(Language Alert: I have to use the Sl** word in this post to address the phenomenon of thousands of women walking in Sl**Walk Marches)
Last week marked the first anniversary of SlutWalk. The first SlutWalk demonstration took place in Toronto, Canada, on April 3, 2011. The rally was held in response to a Toronto police officer’s statement that young women could help safeguard themselves against rape by dressing more modestly.
Feminist activist, Sonya Barnett, was incensed at his remark. She bristled at the implication that provocatively dressed women were in any way responsible for their own victimization and abuse. Barnett argued that girls should have the right to dress slutty without fear of sexual assault. Suggesting otherwise places the blame on the female victim, and excuses the behavior of the male perpetrator.
Barnett organized a protest march to the Toronto Police Station, which she dubbed “SlutWalk.” Through it, she hoped to raise society’s collective consciousness, and to encourage girls to:
- “reclaim” the word “slut” and other such negative male-defined labels,
- exert their right to reject male-defined, patriarchal norms of female dress and behavior,
- protest a culture that puts blame on the victims of sexual assault.
Proud to be a Slut?
Over the past year, more than fifty SlutWalks have taken place in the US, Canada, and around the world, including Australia and Britain. The events are similar to “Take Back the Night” rallies. But they differ, because addressing sexual violence is only one of their aims. SlutWalk also wants to aggressively redefine notions about woman’s sexuality.
To that end, SlutWalkers sport T-shirts and signs with slogans like, “Sluts pay Taxes,” or “I’m Proud to be a Slut.” Many protesters dress provocatively. The message is that it’s misogynistic when men categorize women as sluts, but it’s empowering when women define themselves as such. Women have the right to be as slutty as they want to be.
Sexual violence is a problem that ought to concern us all. However, I fear that SlutWalks do little to improve woman’s lot. In fact, they arguably exacerbate the very problem they say they’re trying to solve.
SlutWalk ideology is bad for women. Here are five reasons why:
1. It absolves girls of risk-management responsibility
Telling a girl to be careful about the way she dresses, where she goes, and how she behaves is about risk management, not victim blaming. Risk management is an important consideration in many areas of life. For instance, earlier this week a local hockey player left his car unlocked and his key in the ignition when he jumped on the team bus for an out-of-town game. He’s lucky his car wasn’t stolen.
Had it been, his dad—a police officer—would have still brought the full force of the law to bear on the thief. The “invite” of an open car doesn’t reduce or minimize a thief’s culpability. But that doesn’t mean that leaving your car unlocked is smart. It’s not good risk management.
SlutWalk ideology puts the entire onus for sexual conduct on the guys. It teaches girls that they don’t need to manage risk. It encourages foolish behavior. It implies that a girl can dress provocatively, go to a guy’s apartment, get drunk, come on to him, and then accuse him of rape when he doesn’t stop at the last minute. C’mon girls. Use your brains. Yes, he may be culpable of rape, but you sure didn’t do yourself any favors by throwing your car doors open. If you’re wise, you’ll put up boundaries to safeguard yourself against the risk of unwanted sexual attention and not put yourself in risky situations.
Don’t misunderstand me. Women who are sexually abused are NOT at fault. A crime is a crime. But there are sometimes things that girls can do to lesson their vulnerability.
2. It equates sex with power
SlutWalk buys into Third Wave feminist ideology that sex is power. It preaches that sex is ultimately the way a girl exerts and expresses her freedom and equality. It intimates that slutty women are powerful women. If a girl wants more power, then she’ll throw off male-defined Judeo-Christian notions about sex. Sadly, I see the carnage of this attitude in multitudes of today’s young women—even those who are Christians. Power is not the right to do what you want, nor to act in a sensual, promiscuous, immoral way. True power is “the might to do what’s right”—it’s the backbone and strength to walk in the way of the Lord.
