With "Slutwalks," a Protest Meme Takes On the World

by Movements.org | June 24, 2011 at 11:30 am

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The "slut walk" started in Ontario, Canada in response to a police officer's off color comment regarding an assault victim's clothing. He said that rape victims should stop dressing so provocatively if they wanted to avoid becoming victims. This sparked a global wave of protests against the attitude of blaming the victims of sexual assault. These slut walks have taken nearly every continent by storm - happening in over 60 cities. Some examples:

Brazil

Two hundred women and men have marched through the streets of several cities to put an end to the idea of blaming female rape victims for their misfortune. Offline activity has paled in comparison to the online excitement - for example in Sao Paulo, where 6000 people confirmed they were going to attend the event on Facebook but only about 300 showed up - but then again attendance on Facebook is always highly inflated.

Follow along with #MarchaDasVadias and #MarchaDasVagabundas @slutwalkbr

London

Here's an Al Jazeera report from the London slut walk:

India

In New Delhi, where 85% of women are afraid of being sexually harrased in public, slut walkers came out on June 25th and have marches planned for throughout July. Lighthearted protest in defense of womens' rights isn't new to India - recall the Pink Chaddi campaign of 2009.

Honduras

It's interesting how the meme has made it to such a wide variety of cultures - from the relatively liberal (Brazil) to more religiously conservative societies like the very Catholic Honduras. Here's a video report from the Honduran slutwalk that took place last week:

The Slut Walk a good example of how a meme-worthy message can turn what was once a boring, common tactic (a march, a protest, a demonstration) into a campaign with legs (no pun intended). Tactics are more likely to get peoples' attention and gain traction if they're creative and eye-catching. And a bunch of women marching through cities dressed like "sluts" is definitly that.