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In a recent movement called the “Slut Walk”, a protest began after a Toronto police officer told a group of college women that, “if they hoped to escape sexual assault, they should avoid dressing like “sluts”” (Traister, Par 1). The college students were enraged by the ignorance the cop displayed and the assumption the cop made that dressing in provocative clothing is an invitation to rape. Thus began “Slut Walk,” a movement followed by thousands of men and women all across the world. Their message is “Yes means yes and no means no” (Pikigton, Par 4).
In my opinion the movement’s intentions are sound; however there are many areas in this protest that can be misleading and can potentially be a cause for concern.
The protestors do an excellent job of getting their main messages out, which I stated before was dressing a certain way, provocatively, in skimpy clothes.; even if a person is in the nude, it does not mean this is an invitation or that it makes it okay for someone to sexually assault you or rape you. However where the protest becomes misleading and very confusing is in the title itself using the word “Slut.”
Webster dictionary defines the word Slut as” a slovenly or promiscuous woman” (“Slut” def. 1). Promiscuous is defined in Webster’s dictionary as “not restricted to one sexual partner” (“Promiscuous def.1). Furthermore, it is a word used to describe someone who is not sexually restricted or, in other words, loose. Using the word in the movement itself is a setback; imagine if Martin Luther King were to have a rally using the derogatory “N” word followed by the word “walk”. This would not help the cause and would, in essence, make the case extremely misleading.
As a male, in my perspective when first ...
... middle of paper ...
...re can be issues such as name-calling and emotional scarring. Furthermore as great as this movement is there still needs to be a lot more done in women’s equality, but this is a very nice step.
Works Cited
Arthurs, Deborah. Thousands of scantily-clad women to march. Toronto: dailymail., 2011. 1.
Peele, Chandra. Great love (for girls): truth for teens in today's sexy culture. Illustrated. B&H Publishing Group, 2005. 139.
Pilkington, Ed. "SlutWalking gets rolling after cop's loose talk about provocative clothing." Guardian (2011): 1. Web. 3 Aug 2011. .
"Promiscuous."”Slut.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2011.
Web. 8 May 2011.
Traiste, Rebecca “Ladies, We Have a Problem.” New York Time Sunday Magazine. New York Times, July 20, 2011. Web. Aug 3, 11.
Women of color are treated differently; law does not function as a social mediator between relationships of all people. The focus is on women of colour and how non-white communities are considered inherently violent. By such stereotypes, rape myths create a belief that certain races are more dangerous than others, creating fear based on the social construction of society. Using the ``Slut Walk`` article as an example: women have argued ``it is different for a white middle class women to wear something slutty and march in a parade than a women of colour.`` Due to the social construction black woman are more likely to have their characters stereotype and are seen more promiscuous compared to white woman. (Julie Dowsett Lecture).Stereotyping has even gone so far where a police official made a comment about York university students, referring to the females saying “they should not dress like a slut” to reduce assault (Slutwalk 249). Such rape myths put women on the line, claiming that it is their fault for getting sexually assaulted because they provoke men. “Such stereotypical assumptions find their roots in many cultures, including our own. They no longer, however, find a place in Canadian law” (R. v. Ewanchuck
Female beauty ideals are an overwhelming force in teen media. Approximately 37% of articles in leading magazines for teen girls emphasize a focus on physical appearance. This is none to surprising considering two of the top contenders in this media genre are Seventeen and Teen Vogue. CosmoGIRL and Elle Girl were among the ranks of popular teen magazines, but in recent years have become exclusively online publications. Add in a dash of publications Tiger Beat and Bop, and it becomes glaringly obvious that girls are charged with the prime directive of looking good to get the guy. The story becomes more disturbing when the actual audience, which includes girls at least as young as eleven years old, is considered. In a stage when girls are trying for the first time to establish their identities, top selling publications are telling them that their exteriors should be their primary concern of focus. Of course, this trend doesn’t stop with magazines. A study conducted in 1996 found a direct correlation between the “amount of time an adolescent watches soaps, movies and music videos” a...
