SlutWalk
So yesterday, I went to this event which began at Dolores Park, and concluded in the heart of the Castro called SlutWalk (or perhaps it's Slut Walk? I don't know). It's a...I guess franchise of a protest event that originally began in April of this year in Toronto in reaction to a cop in Canada's suggestion that in order to stay safe 'women should avoid dressing like 'sluts'. I went to this for a couple of reasons: Obviously, I'm in support of sexual assault prevention, so I partly went for that. Also, just like in most kinds of campaigning anti-sexual assault outreach can go a couple different ways:
a)"sexual assault is not about sex. It is not about gender. It's not about age. It's not even about attraction. Sexual assault is about POWER! It's about one party that somehow feels that they get to impose their power on someone else, forcibly pushing their will onto someone else, stealing that person's right to have ownership and control of their own body. It can happen to ANYONE!".
or b) "I'm so thrilled that so many women and 'transgenders' are here. 'We need to band together, protect ourselves against assault, and fight back. We'd also like to thank our male allies for coming, and to welcome them into this movement".
I wouldn't say that all of what I heard yesterday fell into the category of of method b). It just seemed that all of what most of the speakers that day had to say were incredibly women-centric. Not only that, but very ciswomen-centric. The problem with this approach being that it leaves out a WHOLE LOAD of folks out. It leaves out transfolks of all sorts who often experience sexual assault, but whose experiences are often overlooked, and it leaves out of all sorts who are often discouraged from talking about their experiences with sexual assault because they're taught that exhibiting any hint of vulnerability is a sign of weakness.
Sexual assault can happen to anyone who dress in any sort of way, in any sort of situation. I think showing those who can potentially be targeted ways of self defense and ways of organizing and advocating is great. I also think that it should be told that sexual assault is about a warped view of power, of boundaries, and of respect for others. Also. I think we need to look at why perpetrators of sexual assault did what they did, and not just be quick to brand this person as a "creep" and throw them, as well as the issue away. More often than not, there's a legacy of power abuse within this person's history. This does not excuse those who abused, but it shows what a root of this behavior could be Until we get to the root of what kinds of history can cause someone to act this way, we as a society will just keep creating more victims.
I appreciated SlutWalk as a gateway to getting people aware of the impact of sexual abuse, but I'm hoping that a more all-encompassing method of outreach and activism can happen so that everyone feels heard and thus motivated to get involved.
a)"sexual assault is not about sex. It is not about gender. It's not about age. It's not even about attraction. Sexual assault is about POWER! It's about one party that somehow feels that they get to impose their power on someone else, forcibly pushing their will onto someone else, stealing that person's right to have ownership and control of their own body. It can happen to ANYONE!".
or b) "I'm so thrilled that so many women and 'transgenders' are here. 'We need to band together, protect ourselves against assault, and fight back. We'd also like to thank our male allies for coming, and to welcome them into this movement".
I wouldn't say that all of what I heard yesterday fell into the category of of method b). It just seemed that all of what most of the speakers that day had to say were incredibly women-centric. Not only that, but very ciswomen-centric. The problem with this approach being that it leaves out a WHOLE LOAD of folks out. It leaves out transfolks of all sorts who often experience sexual assault, but whose experiences are often overlooked, and it leaves out of all sorts who are often discouraged from talking about their experiences with sexual assault because they're taught that exhibiting any hint of vulnerability is a sign of weakness.
Sexual assault can happen to anyone who dress in any sort of way, in any sort of situation. I think showing those who can potentially be targeted ways of self defense and ways of organizing and advocating is great. I also think that it should be told that sexual assault is about a warped view of power, of boundaries, and of respect for others. Also. I think we need to look at why perpetrators of sexual assault did what they did, and not just be quick to brand this person as a "creep" and throw them, as well as the issue away. More often than not, there's a legacy of power abuse within this person's history. This does not excuse those who abused, but it shows what a root of this behavior could be Until we get to the root of what kinds of history can cause someone to act this way, we as a society will just keep creating more victims.
I appreciated SlutWalk as a gateway to getting people aware of the impact of sexual abuse, but I'm hoping that a more all-encompassing method of outreach and activism can happen so that everyone feels heard and thus motivated to get involved.