Slutwalk
As Slutwalk ( Engl. For bitch nmarsch ) one is demonstration called that against the perspective of the victim-reversal (so-called. Victim blaming ) in rape myths applies, according to the victims of sexual violence are given because of their clothing a responsibility in attacks . The Slutwalk has its origin in Toronto, Canada .
Triggering Event
On January 24, 2011, Police Officer Michael Sanguinetti and a senior colleague from the Toronto Police Service spoke on the subject of preventive crime at York University's Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. Sanguinetti took the view that “ women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized” . According to a student representative later, Sanguinetti's comment was a rather spontaneous and helpful remark during the presentation by his older colleague. Among the ten or so audience there was speechlessness for a brief moment before Sanguinetti's colleague continued with the presentation.
Immediately after the incident became known, the university public initially met with incomprehension and negative reactions, in the course of which the student representative York Federation of Students Executive (YFS) asked the Toronto police for a written apology and explanation of the incident.
Toronto Police Spokeswoman Meghan Gray said Sanguinetti's statement was in complete contradiction to what police officers are being taught that women do nothing to contribute to sexual assault against them. Sanguinetti himself apologized for his statement in an email on February 17, describing his comment as poorly thought out.
Worldwide slutwalks
According to their self-portrayal, slutwalks serve the commitment to the inviolability of the sexual integrity of humans and the mutual respect for the personal decision for or against sexual advances. It should also be conveyed that by wearing clothes that are perceived as provocative and revealing as well as flirting with one's own sexual stimuli, an actual interest in sexual acts cannot necessarily be assumed. Most of the protesters are young women.
Slutwalks took place in Toronto, among others in Ottawa , Vancouver , Miami , Seattle , Melbourne , Amsterdam , Stockholm , London , Paris , Glasgow , São Paulo , Tegucigalpa and Matagalpa . The first German slut walk followed on July 23, 2011 in Passau, Lower Bavaria . The Germany-wide slut walk took place on August 13, 2011 across cities in Berlin , Munich , the Ruhr area , Frankfurt am Main , Stuttgart and Hamburg and on October 15, 2011 in Leipzig .
Use of the term "slut"
The declared intention of the initiators of the Toronto Slutwalk is a reappropriation of the term "slut" in the sense of a moral appreciation, since it is used primarily in connection with sexual assault on women to "rationalize inexcusable behavior". This does not mean that all people who take part in the slut walk or who sympathize with the form of protest support the aspect of a semantic reinterpretation or consider it important for the transport of political content. According to the psychologist Anna-Sarah Hennig, one cannot necessarily speak of a “march of the sluts”, because after all, self-identification as “sluts” does not have to be automatically given simply by participating in a slut walk. It is also possible to protest with the intention that the slutwalk should be understood as an action “that revolves around the concept of 'bitch', uses it, plays with it”.
It is also argued that morally apologetic reinterpretations of the term slut in certain social milieus have already been tried and have been successful, for example for polyamorous relationships through the influential book The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities by Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy (Eng: sluts with morals. A practical guide to polyamory, open relationships and other adventures). The authors strip the word “slut” of its feminine connotation and derogatory character in order to reverse its morally stigmatizing meaning against promiscuity by using it for all people and genders who try their hand at ethically justifiable, open forms of coexistence.
The Slutwalk 2012 in Berlin took place under the motto "Against the trivialization of sexual violence. For self-determination!" instead of.
criticism
On the other hand, the British women's researcher and anti-porn movement activist Gail Dines expressed skepticism in an article in the daily newspaper The Guardian about the potential of the term slut to be semantically reinterpreted and to help women gain autonomy over their sexuality. In their opinion, the problem is the deep roots in the “patriarchal Madonna / whore view of the sexuality of women”, which makes reinterpretation impossible. The word is so “saturated with the ideology that female sexual energy deserves punishment” that any attempt to shift the meaning is a “waste of precious feminist resources”. Dines concludes that the proud “slut” self-labeling that the organizers of the slutwalk intend to complicate the “difficult path through adolescence” for young women.
In the criticism has been synonymous with the transfer of the protest concept from Canada and the United States in the European and German-speaking mainly the use of the word "slut" ( Engl. Bitch ), and the somewhat revealing clothes of the participants.
The accusation that the slutwalks are about "sexiness" and not about fighting sexism is being discussed in part of the feminist movement .
At the 2012 Slutwalk, participants from the Femen organization appeared with black painted faces and upper bodies to portray women with niqabs . Some of them carried posters against the wearing of a headscarf. Following this action, there was criticism from the anti-racism scene.
media
While the media often interpreted the slut walks at the beginning of the movement as a protest for the right to sexiness, the organizers of the respective slut walks make it clear again and again that the slut walks are not about clothing, but about personal rights. The focus is on the rights to (sexual) self-determination, physical integrity and the protection of personal boundaries. On their websites they emphasize that there is no dress code at the events and that all genders are equally welcome. They make the selective media coverage jointly responsible for the falsified image of the slut walks.
Web links
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Anja Perkuhn: Not to blame yourself. Süddeutsche Zeitung , August 5, 2011, accessed on August 6, 2011 .
- ↑ Sluts March in New Delhi. the daily newspaper , July 31, 2011, accessed on August 6, 2011 .
- ↑ Bascha Mika: Get up, you bitch! Berliner Zeitung , August 3, 2011, accessed on August 6, 2011 .
- ↑ a b Curtis Rush: Cop apologizes for 'sluts' remark at law school. Toronto Star , February 18, 2011, accessed August 3, 2011 .
- ↑ Raymond Kwan: Don't dress like a slut: Toronto Cop. Excalibur, February 16, 2011, accessed August 3, 2011 .
- ↑ slutwalkberlin.de, What is the SlutWalk?
- ↑ Satellites List. Toronto Slutwalk, accessed August 6, 2011 .
- ↑ Sluts, sluts everywhere. (No longer available online.) DerStandard.at , June 14, 2011, archived from the original on August 4, 2011 ; Retrieved August 6, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Slutwalk: Barely dressed to stand up for women's rights. Passauer Neue Presse , July 24, 2011, accessed on July 24, 2011 .
- ^ "Slutwalk" demonstrations against sexual violence ( memento from February 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Tagesschau.de, August 13, 2011
- ↑ Were you called a slut? freitag.de, August 9, 2011
- ↑ Why. Slutwalk Toronto, accessed August 3, 2011 .
- ↑ Don't call me slut just because you meet me at Slutwalk! Mädchenmannschaft.net, July 19, 2011, accessed August 3, 2011 .
- ↑ "We get angry" , jungle-world.com from August 16, 2012
- ^ Gail Dines, Wendy J. Murphy: SlutWalk is not sexual liberation. The Guardian , May 8, 2011, accessed August 3, 2011 .
- ↑ Birgit Tombor: A bad word remains a bad word? derstandard.at, June 21, 2011, accessed on August 6, 2011 .
- ^ Frequently expressed criticism from Magda Albrecht / Mädchenmannschaft website of the Slutwalk Berlin
- ↑ Christian Jakob: A very own diction
- ↑ Carsten Volkery: Who doesn't like to demonstrate their right to be sexy? Spiegel Online , June 11, 2011, accessed August 6, 2011 .
- ↑ FAQ. Slutwalk Ruhr, accessed on August 6, 2011 .
- ↑ Whether bitch or not: Why I support Slutwalk. Mädchenmannschaft.net, accessed on August 6, 2011 .
