If youre worried about what to wear to SlutWalk Vancouver, dont be.
Organizers of the May 15 event, expected to draw thousands of women and men to the Granville Strip in a bid to combat victim-blaming in sexual assaults, say apparel is a non-issue.
Anything that you feel comfortable in. Anything that you feel should say I dont want to be assaulted, says Katie Nordgren, 26, one of the events organizers.
Theres no such thing as dressing like a slut, adds Katie Raso, 28, another member of the SlutWalk team.
Both SFU students, Raso and Nordgren are a little nonplussed at the media attention paid to the fashion choices of protesters attending the dozens of SlutWalks held throughout Canada and the world since the beginning of April.
For them, the emphasis on clothing only serves to reinforce attitudes like those of Toronto police officer Michael Sanguinetti, who in January gave rise to the SlutWalk movement when he told a group of York University students Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.
Since then, SlutWalks have been held or planned in cities throughout Canada, the U.S., Europe, New Zealand and Australia.
Here in Vancouver, organizers mobilized to start a local event after Saanich police officer Dean Jantzen urged women not to place themselves in vulnerable situations following a brutal sexual attack on a Victoria area woman in March.
But Raso and Nordgren insist SlutWalk Vancouver isnt targeting police, its targeting the underlying societal belief relayed in their comments that women are somehow responsible for preventing sexual assaults and can do so by simply dressing modestly, staying sober and traveling in groups in well-lit areas.
The reason a police officer can say dont dress like a slut is because its quote-unquote common sense, Raso says, pointing the finger instead at the judgment both sexes impart on women who are victims of sexual assault. We see a woman in five-inch heels and we call her a slut. We hear a woman was assaulted and we ask what she was wearing; we ask if she was drunk; we ask if she was walking alone and we continually add another page to the book of excuses so that we can justify why violence happens.
The reality is sexual assault happens to every kind of woman in every corner of this city. According to the Vancouver Police Departments Report on Sexual Assault Incidents available on its website, reported assaults rose by nearly 16 per cent between 2008 and 2010. The majority did not include alcohol as a factor and the group most at risk was women over 25 years of age.
Though the downtown area reported the largest increase in sexual assaults, most occurred in the residential West End as opposed to party-central Granville Strip. Meanwhile sleepy-seeming Kitsilano saw a 50-per-cent increase in sexual assaults between 2009 and 2010, with the West 4th area showing the highest rate of incidents, including several stranger attacks and gropings.
The report also cites 24 sexual assaults occurred at unknown locations and echoes some of the language Nordgren and Raso find so problematic by stating: Approximately 50 per cent of these can be explained by intoxicated victims who fraternize with unknown male parties and are subsequently assaulted.
Meanwhile, SlutWalk Vancouver organizers say incidents of unwanted groping, touching or kissing go unreported in bars, basement suites and buses almost every night of the week. Theyre on a mission to hold both women and men accountable for the way judgment feeds into the idea that sexualized violence is somehow inevitable, and worse, socially acceptable, which prevents many women from speaking out.
That starts with addressing use of the word slut. Nordgren is quick to point out that while many women have reclaimed the word to convey a healthy attitude towards female sexuality, it is still commonly used as a pejorative term to demean women and often justify assault.
We agonized about deciding to just go with the Toronto model, she says of the decision to use the SlutWalk name. In the end, however, organizers agreed the provocative word may actually serve their goal of starting an important conversation about sexualized violence. Had we called it something more benign, I dont think people would have paid attention the way that they are.
And people are paying attention. While more than 1,500 people turned up to the Toronto event, SlutWalk Vancouvers Facebook page has, as of this writing, more than 3,000 people RSVPd to attend.
Among them will be Vancouver city councillor Ellen Woodsworth, who is slated to speak along with representatives from PIVOT legal society and Women Against Violence Against Women.
I think its really important that women and their supporters are able to say publicly that whatever we wear and however we are in the world does not mean that it is right for men to attack or make negative comments or rape us, she says. Woodsworth noted several troubling instances of victim blaming, including statements made by a minister at First United Church in the Downtown Eastside who referenced womens dress as probable cause for being attacked in a shelter.
Not only is that attitude damaging to women, its insulting to men, say Nordgren and Raso, who hope to see plenty of good guys out at the march.
For Raso, the flawed logic of the short-skirts-equals-slut equation is equally problematic for men because it reduces them to nothing more than Neanderthals who are incapable of controlling their sexual impulses.I cant imagine any of the men that I love in my life facing this evolutionary psychology of men cant control themselves. What a horrible thing to say.
In the days leading up to the May 15 march, SlutWalk Vancouver is hosting several mini-events and launching a campaign for participants to submit a picture of the shoes they plan on wearing the day of the event, be they beat up runners or sky-high stilettos.
No matter what youre wearing, youre never asking for it, says Raso. Assault is an equally opportunity offence and we will convey that in our jeans, in our Lululemon pants and in our short skirts.
reporter@westender.com
For more info visit SlutWalkVancouver.com