3. It teaches girls it’s cool to be crass
I gotta admit I had a hard time writing this post. Though the post called for it, I don’t like using the word “slut.” I think it’s crass, crude, and inappropriate. Since when is being ill-mannered and potty-mouthed a mark of personal empowerment? SlutWalk would have us believe it is. But it’s never cool to be crass. It does nothing to elevate women or womanhood.
4. It casts men as oppressors
If you get the diagnosis wrong, you’ll get the treatment wrong.
SlutWalk blames the problem of sexual abuse on patriarchy. It buys into the feminist mindset that throughout history men have been on a misogynistic power trip, and part of a massive subversive patriarchal plot to oppress women. Men are bad. Women are good. Get rid of male privilege and you’ll get rid of the problem.
Well guess what? Women can be bad too. Female to male domestic violence is statistically just as prevalent as male to female. And the feminist argument that women act this way because of the patriarchal system is simply not true.
Yes, due to the mechanics of male-female plumbing, women are raped more than men. Rape is a horrible wrong. But at its core, the problem isn’t maleness or men. It’s sin. Some men are oppressors. But many are decent, honorable guys who’ll throw themselves on a sword to protect the ones they love. It’s high time we stopped swallowing the lie that the male sex is responsible for all the world’s ills.
5. It encourages sexual permissiveness
SlutWalk wants girls to stop feeling shame. A girl should be able to act trashy without feeling trashy about the way she acts. A Slutwalk Organizer explains:
“The event is in protest of a culture that we think is too permissive when it comes to rape and sexual assault,” said Siobhan Connors, 20, of Lynn, Massachusetts, another Boston organizer. “It’s to bring awareness to the shame and degradation women still face for expressing their sexuality . . . essentially for behaving in a healthy and sexual way.”
Okay, let me get this straight. SlutWalk thinks that we live in a culture that’s too permissive with regards to men forcing women to have sex. But it also thinks that it’s healthy for women to be sexually permissive. Whoa. Now there’s some fancy mental gymnastics! How, pray tell, does the idea that it’s healthy for women to sleep around outside of marriage detract guys from pressuring, coercing, or forcing them to do so? Surely, if it’s healthy for girls to sleep around, then it logically follows that it’s healthy for guys to expect girls to engage in that type of behavior. It fosters the mentality, “Of course you want it! All girls want it! It’s good for you!”
Sexual violence is a horrific sin. But SlutWalk isn’t helping matters any. Sadly, I think it’s shooting women in the foot.
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Comments
on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 10:13 am
on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 10:24 am
on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 10:31 am
on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 12:30 pm
I agree with the organizer that women should not be sexually assaulted because of the way they dress. I just wished that it was done in a more positive and uplifting way.
on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 12:37 pm
on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 1:14 pm
on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 2:03 pm
"Surely, if it’s healthy for girls to sleep around, then it logically follows that it’s healthy for guys to expect girls to engage in that type of behavior."
Um, no. Regardless of your view on sex, permissive sex and nonconsentual sex are not moral equivalents. And, no, one is not a logical extension of the other, so no need for mental gymnastics here.
While I'm no proponent of "slutwalks", I imagine it is precisely this kind of thinking (or perhaps just a poorly written couple of sentences) that they are intended, at least in part, to address. As this article illustrates, the language we chose to discuss this sensitive topic matters. Lets take care to get it right.
on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 2:41 pm
on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 3:47 pm
on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 8:01 am
equality women have been so deceived, that they would received such a title as slut. Lady is a forgotten
word in this venue, perhaps we should spend some
time in reviving what it means to be a Lady, a Wife,
a Mother, a part of a healthy family, that is the foundation of a healthy nation. We see the product of
a unhealthy nation, but it is not to late to turn the tide.
