Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

london slutwalk - pics and report

rikkiindymedia(At)gmail[dot]com (rikki) | 12.06.2011 14:55 | Gender | Health | Repression | London

organisers estimated 3000 people took part in yesterday's 'slutwalk' anti-rape protest yesterday in central london. the crowd filled trafalgar square to hear from a wide variety of speakers, and the event was seen by them as a success. it has certainly opened up a debate about attitudes to women, rape, dress, and misogyny, although not all agree with the premise of the march.

click on image for larger version. all images are 'some rights reserved' - free for credited non-commercial use, otherwise contact author for permission

------------

as the crowd assembled outside the 'hard rock cafe' at the west end of picadilly, it became clear this was going to be much bigger than most people had imagined. the london slutwalk, follows similar uk marches in edinburgh, newcastle, cardiff and glasgow, and these in turn were part of an emergence of currently more than 70 similar events around the globe.

it all began in toronto, after an ill-judged, and later reprimanded, comment by a toronto cop, michael sanguinetti, in a rape case. he was quoted as saying that "women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised". there have been similar comments in british courts from ill-witted judges, and rape victims are routinely asked what they were wearing at the time. so the 'slutwalk' response is that women should be free to wear whatever they wish, and that rape is thus never invited or 'asked for'. infact, one particularly incisive banner at yesterday's protest simply pointed out that "by definition, you cannot ASK to be raped".

some feminists have opined that the protest doesn't address deeper concerns over the commercial sexualisation of the female in society, and that the word 'slut' is not one worth reclaiming. on a side note, etymologically, 'slut' doesn't originally appear to suggest any sexual connotation, rather being associated with dirt, and applied to women, often servants, who didn't clean properly.

all controversy aside, the trafalgar square speeches, from organisers and invitees, kept returning to a simple single-issue point to be made, and 'slutwalk' might be strongest and least divisive if it continues to be clear about that one issue.

i thought it was best summed up by one speaker who invited us to imagine the case of a man appearing in the witness stand after being the victim of a rape where some penis-like object had been shoved up his arse. the first question he is asked by the sympathetic judge is "can you describe what you were wearing at the time?". the farcical unlikeliness of this scenario brought laughter and a huge cheer from the crowd. and yet female rape victims are routinely asked this question.

a young muslim woman pointed out that her religious dress is under fire for too much coverage, while rape victims are under fire for too little dress. why does (patriarchal) authority believe it should interfere in this area at all? 'slutwalk' invited people to come dressed in any way they wished, and although many took up the challenge to dress 'provocatively' (isn't that word in itself a sign of how deep this problem is entrenched?), others rose to the call in other ways.

a trans-gender speaker spoke of her previous life as a man, never experiencing any sexual abuse, but that since dressing as a woman, she receives anything ranging from stupid comments to serious threats on a shockingly regular basis. sex workers spoke of their experiences at the hands of the police - claims of abuse or rape are routinely met with indifference because of the nature of their work, and the level of protection is minimal, non-existent or indeed negative. she told how she was currently fighting a conviction for 'running a brothel', when her only motive was to work in a flat communally with a couple of friends for safety after being brutally attacked herself (without any subsequent justice) when she previously worked on her own.

other speakers did of course make connections to wider women's issues, such as the use of rape as a weapon in war, the plight of women in AIDS ravaged countries, and the rights of women globally. one particularly eloquent speaker on global issues was crystal from 'global women's strike'.

but ultimately and simply 'slutwalk' is about challenging the arbitrary and ill-conceived connection between dress or appearance and the crime of rape. it is about fighting the perception among, mostly male, police, prosecuters, and judges, that rape can be invited by signals and implied consent. it is about raising these issues publicly and in the press, and pushing it into the judicial agenda.

it certainly seems to have captured the imagination of a wide cross-section of the public, and yesterday's london march and rally had men and women in all states of dress and undress, in unexpectedly large numbers, with a serious aim and as part of a global phenomenon.

quite by chance, yesterday's event coincided with the yearly 'world naked bike ride', and as the speeches were drawing to a close, hundreds and more hundreds of naked men and women rode past the square as part of that event, not one of them inviting rape - a delicious synchronicity on a sunny afternoon.


rikkiindymedia(At)gmail[dot]com (rikki)
- Original article on IMC London: http://london.indymedia.org/articles/9302

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech