Slut-Walk Campaign to combat Violence Against Women

Women march during the 'SlutWalk' in Boston, May/2011. (AP / Josh Reynolds)

What's all this about a SlutWalk? 

It started with 5 Toronto women reacting to a police officer who labeled rape survivors as women who brought violence upon themsleves because they dressed like "sluts."  Sonya Barnett is co-founder of the Walk, which has become a virtual global phenomenon in just 2 months, via virulent social media controversy and clamor.   On the now official organization's  website, Barnett says that SlutWalk, "...began as a reaction to one comment, a reaction that we had originally imagined only to include a handful of our closest friends exploded into a movement that we never could have expected. Our plan was to call foul on the comment made by a representative of our Toronto Police and speak to the bigger picture of common, persistent and documented victim-blaming within our Police Services. We planned to demand accountability, not apologies. We wanted to make sure that the issue was kept fresh in people’s minds, which is why we aimed at April 3rd for the Walk date."  


Since that date, SlutWalks have been cropping up all over the world, from Edmonton to Edinburgh, San Diego to Sao Paulo.  These ladies have clearly tapped into sentiments of both women and men who are fed up with stereotypical, erroneous portrayals of rape survivors as promiscuous sluts or even just ordinary women who somehow "ask" to be raped by wearing a skirt.

 Jonathon M. Seidl, The Blaze, Dallas

Thank you, Jessica Valenti, with the Washington Post, for providing thoughtful, factually-based commentary on an important topic where reactionary journalism often prevails. See her June 3 article SlutWalks and the Future of Feminism.      I make a living creating social marketing (social and behavior change) campaigns and I'm currently working on a campaign to combat gender based violence in Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa-- a region with the nefarious reputation as the "rape capital" of the world.  What many people don't seem to understand is that a huge factor that exacerbates sexual violence is the social norm (dysfunctional) that assumes the woman plays a part in the rape by dressing seductively or behaving in a way that "brings it on."  In our campaign we also have to educate the media, academics, and health professionals to get them to stop propagating this false and dangerous belief.  That is why this campaign will be so interesting to watch as it is turning that false belief on its head.  What I'd like to see more of too, is more men and officials marching alongside the "Sluts." Only when more and more "everyday people" support this change of behavior will social norms and attitudes make a turn for the better.  I look forward to seeing an evaluation of its efficacy on changing social norms in a few years.

There are dozens of Slut Walks happening in the next few weeks all over the world.  Why not join them?!