“I have no idea what a feminist is although I have heard the term before,” said Stewart. I told her not to feel bad because I did not know the meaning of the term until I took the class and gave her bell hooks’ definition. Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression. Although they do not have to be an activist, they should be pro-choice. “With that being said I don’t consider myself a feminist but I am pro-choice. I give advice and let others learn from experience. A person is going to do what they want so I don’t push my opinion off on others.” While others have a clue to what a feminist is but do not fully understand their purpose. “I think a feminist is someone who wants more equal rights for women but take it to the extreme,” said Nia. I explained to her that a feminist does not have to be an extreme activist. Her response was “I still don’t consider myself a feminist because I don’t really care about trying to make a change for women’s rights. I think it’s as good as it is going to get,” said
Before social media was ever a thing, there was not much meaning when a girl was singled out and called a slut. When called a slut, the girl definitely knew that she as was being bullied and harassed. However, today the word “slut” is so casually used that it is almost like greeting someone. “Through the “slut” greeting, girls and young women hail each other the way police officers hails the citizens” (Tanenbaum, 2015, pg.113). It has been so widely used by many girls that
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“I felt his hands start to move down towards my shorts as if he was trying to unbutton them or pull them off. I was still crying at this point and felt so scared that I couldn’t move” (Henneberger, 2012). These are words written by a college freshman after she had been raped, but they are true for many others as well. According to the Rape Crisis Center of Medina and Summit Counties, “every two minutes someone in the US is sexually assaulted” (Get the Facts). “Girls ages 16-19 are four times more likely than the than the general population to be victims of sexual assault” (Get the Facts). These women may be described as slut, cheap, or ready for action, rather than victim, sufferer, or survivor. Rape myths encourage these demeaning terms for women and conceal the reality of rape culture. I will describe the pervasiveness of sexual assault on college campuses as well as the systems and procedures in place to address it. Power plays a role in this issue, including the powerful men on campus such as athletes and fraternity members as well as the administrators in power who regulate the punishments and actions that are taken against the perpetrators. The influence of those in power often goes overlooked in our society because it has become so intertwined with our culture.
Traditional gender roles are the behaviors and practices we adopt from learning and what has been passed on from past generations. We learn these from our fathers, mothers, grandparents, and peers. It’s a set of unwritten laws that each gender operates under. These roles have no exception. This soon becomes a problem in society because it creates sexism based off of traditional principles on what each gender should be doing or how they should be acting. Research suggest that “Sexism is defined as prejudice or discrimination toward people based on their gender” (Marks & Zaikman, 2014, Pg. 334). Sexism correlates with the double standard of women on the aspect of it being acceptable in society for men to promote sexual activity and women being bashed and looked down upon when they promote their sexuality. There has been more prevalent news of women taking the stand on their sexuality and bodies. The double standard that exist in America has more recently raised attentiveness in society with such campaigns as Free-the-Nip. The free the nip campaign is a fight for equal rights amongst women. The main ideology of the campaign is for women to have equal rights when it comes to being bare chested in public, the same rights that men have (Reporter, 2015). The double standard here is society saying that women should not be allowed to be bare chested taking
The movement to extend equal rights to women is the main goal of feminism, which is a great thing. However, the media portrays feminism in a much more negative light. Media often portrays feminism as crazy women who view men in a negative light, that want more rights than men. In turn, a negative response comes out of this misinterpretation, even causing people to even identify themselves as “anti-feminist”. A sad reality in todays world caused by various aspects. One of the major reasons feminism is seen in a negative light is because some women claim they are feminists, however are strongly misguided on exactly what the principles of feminism entail. Many women consider themselves to be feminists, but will actually end up attacking men, which in turn causes feminism to be associated in a negative manor or even be considered a hate group. This ends up being very counterproductive, making no progress toward the ultimate goal of feminism which is simply to reach equality in various aspects of society. Another example of a hate group being counterproductive for a movement is the “Black lives matter” movement. This movement stemmed from the ultimate goal to reach equal rights between races, but has turned in to a hate group which advocated the exact opposite. Seeing the group in which the movements goal is to attaint equal rights with as the enemy is the
The image of female sexuality in our society has been corrupted in Levy’s opinion, tainted by the countless industries profiting off of the sexualization of women, who are the main driving force behind our current day raunch culture. Take Girls Gone Wild (GGW from henceforth), GGW is a perfect example of how the younger generation of women is effected by our current day raunch culture. GGW often targets women whom they see as the average looking girl, “the girl next door” so to speak. They are often college students ...