on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 12:15 pm
on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 4:22 pm
"Telling a girl to be careful about the way she dresses, where she goes, and how she behaves is about risk management, not victim blaming. Risk management is an important consideration in many areas of life. For instance, earlier this week a local hockey player left his car unlocked and key in the ignition when he jumped on the team bus for an out-of-town game. He's lucky his car wasn't stolen. "
This paragraph reveals the author's ignorance about rape, and the fact that she is buying into many cultural myths about sexual assault that your blog surely does not want to reinforce. Research has shown that men are NOT likely to rape women based on their dress or that man's sexual desire for that woman; rather, rape is primarily a crime of violence, not a crime of passion, and is no more or less likely to occur because of a woman's attractiveness or "slutiness". See, for example, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3210146 . If rape is not caused or motivated by a woman's dress or behavior, then to suggest that women can "manage their risk" of being raped by being more "modest" is false, and encourages misinformation among young women. Further, it encourages women to see themselves as being responsible for being raped, rather than to place full blame on the perpetrator, who made a choice to commit an act of violence.
Furthermore, the author claims the following: " Women can be bad too. Female to male domestic violence is statistically just as prevalent as male to female. And the feminist argument that women act this way because of the patriarchal system is simply not true. " But she never actually supports the claim that patriarchy or culturally-enforced ideas of male sexual entitlement don't have anything to do with rape. She simply declares this "untrue," with no support, and moves on. Frankly, this is poor argumentation, but she offends further by claiming that "female to male domestic violence" is as prevalent as male to female DV, a claim she supports by citing Wikipedia. However, for more credible sources, such as studies by the FBI, Centers for Disease Control, and Bureau of Justice Statistics have revealed the opposite: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/intimate/victims.cfm . Men are far more likely to be perpetrators of intimate partner violence than men, plain and simple. And frankly, even without these statistics, logic prevails when we have this conversation; the amount of physical damage that a man can do to a woman far outweighs that which a woman can do to a man.
The problems with this article go beyond bad writing and misinformation. There is such a vast wealth of resources and information out there concerning the causes and prevention of sexual violence that to write this post based on myths, misconceptions, and shaky impressions was just lazy. Further, the lack of research in this article reveals a disrespect to survivors of rape. It reinforces uninformed myths about the causes of rape and blames women for being survivors of this violent crime. To publish this kind of writing discredits TrueWomen immensely, and speaks ill of the quality of the writers they endorse. This blog post needs to be retracted immediately, with full apology from its author, and replaced with a writing that gives due respect and compassion to survivors of rape and intimate partner violence.
on Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 12:05 pm
I have ministered to victims of rape, and especially date rape, where young women have been violated by men in social dating situations. I wholeheartedly agree with you that victims of rape need our utmost compassion and support. I also agree with you that a woman's dress or behavior does not ultimately "cause" rape. The full blame for rape does fall on the shoulders of the perpetrator, who made a choice to commit an act of violence.
Yes, a young woman "should" be able to dress and behave as she wants, where she wants, without fear of rape. Likewise, a rich man "should" be able to walk down a dark alley wearing an expensive Rolex watch, and holding a fist-full of cash, without fear of being robbed. But sadly, we live in a broken, sinful world.
I would do the young women I mentor a disservice if I failed to teach them to heed wise boundaries. Healthy boundaries help reduce a woman's risk for unwanted sexual attention and date rape. Teaching young women to act and dress "slutty" isn't an act of kindness or compassion. It's irresponsible. It dulls their sensitivity and sense of caution towards potentially dangerous situations. I stand by my assertion that "Slut Walks" do little to help the cause of women.
on Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 5:34 pm
on Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 5:51 pm
The issue is not that you and I are looking at the issue from different angles. The problem is that your assertions are factually inaccurate. No matter what you think about immodest dress, the fact remains that there is no empirical evidence that indicates that clothing is a risk factor in assault. Once again, this article ought to be revised on the basis of error.
