On Wednesday October 12, St. Olaf had its very own conversation about the controversial SlutWalk protest marches. For those of you who don’t already know, the SlutWalks are marches in which women protest discrimination based on their sexuality. The protests began after a Canadian officer told a group of students that they should avoid dressing like “sluts” if they want to remain safe from sexual harassment.
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The SlutWalk Minneapolis group’s mission statement is, “in order to form a more perfect society for all, support Justice, ensure the belief of the victim, provide the means to end stereotypical thinking, promote active consent, and secure the Safety of All People, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, age, or situation (http://www.slutwalkminneapolis.org/index.html). Most SlutWalks also emphasize the need to recognize rape culture and victim blaming.
St. Olaf’s own conversation was held by the Women Empowerment House. The conversation leaders asked a series of leading questions to spur discussion and moderated to ensure the conversation did not turn into a debate. Most students agreed with the protests mission statement and values. When asked whether women should be held accountable for how they act or what they wear most students said “no.”
This was tempered with a certain amount of practicality. While male and female students alike believe women should not be held accountable for rape or sexual harassment they agreed that in reality women should dress in order to protect themselves.
The main point of contention is the effectiveness of the SlutWalks. SlutWalks are attention grabbing but do they send the right message? Students remain divided. The walks emphasize that women should be able to dress how they want and not be accosted for their garb or blamed for harassment by society and the law.
Unfortunately, the walks are polarizing. SlutWalk leads some to cry indignantly that if “dress like a slut” you are “asking for it.” One commentator on the Telegraph writes, “You can dress how you want to but if you dress like a whore you’ll have to forgive me for assuming you are a whore – your choice” (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/women_shealth/8510743/These-slut-walk-…). The problem is that this view assigns undo attention and responsibility to the victim. Rapes occur regardless of what the victim is wearing. One Ole said, “Rapes are often a product of a psychological need to express the rapists control and power.” The most tempting victims can be someone the rapist knows personally or someone who is meek and quiet.
Regardless of whether the talk changed opinions it certainly encouraged conversation and open dialogue. Hopefully we will be seeing similar events from the Women Empowerment House in the future.
photo credit: http://onmilwaukee.com/myOMC/authors/mollysnyder/slutwalk.html