SlutWalk Philly Changes Protest Name to ‘A March to End Rape Culture’

[ismnotwasm]

Interesting read.

In Philadelphia, the anti-victim-blaming protest SlutWalk has been officially renamed “SlutWalk Philly and Pussy Division present: A March to End Rape Culture” in time for the 2013 event this Saturday, September 28.

The organizers explained their reasoning behind the name change in an open letter recently posted online. The letter reads, in part:

In 2011, at SlutWalk NYC, a white woman in attendance brought a sign on which was written a John Lennon and Yoko Ono song lyric: “Woman is the n**ger of the world.” As you might imagine, this deeply offended many people. The woman who held the sign was asked to take it down, and the national and international SlutWalk communities began a serious discussion on the role that race plays in SlutWalks. Black Women’s Blueprint published an open letter declaring that they, as black women, cannot identify with the word “slut” and many came forward in the African American community and in other communities to express the same or similar sentiments.

For some communities, the word “slut” is a term they have not been called and cannot relate to in order to reclaim it in any capacity. Systems of oppression have colonized, commodified, or otherwise rewritten their sexualities for centuries, making acts of sexual violence against them a permissible and far too often, expected, occurrence. These are the people who are perhaps the most affected by the victim blaming SlutWalk stands against, regardless of any “slutty” dress or behavior, they are considered by some to be “asking for it” simply by being who they are.

We have decided to put the word “slut” in the background of the title of the march this year out of a desire to include all those who experience rape culture and want to fight it with us and to bring together as many communities and organizations in Philly and the surrounding areas as possible. We are calling this year’s march simply “A March to End Rape Culture,” as the concept of “rape culture” has been one that has been identified in many forums and communities to describe the cultural forces which conspire to make it so that sexual violence occurs so often, and with so few of the perpetrators being held accountable for their actions.

- See more at: http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2013/09/26/slutwalk-philly-changes-protest-name-to-a-march-to-end-rape-culture/#sthash.zjtJ7PZ0.dpuf

[redqueen]

1. ugh. having it before a colon is better?

“Almost all of our speakers at our first walk said that they were not interested in reclaiming it,”

Gee. Imagine that.

[seabeyond]

2. i ma thinking. and add another deragatory word just for fun. hey... offended with the n word

so lets add another for women and call it good.

anti rape culture would have been good enough

[redqueen]

3. Clearly, inclusivity is simply not a priority for them.

... half of the buttons they’re cranking out say “End Rape Culture,” while the other half feature the word “slut” in a red-letter design that echoes Philadelphia’s famous Robert Indiana “LOVE” statue. They say at last year’s march, they sold out of “slut” buttons in the first hour. They assume they will be popular this year too.

[MadrasT]

5. I know, right?

They don't want to call it a "slut walk" but they had to throw "Pussy Division" in there?

What the fuck am I even supposed to make of that? I want to support the end rape culture message but not if I gotta be in somebody's "pussy division". Jesus just leave my parts out of it already.

[MadrasT]

4. I would have preferred the word be retired

but it is an improvement.

I have no interest in "reclaiming" or otherwise owning that word. I am not interested in being defined by my sexuality or by my clothing choices, period.