Women using the word 'slut' to empower women all over the world

[lunatica]

India gears up for maiden 'Slut Walk'

NEW DELHI — Skimpily dressed women will take to the streets of New Delhi later this month for India's first "Slut Walk", a global phenomenon to protest sexual violence.

The capital is India's most dangerous city for women where leering and harassment are a daily menace and a woman is raped every 18 hours or molested every 14 hours, according to the latest police figures.

A government-backed UN survey last year said about 85 percent of Delhi's women are perpetually scared of being sexually harassed.

"The purpose of a slut walk is to bring to the attention of society that the problem is not what we do, but what is done to us," Umang Sabarwal, a Delhi University student and the organiser of the June 25 protest, wrote on her Facebook page.

Slut Walk was first held in Toronto this year after a police officer caused outrage by stating that "women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised" during a speech to university students.

The protest soon spread to over 60 cities where women joined in huge numbers to challenge the mindset that victims of sexual assault should be blamed for the crime against them on the grounds that they were "asking for it".

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i8tzBRdaDiyZwLLH84xG1R4TlxSA?docId=CNG.4b51b056239693ce4c4888dc9ef63302.1a1

This is the next phase of women's rights and it's global

Edited for clarity about the article

[QuintanarooBoy]

1. I'm sorry

I just don't get this.

[lunatica]

3. Get what?

That women are blamed for being raped?

[QuintanarooBoy]

5. No, I completely get that part

But have you ever heard someone say, for example, that Playboy Magazine is empowering for women? I have, and I find it odd that so many "steps forward" in women's "liberation" just happen to dovetaill perfectly with the predilections of horny guys.

[phasma ex machina]

6. Funny how it works out that way. It often seems that women must be young and pretty to qualify as

celebrities while men can be old creepy and ugly as sin.

It also occurred to me that single moms may very well be the most manipulated people on earth. You see, a typical salesMAN absolutely hates to hear the words, "I need to talk to my spouse first." OTOH the typical single mom stands totally alone and totally isolated, feeling guilty about raising her kids in near poverty.

[lunatica]

7. There's a difference between women choosing to show their bodies and being raped

I have nothing against women who want to expose their bodies. If it's their choice then I honor it and feel no need to judge them. I actually think 'more power to them'. But when women are raped and groped and denigrated against their will, that's a different story. I see you're not a woman, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt up to a point.

Choosing to show your body as a woman and being raped and groped are simply not the same thing.

[phasma ex machina]

11. Careful there. In the make believe world police actually arrest rapists. OTOH real world

victims are mostly on their own. Best not to tempt fate. Unless, of course, one belongs to a powerful family/tribe, which empowers one to act with impunity.

[lunatica]

14. I'm afraid I can't fathom your message

Can you please elaborate?

[phasma ex machina]

25. In the Disney world, when women get "raped and groped and denigrated against their will"

their friendly neighborhood cop arrests the perp and puts him in prison. In the real world too many cops look the other way and let women fend for themselves. Dressing slutty tempts fate as much as walking into a crack house with a gold bar in hand.

[lunatica]

26. OK. I get it now

thanks.

[lunatica]

32. kick

[seabeyond]

8. i hear ya. and agree. lets call all of us sluts so we can prove it is not our fault we are raped

iran pres says cleavage causes earthquakes. so a hand ful of woman pull up their tops for 30 men with camera to "prove" cleavage is not the cause.

[lunatica]

10. Are you serious?

Or are you being sarcastic?

[seabeyond]

15. ya... i am serious. any time women want to address any female issue, it has to do with strippin

i really thought we were at the point of being on equal footing with mind. but it doesnt matter what the issue is.... repug attack on women, there is a cry to withhold sex... has to do with us strippin or using sex as a tool.

serious

[lunatica]

18. That's a rather sweeping statement

I've been a feminist activist all my life and haven't felt the need to strip even once.

[seabeyond]

21. me either. rather use brain and kick ass. nt

[lunatica]

23. Hahahaha! I've kicked many an ass in my time

I still do. It isn't hard to do.

[TheMadMonk]

34. Why must "Don't take silly risks." be interpreted as a redirection of blame?

I would not walk into a dog kennel wearing a meat suit.

Knowing the character of certain denizens of the world and with knowledge of their "habitats", analagous advice is applicable for the apparel of women when in those "habitats". Or "nancy boys", or <ethnic slur>, or, or, or. Cleave too strongly to ANY socially depreciated stereotype, (slut, poof, dyke, n*, s*, k*, p*, etc.) and you walk into lowlife territory with a seriously over the odds risk of being accosted AND of having any encounter escalate to injurious violence.

The problem is not YOU or anything about you, the problem is entirely THEM and THEIR perceptions of you. It is not your fault, but THEY will tell THEMSELVES that it is. You can not change that, but you can deprive them of their pretext.

