User:Rbutchart98/sandbox

From the early years of a woman’s life, femininity consists of being obliged to signal sexual availability to men. Even if women decide to do this, or not, they are brandished either way. Women are exhorted to look sexy and are punished as sluts, and if they do not choose to do this, they are punished as uptight. Many women face verbal and physical abuse from men in situations such as being told that the woman is not interested in them or they are in a relationship.

Women of color, specifically have very little leeway when it comes to the boundary between being slutty and sexy. SlutWalk has been argued against by many women of color because they have been historically exploited as slutty. The organisation Black Women’s Blueprint highlighted:

“Black women in the U.S. have worked tirelessly since the 19th century colored women’s clubs to rid society of the sexist/rapist vernacular of slut, jezebel, hottentot, mammy, mule, sapphire; to build our sense of selves and redefine what women who look like us represent. Although we vehemently support a woman’s right to wear whatever she wants anytime, anywhere, within the context of “SlutWalk” we don’t have the privilege to walk through the streets of New York City, Detroit, D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, L.A. etc., either half naked or fully clothed self identifying as “sluts” and this will make women safer in our communities…” and “Lastly, we do not want to encourage our young men, our Black fathers, sons, and brothers to reinforce Black women’s identities as “sluts” by normalizing the term on t-shirts, buttons, flyers and pamphlets.”

In the Journal of Law and Criminology, rape culture is described as “the belief system encouraging and legitimizing male sexual aggression against women. The key features of rape culture include dominant-submissive stereotypes of male-female sex roles, the perpetuation of so-called “rape myths,” and a “framework that blames sexual assault on the actions of the victim rather than questioning the behaviour of the rapist.””

His statement sparked so much outrage that local women organised the “SlutWalk”, where the group walked to the Toronto police headquarters in protest. They were dressed in revealing clothing, and argued that what women choose to wear is never an invitation for sexual abuse and challenged “the culture which blames the victims rather than the perpetrators for rape”.