"Slutwalk" (RL)

[thistlechaser]

I heard a story about this on the news and wanted to post about it here, but googling for further information distracted me from the main topic.

Slutwalk is an annual event where women have a parade in sexy clothing to point out that what one wears never says that rape is okay, that voices speak louder than outfit choice. I was going to write about that, but I got distracted by a very, very important thing:

Why in the world is there no space in "Slutwalk"?

But back on the grammar-annoying subject, a woman could walk down the street naked and of course it wouldn't give a man the right to rape her. I know, I know, some people have such little respect for men that they think that the moment a man sees a short skirt all he can think of is MUST FUCK NOW and he just cannot control himself. Animal-like! Not even people! Our poor, poor menfolk must be protected from seeing such things.

Women not being permitted to wear short skirts is the same thing as jewelry stores not being permitted to put their stuff in window displays -- if people walked by and saw it, why they'd have no control! They'd just snatch it all up! And this, boys and girls, is why jewelry stores, electronic stores, no stores ever have window displays.

It's a wonder we're not all beating each other over the heads with clubs and dragging each other off by their hair as our mates.

...but seriously, what's with the lack of a space? D:

Comments

[socksofjello.livejournal.com]

It's just a name like any other "catchy" name that combines two or more words in various ways. You'll often actually pronounce it differently than if the two words were separated by a space, too.

No comment on the walk itself; I've heard loads of conflicting opinions from everyone involved. There've been some topless walks in Maine in the past few years, though, which I think is interesting.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just like good grammar over catchy. It's hard to overlook such things, which is sometimes sad.

[veloxe.livejournal.com]

the moment a man sees a short skirt all he can think of is MUST FUCK NOW

In all fairness, that parts true for certain age groups but at least we do pretty well controlling that. I think we should be commended for it personally :P

"Slutwalk" is one of those things that just boggles my mind. It's like saying "I should be allowed to walk down a dark ally counting a huge amount of money and not get robbed!" Ya, it's true, but the trick is the people who would rob you pretty much don't give a shit about your rights so you just proceeded to make yourself a juicy target. Same thing in this situation. Ya, you should be allowed to walk down the street stark naked and not get accosted, but you are certainly making yourself a target like that...

I guess I just don't have the part of the brain that lets me follow that other logic path.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Well the point of it is that people blame rape victims for what they wear. "You got raped because your skirt was too short!" No, someone got raped because the person attacking them was a rapist.

You're right that you could do things to make yourself safer, people with money, wearing clothing, and stores selling stuff. But no matter how safe or unsafe someone chooses to live/sell, it's the people raping or stealing that are the ones to blame.

[bastets-place.livejournal.com]

...yeah. As a morbidly obese, actively unattractive woman who dresses typically in a manner consistant with "covered up", rape has happened. In my own bedroom. While I was wearing a flannel nightgown that makes most middle eastern attire for women look sexy. By a man that I knew, like most rape victims.

Thinking "oooh, sex" is miles away from thinking "oooh, must force to have sex with me", which is in turn, miles away from actually doing it.

One is normal, one is creepy but not illegal, and the last is actively illegal and where the problem is.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Eeek! *snugs lots* The outside world can be a scary place, and it's worse that home can be just as bad.

Vel, I don't want to preach at you, but the Schrödinger's Rapist (http://kateharding.net/2009/10/08/guest-blogger-starling-schrodinger%E2%80%99s-rapist-or-a-guy%E2%80%99s-guide-to-approaching-strange-women-without-being-maced/) thing is a real issue.

"One in every six American women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. I bet you don’t think you know any rapists, but consider the sheer number of rapes that must occur. These rapes are not all committed by Phillip Garrido, Brian David Mitchell, or other members of the Brotherhood of Scary Hair and Homemade Religion. While you may assume that none of the men you know are rapists, I can assure you that at least one is. Consider: if every rapist commits an average of ten rapes (a horrifying number, isn’t it?) then the concentration of rapists in the population is still a little over one in sixty. That means four in my graduating class in high school. One among my coworkers. One in the subway car at rush hour. Eleven who work out at my gym. How do I know that you, the nice guy who wants nothing more than companionship and True Love, are not this rapist?"

That means there's a handful of men at my workplace that have or will sexually assault a woman. If that's not scary enough (because, like bastets_place pointed out, being unattractive is not going to save me), the idea that the woman could be blamed for it? Because of what she wore or some other factor? ("Why were you walking alone?" "Why were you having a drink with a stranger?" "Why did you let him give you a ride?") It's just really sad.

Rapists rape. That's why rape happens. Yes, in some cases you can act safer than in others, but no matter how you act, a rape victim got raped because a rapist raped her. The rapist is the one to blame, a woman shouldn't have to do anything at all to keep from being raped. (I kind of feel like I'm going in circles with myself, sorry.)

This is getting kind of long for wanting to not be preachy!

[doxxxicle.livejournal.com]

My guess is that "slutwalk" is a play on the word "catwalk".

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that had been the only thing I could think of, too.

[sahn.livejournal.com]

I think there's no space in slutwalk to turn two common words into a product name, like WinZip, VirusScan, WordPad, PowerShell, OneNote, PowerPoint, and Silverlight. (I got this list by going down my list of installed programs.)

Anyway, I totally support women's right to dress in revealing clothes (and I reserve my right to stare). There was a slutwalk near me but I missed it because of prior engagements.

Though... someone once asked me if I would allow my daughter (assuming I had one) to dress in revealing clothes and I personally wouldn't allow it, because I know what guys think when they see that.

"they think that the moment a man sees a short skirt all he can think of is MUST FUCK NOW and he just cannot control himself."

I don't think that's too far from the truth, except for the part that it's all he can think of and the man can't control himself. Regardless of what lascivious thoughts occur to them, most men can control themselves.

About the comment on jewelry stores and window displays... jewelry stores have window displays but they also have fancy security systems (sometimes a security guard) and they remove and lock up their displays at night. I suppose you could relate that to a woman displaying her wares... but that's a whole other matter.