Known for her high profile relationships with Kanye West and Wiz Khalifa, recently Amber Rose has been making a different type of headline. The infamous Hollywood socialite/model hosted her own Slut Walk in LA. Prior to her walk on October 3rd, Rose had been campaigning heavily and speaking on “slut shaming.” So why is Amber Rose’s Slut Walk even relevant? Let alone why should we care?
First I think it’s important to understand the concept of a “slut walk”. In a world where rape culture is running rapid, and victim shaming and blaming has unfortunately become the norm, slut walks aim to draw attention to this particular issue. Several women who partake in the Slut Walk protests usually dress in attires that society has deemed “slutty”, “skimpy,” or anything that is provocative. The point of dressing provocatively is to protest against the correlation of a woman getting raped due to her appearance.
“The Amber Rose SlutWalk is a completely inclusive space. This event will have a zero tolerance policy on all hateful language, racism, sexism, ableism, fat-shaming, transphobia, or any other kind of bigotry. Further, we recognize that shaming, oppression, assault and violence have disproportionately impacted marginalized groups including women of color, transgender people and sex workers, and thus we are actively working to center these groups in this event. We deeply value the voices of marginalized groups and have a strong desire to find common ground among all of our intersections.” Is the official mission statement of Amber Rose’s Slut Walk campagain. However, I think the most important dialogue to be having here isn’t about Amber Rose herself, but of the issue and protests that have been gradually picking up momentum over the past couple of years. At a young age we teach young girls that they shouldn’t dress or look a “certain way”, because that would be implying that they were “asking for it.” To whoever decided this ideology was valid, on the behalf of ALL women we say, “My clothes are NOT my consent.” It’s NEVER ok to put your hands on a woman, take advantage of her, or have sex with her without her consent. Society teaches “Don’t Get Raped” rather than “Don’t Rape.” We have to do away with the ideology that it is the victim’s fault, instead of their attacker or rapist who is responsible and should be held accountable.