York-rooted feminist rally goes international
News Department
The SlutWalk movement can officially count Chicago, Manchester, Berlin, and New Delhi in its growing international roster of cities that have, or will be, hosting the rally.
The domino effect of events began at a January 24 York safety information session, where Constable Michael Sanguinetti of 31 Division suggested that women could avoid sexual harassment by not dressing like “sluts”.
Ronda Bessner, Osgoode assistant dean of the Juris Doctor program, brought the issue forward to Excalibur. Major national and international media outlets quickly picked up the story.
Just weeks later, SlutWalk Toronto was in the planning stages.
The walk itself took place April 3 in Toronto, garnering a crowd of about 1,000 marchers of all ages and genders. Since then, the SlutWalk movement has grown to a global scale, with chapters spanning North and South America, Europe, Australia, and even New Delhi, India.
However, the SlutWalk movement has not gone without criticism.
“SlutWalks are what you get when graduate students in feminist studies run out of things to do,” wrote Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente on May 12, pointing out that the movement was heavily tainted by Western privilege. “The highly educated young women who join SlutWalks are among the safest and most secure in the world.”
Nisha Eswaran, co-coordinator of the Centre for Women and Trans People at York, agrees that a reaction to the officer’s comment creates awareness. But she takes issue with the SlutWalk’s failure to liaise with other groups.
“There’s a particular history in which people and women of colour—especially trans women of colour—face a particular kind of sexual violence,” she says. “If we’re fighting against patriarchy, it affects many people.”
Eswaran also noted that to her knowledge, organizations such as Maggie’s—a Toronto based organization run by and for the advocacy of sex workers—were not approached by SlutWalk.
“There’s all kinds of wonderful work being done by sex work activists, people taking control of their bodies and […] having the right to not be criminalized,” she said. “I don’t understand how you can have a SlutWalk if you’re not going to include people such as sex workers, who face an incredible kind of violence because of slut discourse.”
Some York students, such as third-year criminology student Sara Sidiqi, feel that the usage of the term “slut” in SlutWalk is counteractive to the feminist movement.
“In terms of empowering women, those two things don’t meet,” she says, noting the traditional connotations the word carries. “[Regarding] the whole idea behind the walk and empowerment, I think it should have another name; a name that encourages women to go on the walk and to stand up for themselves, however they want to dress.”
First-year political science major Hasina Yaquibi agrees. She thinks the word itself has become so synonymous with a degrading meaning that it almost promotes a “sleazy image”.
“I don’t think they should call it SlutWalk,” she says. “In a way they’re degrading themselves […] it’s not a good thing. I think they can think of a better idea in order to spread it further.”
Second-year economics student Abdul Saeed raised the point that cultural differences can also act as significant obstacles, especially for the SlutWalks that are set to be held in non-Western countries.
“In other cultures, people perceive you differently because you’re part of a different culture,” he says. “You might be dressed properly, but other people and different communities might perceive you in a different way.”
Excalibur attempted to contact SlutWalk Toronto’s York liaison Alyssa Teekah for comment, but she could not be reached as of publication.
Satellites List
CANADA
10 Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Montréal, Halifax
USA
46 Orlando, FL; Dallas, TX; Boston, MA; Los Angeles, CA; Seattle, WA;
INTERNATIONAL
25 Amsterdam, Stockholm, Sydney, Johannesburg
81 Total of satellite SlutWalks
Compiled by Pippin Lee, with files from
SlutWalkToronto.com
