Problems with SlutWalk

As an avid procrastinator and obsessive blog reader, I’ve been following the buzz surrounding “SlutWalk” since day one.

Started April 3, 2011, in Toronto and Ontario, Canada, the SlutWalk was a rally in response to one Toronto police officer’s comment that “women should avoid dressing like sluts” to protect themselves from rape and sexual violence.

The mission of these events was to not only bring attention to this particular policeman’s misogyny but also to generate a larger discussion about victim-blaming, consent and anti-rape culture.

Rapidly, the Slutwalk phenomenon began to spread worldwide, with similar events in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and other major cities outside of North America.

Due to its provocative name and rapid growth, the SlutWalk movement has been receptive to criticism from both sides. Many feel uncomfortable with the appropriation of the word “slut” that embodies this movement.

Because of this controversial branding, others feel isolated by a cause they, at its core, wish to support.

Initially, I didn’t see the SlutWalk as any kind of positive re-appropriation of the word “slut.” I saw it more as shedding a light on how harmful and misguided using it can be and how using it can only be detrimental and meaningless aside from its loaded, situational connotations.

To be more concise, I felt it was less of “let’s take back the word slut!” and more “let’s expose the word slut for its harmful and oppressive significance!”

That being said, by calling something a SlutWalk, the movement received media attention more rapidly than if it were more tastefully named.

Unfortunately, as we have seen with activist organizations such as Invisible Children, with a lot of widespread, immediate exposure tends to come a lot of generalization and distillation of said cause.

Additionally, one side that has not received much attention until very recently is the voice of women of color, who in a letter published in the Huffington Post, largely feel excluded by the popular feminist movement and this re-appropriation of the word “slut.”

The writers of this letter claim that, because black women’s history of sexual oppression is so different from that of white women, they do not have the privilege to use the term “slut,” nor do they expect it to empower and liberate them.

The writers asked that rape not be trivialized and that SlutWalk be more inclusive and aware of the diverse histories of women of color.

And like watching an off-off-off-broadway show, by the time this cause filters into our somewhat racially and financially homogenous little college town of Bloomington, it is especially pertinent that we understand the full implications of what we’re standing for.

So, let’s take a step back and try to understand what the SlutWalk is really marching toward.

Similar to the Hoodie March for Trayvon Martin, SlutWalk suggests the notion that a person’s clothing choices should not invite or justify violence.

There is a misunderstanding and lack of unity within the SlutWalk movement that is significant cause for concern. Many have voiced that in a movement regarding their safety and social justice, they do not want to be defined by their sexuality.

Part of SlutWalk’s power comes from its assumed sense of universality, but how do we truly universalize a movement that isolates and creates problems for so many?

­— alliston@indiana.edu