In January of 2011 two police officers addressed a safety forum at York University in Toronto. They were there to talk about crime prevention, particularly in regards to campus rape. The junior officer, Constable Michael Sanguinetti interrupted his senior to proclaim “I’ve been told I’m not supposed to say this – however, women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.”
The campus women were furious and organised a protest march four months later, and thus the Slutwalk movement was born.
It’s now an international event, with Slutwalks happening all over America, Europe, Asia and Latin America. The name is intentionally controversial, deliberately designed to shine a light on the vicious damage caused by slut-shaming and victim blaming.
It is also an international rejection of the patriarchal belief that a woman’s worth is evaluated on her looks and sexual purity, the notion that women have only two options – Damned Whores and God’s Police, as Anne Summers put it 40 years ago.
Melbourne staged its first Slutwalk in 2011, and the fifth annual Slutwalk will be held next Saturday, September 5th.
Women’s Agenda spoke to the organiser of the 2015 Melbourne Slutwalk, Jessamy Gleeson, about what the movement means to her and why she got involved.
When, why and how did you get involved in Slutwalk?
I first encountered SlutWalk during its first year, in 2011. Back then, I was still only starting to embrace feminism myself, and I didn’t really know what to make of a group that proudly proclaimed themselves to be “sluts”. However, I attended both the 2012 and 2013 protests – mostly out of curiosity – and found myself nodding along in enthusiastic agreement with everything the speakers were saying.
When SlutWalk put out a call for volunteers in mid 2014, I sent an email to the team, putting my hand up to help out in whatever way I could. I didn’t really know anyone on the team besides Karen [Pickering] (and even then, only as an acquaintance), but I had a desire to start getting involved in feminist activism in whatever way I could manage. I wanted to do something that was tangible, and involved active participation in a feminist community. The consciousness-raising aspect of SlutWalk was, and still is, incredibly important for me.
What actually happens on the day?
The rally and march are both quite straightforward. We have always gathered out the front of the State Library of Victoria, and have invited between 3-5 speakers to give a short talk on why they find SlutWalk, and its message, to be important for them and their community. We always aim to have a diverse variety of speakers on the day, and want to involve as many relevant communities as possible. This year, we have people from Shakti, the Scarlet Alliance, and Transgender Victoria speaking – three women who we, as a team, are incredibly proud to welcome to the SlutWalk stage.
Following the rally, we then ask all attendees to join us in marching down Swanston St in a protest against victim blaming at slut shaming. Typically, the SlutWalk organisers will lead the march with megaphones – I was lucky enough to lead last year’s march, and it was one of the most terrifying and thrilling experiences of my life. This year, we will finish the march at Federation Square, and will conclude by thanking all attendees and, importantly, ask them to continue raise conversations about victim blaming and slut shaming with their friends and family.
What is your role in it?
Last year, I had the job of being our social media manager. This involved monitoring our social media spaces, and posting regular updates in the lead up to our fundraiser and march. Being the social media manager is an incredibly tough job, and it’s something that we all end up mucking in with in the last few days before the march – simply because of the amount of vile messages we receive.
This year I’ve been, for want of a better term, the “producer” of SlutWalk. I’ve ensured that our various teams and groups have been running to schedule, and have arranged regular meetings for the team over the last few months. It’s been an odd job, but one that I’ve really enjoyed. I’ve suffered from my fair share of “imposter syndrome” attacks, but the SlutWalk team is amazingly supportive, and they’ve constantly backed me up and told me to keep doing what I’m doing.
The media is full of people talking about the right way to deal with sexual assault. Do we still need Slutwalk the way we did 5 years ago? Do you think things have changed since Slutwalk started back in 2011?
My first answer to this was that “no, we don’t need SlutWalk in the same way, but we still need it”. But then I considered all the reason of why we do still need SlutWalk and I actually realised that, yes, we need it in the same way. I would like to think there’s been a dramatic shift in the public consciousness surrounding victim blaming and slut shaming, but then I hear a police inspector telling me not to walk in a park alone, or I’m told to download a phone tracking app “for my own safety”.
Just because more people know what “victim blaming” and “slut shaming” actually are, this doesn’t mean people who experience violence won’t still be blamed. Howls of protest when a police chief or politician blame the victim are good (and this is how we know that some things have changed since 2011), but what would be even better is if these things weren’t even raised as issues in the first place, because people knew how very pointless and harmful their argument was. If the education systems were in place to ensure that we didn’t try to blame the victim, and that instead we looked to the perpetrator’s behaviour – because that’s where the fault actually lies.
Who should come to Slutwalk and why?
Anyone who wants to stand against victim blaming and slut shaming. We welcome all genders, races, sexualities, and ages, and aim to make our march as accessible and inclusive as we can.
What about the word “slut”? Isn’t that off-putting? What about people who support the message, but not the word.
That’s totally fine! We have people at SlutWalk who actively reject the word “slut”, and those who embrace the term. Not everyone is there to reclaim the word, and that’s completely okay with us. We understand that SlutWalk attendees hold many different ideas of what feminism means to them, and that the word “slut” is not one that everyone wants to reclaim. What we are interested in is standing against victim blaming and slut shaming – if that’s something you want to do, then stand with us.
What does the word “slut” mean to you?
When I was younger, it used to be the worst thing you could be. “Tramp”, “slut”, “whore” – these were all words used against a woman in an attempt to shame her, and silence her. I was terrified of being known as the school slut, or as the university whore. Now, I’ve doubled down on that meaning – the word “slut” can still mean these things, but to me, it’s also a word of power. No word changes its meaning overnight, and all words are contextual. Now, if a person called me a slut, with their intention being to shame me, I have no doubt I would tell them where to go. But I also wouldn’t feel ashamed by being branded with that term – the word “slut” has lost its power to hurt me, because I can now see why it’s being used against me.
How do you know that Slutwalk makes a difference?
SlutWalk makes a difference to the survivors that attend, because there’s a space where people we say “we believe you, and it’s not your fault”. SlutWalk makes a difference to those who are learning about victim blaming and slut shaming for the first time, because they can grow to understand why the word “slut” is one that has been used to shame and silence people. SlutWalk makes a difference because each of us has had a conversation with someone and explained the concept of SlutWalk to them, to find that they understand the message behind the term to be one they can relate to and understand. The power of SlutWalk lies not just in the march itself, but in the tens or hundreds of conversations we have throughout the year with our family and friends about why we need to put a stop to victim blaming and slut shaming.