It all started in Toronto
Last January 24, Constable Michael Sanguinetti on the Toronto Police Force spoke at a university safety forum and said, "Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized". He later apologized, but the bitterness remains.
This caused an outrage among many in Canada and America. According to the website SlutWalk Toronto, "As the city’s major protective service, the Toronto Police have perpetuated the myth and stereotype of ‘the slut’, and in doing so have failed us. With sexual assault already a significantly under-reported crime, survivors have now been given even less of a reason to go to the Police, for fear that they could be blamed. Being assaulted isn’t about what you wear; it’s not even about sex; but using a pejorative term to rationalize inexcusable behavior creates an environment in which it’s okay to blame the victim.
"Historically, the term ‘slut’ has carried a predominantly negative connotation. Aimed at those who are sexually promiscuous, be it for work or pleasure, it has primarily been women who have suffered under the burden of this label (…) Slut” is being re-appropriated (…) Being in charge of our sexual lives should not mean that we are opening ourselves to an expectation of violence (…)"
SlutWalk comes to Seattle June 19:
On April 3, over 3,000 gathered in Toronto to hear speeches and march. Other such walks followed, from Boston to Chicago, from Europe and Australia, and, on June 19, it comes to Seattle. SlutWalk Seattle will be held on Sunday, June 19, and will meet at Bobby Morris Playfield at Cal Anderson Park, 1635 11th Av, at noon, then walk west along Pine Street to rally at Westlake Center until 3:00 p.m.
West Seattle participant moved by the brutal murder of South park resident Teresa Butz
"We should call rape what it really is, sexual assault," said West Seattle resident Heather Hansen. "Rape is not about what you look like, how you dress, how many sexual partners you have had. It is a crime of hate, control, anger, and power issues. To say that 'we're asking for it' is hideous. Children and 85 year-old women get raped and you can't tell me the way they dressed brought it upon themselves.
"When Terry Butz and her partner were assaulted it really struck a cord with me," said Hansen, who moved with her partner to West Seattle because they felt it was gay-friendly. "I need to stand up for people in this position and for future victims to show that as a community we support them, and someone's got to speak up and say 'no'. In no way shape or form should we as a society allow any victim of sexual assault to feel it was something that they did to bring it on. Law enforcement is there to help the victim, and find the individual. For the Toronto Policeman to say what he did is so discouraging. As women we have a really strong voice and we need to educate men, and society, about what is acceptable.
White Center participant Christine Spencer
"I live in White Center and work at MAC's Triangle Pub as a bartender on weekends," said Christine Spencer, who will attend the SlutWalk with others from White Center and West Seattle. "There's definitely a buzz about SlutWalk. I'll probably be there with my sister-in-law and other friends in my area I can wrangle up. I'm sure it will be a topic of conversation this week.
"When I tend bar I'll wear a tank top and move around the bar and I'll get comments that are completely unnecessary. It's not like I am putting out a message to be harassed. That's where rape can start, with harassment, like 'that's OK' to harass," she said. "The wall between the bar and the 'other side' makes some guys think they can say anything and act a certain way. I consider myself to be a respective woman and I still get commentary. I can only imagine what the girls on the other side of the bar have to deal with, with those guys. I set them straight, like, 'Hey, dude. She's not interested'."
Event emcee, co-organizer was raised in West Seattle
Tamara "Ta" Skilton, (her maiden name) now lives on the East Side. The West Seattle Herald interviewed her at Delridge Park.
"I was raised in West Seattle and attended Cooper Elementary, Madison, and Chief Sealth class of '87," she said. "My parents still live on 25th south of Delridge Park. Both of my sisters live in West Seattle. I got a head, neck and back injury when riding on an inner tube. I lost parts of my memory, so being here in Delridge Park is triggering memories, some not good. I experienced a sexual assault here when I was 16 and never stepped foot in this park until now. It has taken this cause (SlutWalk) to shift those memories that stay with you.
"I remember vividly not asking for help after the assault because I sensed I'd be blamed for walking through the park at night. We're raised with a victim-blaming mentality. I confided only in a few friends. I described (the assaulter) to a couple of friends and two people recognized him later. I've not looked into it since. I did tell school officials, but was never contacted by the school or authorities.
"Don't have preconceived notions when you hear the term 'SlutWalk'," she said. "I wasn't dressed any particular way. Only 4.4 percent of sexual offenders remember what their victim wore. It's about power and humiliation. Kids, older people, men get raped. So the clothes they wear doesn't matter. Using any term including 'slut' shouldn't be used to demoralized somebody, to keep somebody else down with your words. What comes after a trauma? PTSD. National PTSD Awareness Day is June 27. So let's not traumatize people who have already been traumatized.
"I was hooked into SlutWalk because of what happened to Lara Logan," she added.
Logan was the CBS corespondent had been beaten and sexually assaulted on 11 February, while covering the celebrations in Tahrir Square following Hosni Mubarak's resignation.
"I think I dress pretty darn conservatively," said Tamara. "I am happily married, completely monogamous to the most wonderful man in the world. People still look at me and think I am a certain type of person, and it's hurtful. I have been treated all my life as an object. At the walk I will have a big group of people behind me saying, 'That's not OK'."
Walk organizer
Three other co-organizers of the walk are Samuel Schimmel, a college freshman, Robins Sacks, a high School senior, and Jessi Murray, 23, who works at Microsoft as an engineer for Windows.
"I first read about the Toronto march on a feminist blog,' recalled Murray. "They listed satellite walks that were beginning to spring up. I feel very connected to this issue because I also experienced sexual assault.
"It was on the day of my 18th birthday when I was on the MIT campus visiting it in the summer as a senior in high school when I was admitted to the college. I'm dealing with it OK now. It was a very traumatic moment at what was my dream college. I very much blamed myself and thought it was my own fault, that I had put myself in that situation. And if I told anyone, everyone would call me a slut. And at that point I was never even kissed. I was a little nerd. I didn't report it. I couldn't deal with the scrutiny of the public and the beliefs of the justice system.
"I want no one to go through what I went through," she added. "There is too much emphasis in our society placed on what the woman could have done to prevent this horrible thing. There's no correlation with dress and rape statistics. There are ways to lower your risk, but some are myths."
Murray said that the controversial Westboro Baptist Church announced they were coming to protest, but she said that they may not show.