Why not just stick with what's been tried and proven for centuries in all walks and milieus. A simple overgarment for anonymity of appearance. AND travelling in company. Banditry and biggoted thuggery will always find themselves niches somewhere, it's an unfortunate fact of life. So is the fact of diagnosible psycho-sexual dysfunction.

If somehow we ever do persuade the potential rapist that a collar masquerading as a dress is NOT an open invitation, he'll simply find something else to fixate upon. At the turn of the last century, deliberately putting her ankles on display was a sign of a "loose woman". The aristocratic "languages" of fans and flowers. One breast, two, or zero. A scratched palm. Where toes point. makeup, tone, eyes, smell.

The signals of availability are as varied as our imaginations. The one constant is that when we go "out on the prowl" we both consciously and unconsciously put on whatever signals are currently interpreted as "attractive". And consequently, if those signals are openly displayed, run an increased risk of coming to the attention of individuals unable or unwilling to restrain themselves.

The fault is never the victim's. But a certain onus of sensible precaution does still befall those likely to be victimised.

[Warpy]

2. This is my favorite in Toronto. It says it ALL

[lunatica]

4. Toronto is the flagship for the latest phase of the women's movement

As it states in the article.

[lbrtbell]

9. Yet "prude" is used, even here, also to denigrate women

This whole Anthony Wiener business has made me realize how many people on the left really don't practice what they preach, when it comes to women's choices about sexuality and morality.

The whole double standard of being called a "slut" or a "prude" when a women doesn't behave the way a man wants is alive and well. I can't count how many posts have used anti-woman slurs like "pearl-clutcher" or "prude" when describing people who were offended by Wienergate. It's one thing to disagree with someone, but "pearl-clutcher" (since when do men wear pearls?) and "prude" are totally about mocking women about their moral and sexual choices. It's every bit as bad as calling women sluts.

I think the next wave of women's rights, after getting this "slut" slur out of the way, is for women to stand up and have some "prude walks". If a woman doesn't like the idea of a man sexting pics of his junk, or she wants to be celibate for a while, that's every bit as valid a choice as if she finds sexting inoffensive or wants to experiment sexually.

It's about choices, the freedom to make them without being belittled for them.

[seabeyond]

12. how many people on the left really don't practice what they preach

excellent post.

[lbrtbell]

13. Thank you.

I'm glad I'm not alone. :)

[seabeyond]

17. you and me babe....

we are it. and wont behoove you to align yourself with me. lmao

i am difinitely the odd gal out

[Liquorice]

20. It's true. I've been called a prude and a pearl-clutcher on this site

several times, and I do believe it is a sexist bunch of bs. In my case, the last time I was called a prude on the DU it was because I said children are sexually innocent and shouldn't be exposed to adult sexuality. I got attacked like crazy for saying that.

A lot of liberals also have no problem calling a woman a bitch and a whore. Just because a person is a liberal it does not mean s/he is not a sexist or a misogynist.

[lunatica]

29. I agree but meanwhile we have to fight against violence against women

I find it very heartening that this OP is about women in India, who within some of our lifetimes were actually cremated alive in their husbands' funeral pyres.

[seabeyond]

30. that is what i like about this event.... how it has gone world wide.

i get what they are doing and why. why i havent bitched about it. but i do basically, bottomline agree with that poster

[riderinthestorm]

31. Kick. Ass. (and kick and rec this thread for this post!)

Speak the truth sister!

[Odin2005]

33. I know many gals my age that are sick of being called prudes...

...or being accused of being "sexually repressed" because they don't do one-night-stands with some idiot they don't even know.

[QuintanarooBoy]

16. I have recced this thread, and will now say good night

:scared:

[lunatica]

19. LOL! Welcome to DU!

Please don't think I took offense at your post. It can get very intense on DU when it comes to human rights of any kind.

[Canuckistanian]

22. As a man, I heartily approve of this message

I'm tired of men being portrayed as helpless horndogs who naturally can't control ourselves when presented with a "provocatively" clad woman.

And that goes as well for fundies of all stripes - Christian, Muslim and Orthodox Jews. They all seem to punish women for "tempting" men, while absolving men of any disgusting behaviour.

This shit has GOT to stop.

[lunatica]

24. the more I read your posts the more I like Canadians

You're an excellent Ambassador! OH! And you're right about this too.

[Canuckistanian]

27. Well, it's my own personal belief

It's why I'm so against burkahs and other means of covering up women.

It's supposedly to protect women from harassment. But I see it as an excuse for discouraging out-of-control men from leering at every attractive woman they see on the streets.

Are they saying that every man is a potential rapist and can't POSSIBLY control themselves?

It's insulting to men.

[lunatica]

28. I've always thought the same thing

I have a son and I've always been a feminist but I've never felt the need to bash men in general or to make all men out to be monsters or incapable of controlling themselves. I've always felt feminists should fight for equal rights, not to hurt other human beings.

[Name removed]

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