Slut Walk: Women’s Empowerment Walk

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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.

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