective if you want to cause a stir. But I’m afraid that I have to side with the angry feminists agree with them about this – I don’t think that there is anything posisitive to come of keeping such words alive in our language. Attempting to reclaim ‘slut’ only asserts women’s right to initiate sex and have it on their own terms. But the inequality of sexual politics runs much deeper than this, and only getting rid of the word completely will allow women to fully reclaim their sexuality.

But underneath the naivity of its exterior the Slutwalk is both a valient and popular show of cross-gender solidarity against sexism. Yes, they only scratch the surface of the problem, and no, the word ‘slut’ (reclaimed or otherwise) will not and should not have any longevity within progressive feminist activity, but that doesn’t mean that these marches aren’t positive. The participants are being proactive and should be praised for this. They should be encouraged to explore the feminist arguments that support their plight and engage with feminist discourse. But instead the feminist groups are moaning about Slutwalk, without offering an appealing alternative.

Well done LFN, you’ve just gone and isolated people EVEN FURTHER from feminism.

Being a feminist isn’t something many people admit to in public anymore. But Slutwalk contains thousands of women offering their support to one of the most fundamental demands of the feminist movement and a very basic demand of our human rights – to not be raped. Perhaps they just don’t see this as a feminist fight because, you know, feminism isn’t cool. Or perhaps they don’t see it as a feminist demand because it so bloody obvious that no-one ever deserves to get raped.

But whilst Slutwalk may not be a name that this campaign can run with in the long term, and even though we must place a (hopeful) expiry date on words like ‘slut’, Slutwalk has created a stir in the media about sexual consent and perceptions of sexual intention. The readers’ comments that follow articles about the campaign show just how big a problem we still face:

“Rape is an utterly dreadful crime, and perpertrators should get the death penalty. But women must take some responsibility for their own actions, and I’m sorry, but going out in your underwear with parts of your body that should remain covered up on show is only asking for trouble….FACT, like it or not!” (Daily Mail reader comment, funnily enough)

The Reclaim The Night marches, whilst popular, are very much feminist marches, and so the many young people who do not associate themselves with feminism are reluctant to get involved. Like many feminist events, some people find them intimidating, inaccessable and separatist. I have to say, I kind of agree. Because of its reputation it took a long time before I really identified with feminism, declared my political leanings or started to be activley involved.

But Slutwalk is a cause that people are getting behind regardless of their political affiliation. I think that that is AWESOME, and so while I will not be dressing as a slut, and I most certainly won’t be calling myself or anyone else a slut either, I will be in attendance at Slutwalk.