...is morally degrading and perpetuates the idea that women are mere sexual objects,” (BBC News.) This shows the awful things they go through in order to get what they truly
Women should come together in solidarity to fight against this demeaning term and crippling form of mind control. Because the sole objective of this term is to keep women in perpetual mental slavery. Isn’t it insidious that man is seen as a hero for embracing his sexuality but a woman is plummeted for doing the same? Chris Guillebeau in ‘the art of non-conformity’ talked about five monkeys that were kept in an open cage but if one of the monkeys tries to escape captivity for a better life others will drag her down and even beat her up till none of them had the courage to leave the cage. The story is a perfect illustration of what we are experiencing collective as women. When a woman refers to another as a slut, she tightens the mental chains
Modern America, in accordance to course materials and personal experiences, overtly sexualizes people, specifically among the youth, engendering new versions of gender expectations, roles, relationships, and how society views people based on appearance, sexual promiscuity or supposed promiscuity, and so on. Easy A (2011) represents an example clarifying how gender socialization impacts today’s youth via several concepts such as slut shaming, slut glorification, challenging masculinity, dating/hooking up, gender expectations and social acceptance. This film primarily focuses on a female’s promiscuity. Olive, the main character, is automatically labeled slut, after a rumor she unintentionally sparked by a bathroom conversation. Soon, the rumor spread and Olive became “school slut” in minutes.
Due to the girl’s current lifestyle and behavior, the mother is focused on sharing the value to save her daughter from a life of promiscuity. The mother fears her daughter will become a “slut” and insists that is exactly what the daughter desires. Moreover, the mother is very blunt with her view when she uses repetition with the statement, “… the slut you are so bent on becoming.” (Kincaid92). It is very clear that the mother holds a reputation to such a standard that it could determine the overall quality of a woman and her life. Therefore, a woman’s sexuality should be protected and hidden to present the woman with respect and to avoid the dangers of female sexuality. The mother is very direct in calling out certain, specific behaviors of the daughter. Such as, the way the daughter walks, plays with marbles, and approaches other people. The mother is very persistent that the daughter must act a certain way that can gain their community’s respect. She fears the social consequence of a woman’s sexuality becoming
Misandrists. Extremists. Radical Feminists. These are all forms of extreme feminists, associating themselves with the movement when they are the ones responsible for creating a negative and unfair image of ‘Feminism’. The mere word attracts raised eyebrows and queer looks - the only reason being that its true definition has been buried by women who take it too far. Many people are ignorant of the movement, but they aren’t aware that gender inequality is an on-going issue. Without a doubt, this movement needs to be given more significance as women’s oppression exists to this day.
Schools all over the world have created and enforced dress codes. Some schools are more relaxed than others; however, they all share the common theme of regulating what students can and cannot wear during the school day. But what happens when the latest fashion trends completely compromise the implemented dress code? That is the problem student’s-particularly young women- are facing in today’s society. The overwhelming increase in dress code violations has brought to light another issue associated with the codes: sexism. More and more, young women are being targeted and punished for dress code violations. While this may be due to the fact that fashion in today’s society is all about tight clothes, it could also lead to more long-lasting and sinister consequences. The rules set in place by schools prevent students and teachers from being “offended” or “distracted” by what these girls are wearing; however, this also lends to rape culture and making girls believe it is their fault if they receive unwanted male attention, as well as leading boys to think their behavior is okay. Dress codes send the message that it is a girl’s fault of anything bad happens to her due to her “suggestive” clothing.