You can certainly stand by your assertion that Slut Walks are bad for women. I am not crazy about them myself. But the idea that it encourages behavior that makes rape more likely should not be one of your reasons, because it is simply untrue.
on Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 11:31 pm
I would STRONGLY encourage you to read this.
on Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 11:35 pm
on Friday, April 20, 2012 at 1:13 am
I have a deep compassion and concern for women. It is unwise for us to lead them to believe there is nothing they can do to reduce their risk and vulnerability of unwanted sexual attention, and to fail to warn them about putting themselves in potentially dangerous situations.
on Friday, April 20, 2012 at 11:29 am
Maybe women can do things that reduce their risk for assault. They don't, however, appear in this article. The problem is that you have conflated sexual attention with sexual assault. Rape is not about sex. It is, as any criminologist will tell you, about power and control. For that reason sexual attraction does not play as much of a role as power dynamics do. Convicted rapists are far more likely to remember details about a victim that betray her vulnerability than anything related to attraction. According to RAINN, then, you are better off projecting an air of confidence and assertiveness to prevent assault, as well as being aware of your surroundings, rather than presenting yourself as less sexual desirable.
At the end of the day, though, rape happens because someone chooses to rape, and there is no silver bullet to prevent assault. For this reason, then, the prevention movement is going more in the direction of encouraging people to look out for each other, rather than keeping themselves from being victims. This makes far more sense in light of the last several decades of research. Because there is no social code one can follow to avoid being attacked, it is far more productive to encourage people to be aware in public spaces of the signals that an assault may be underway, and then intervene constructively. See http://www.nsvrc.org/projects/150/bystander-intervention-resources
Prevention, then, is a matter of being active, assertive, and aware on your behalf and on others. Modesty or lack of it continues to be irrelevant. If you want to keep women from undergoing this kind of trauma, this is far more constructive than telling women how to not be victims based on rape myths and cultural misunderstandings about what sexual violence is.
on Friday, April 20, 2012 at 5:33 pm
on Tuesday, May 29, 2012 at 8:12 pm
Blame the victim has been the long time policy of the fundamental church. Take a look at the Tina Anderson case just gone to trial this year. Young girl was raped by a church member had to stand up in front of the church and confess her sin. Then was shipped off to another county to avoid possible legal challenges and have the child.Nothing on the other hand was done to the rapist, his wife didn't even know only the pastor. Tina is now in her 30s and speaking out on what happened. I hope alot more women who have been mistreated and abused in the fundamentalist church start to come out with their stories.
I am one. I was homeschooled not allowed to go anywhere or do anything for my parents fear of men, always wore long dresses way past my knees no one could ever acuse me of being slutty heck I didn't even know what it ment... I was abused by my own brother and father... and I know many others who could tell the same story. I know a family of 12 that the father who was a fundamental independent baptist preacher sexually abused all of the mentally handicapped boys.
Come out women and tell your story you didn't do anything wrong its not your fault if something like this happened to you its males who have been taught by the church that they are the equivalent of God to women and abuse this power.... in this day and age this is unacceptable and can be punished.... So if you are suffering or have suffered please DON"T STAY SILENT!!!! Forgive yes.... but also push the legal aspect because unchecked these guys are going to continue down their perverted road and you don't want some other little girl to go through what you did. THIS IS A EPIDEMIC IN THE FUNDAMENTAL CHURCHES sad sad sad.
on Tuesday, June 5, 2012 at 12:10 pm
1. The author of this blot post points out that wise boundaries (not just clothing) can make women safer. As long as that is not discused with by those that disagree with the author they will not have done anything to disprove her point no matter how many links to statistics they throw out.
2. While the way women dress may or may not increase their chances of being raped, it most defiantly does contribute to either a culture that will value women as people to be loved and cared for, or a culture that objectifies them and encourages men to think of them as objects to be lusted after and used for our own gratification. The later culture will most certainly lead to more women being rapped, even though it might not be the women that are dressed immodestly that end up rapped.
on Thursday, August 2, 2012 at 2:47 pm