It is now the beginning of the spring on 2012, which means we should all expect the international grass roots protest movement known as SlutWalk to return bigger and better than ever before.
For those few who might not be familiar with this populist juggernaut, SlutWalk is a humanist protest movement against the badly worded suggestion by one Canadian police officer that women, in order to avoid sexual victimization, should avoid dressing as sluts.
The movement, which in a single year has spawned protest marches in dozens of cities worldwide, took the words of the Canadian cop, constable Micheal Sanguinetti to mean that when women find themselves the victims of the lowest incidenced type of violent crime tracked by the FBI in their uniform crime victimization survey, that these women have only themselves to blame. And that’s the story. That is the narrative behind the mobilization of women in protest marches all over the western world, the story that Micheal Sanguinetti, the Toronto cop, was telling rape victims it was their own stupid fault they got raped or sexually assaulted.
This message, this black-and-white over-simplification of criminal victimization, this “it’s your fault,” is a terrible, regressive and hateful position to take. Anyone who blames the victim of a crime rather than the perpetrator of a crime is clearly a deranged sociopath who should never be employed in any capacity dealing with the general public.
What’s interesting is that nobody thinks that’s what Constable Sanguinetti meant, not even the organizers or participants of slut walks which took place in cities all over the world. Nobody -save a tiny handful of idiots – thinks that the victims of crimes are solely responsible for their own victimization, not even when the crime in question involves sex.
The SlutWalk movement is not a movement protesting the view that the victims of rape have nobody to blame except themselves, and this is evident after the most fleeting consideration. At the Vancouver, British Columbia instantiation of the protest parade which I attended and observed, one oft-recurring slogan read:
“Don’t teach women not to get raped, teach men not to rape.”
Men, you see, do not know they should not commit the crime of rape, they must be taught this. Men, we learn from this slogan, would rape women if they didn’t know better. This sort of conduct, raping women, well…it’s impolite and unsportsmanlike.
“Teach men” we are told “not to rape.”
Not even rapists, no, but men. That’s who needs an education, so men don’t rape. Because after all, if we don’t teach them, the poor little rapey men simply won’t know any better.
More than 40 versions of this slogan appeared on signs at the Vancouver slut walk, produced by organizers from one of Vancouver’s battered women’s shelters.
“Teach men not to rape.”
The other purpose of this international protest movement, we are told, is the reclamation of that demeaning, degrading word – the word slut. It is a word which, as nearly as I can determine outside of the approved, politically polite superdoubleplussgood speak actually means “sexually irresponsible jackass”. That’s the word the marching sluts seem bent to put a positive spin on. So gentlemen, you mustn’t say slut anymore, when what you really mean is sexually irresponsible jackass. So just say: sexually irresponsible jackass.
The SlutWalk Movement is neither a protest of Micheal Sanguinetti’s words nor a protest against “victim blaming.” It is a show of force and a demonstration of superiority of status. Slut walks worldwide are a reminder to men to know their place. No matter how drunk, slutty, irresponsible, and sexually suggestive the attire and behavior of a drunken, drugged, partying slut becomes, she is supreme, and owns no culpability. Men are responsible, and should she, at the time, or later in a moment of post facto regret decide that whatever sexual pursuit was pursued – if she decides she doesn’t or didn’t like it – well then, the man is at fault. In fact, he’s a criminal to be destroyed.
The SlutWalk Movement is a show of power. To men it is a clear message. Know your place, bow your head, and agree that the most privileged, protected, pampered demographic in human history are actually victims, and further agree that you belong to a class of criminals. That is what the international protest movement called SlutWalk really is.
