Slutwalk London

Siolae

Slutwalk London is on Saturday 11th June. Meet at the top of Piccadilly outside the Hard Rock Cafe at 1pm and march to Trafalgar Square. For thos who don't know, the purpose of the slutwalk movement is to end the culture of blaming the victim in cases of sexual assault and rape.

miss annie

<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13320785>; And this is why the 'slutwalk' movement started. Hundreds of women walk the streets of London in their bras for the Moonwalk each year, I guess they were ahead of their time.

tosscat

I think this clashes and is on the same route as the World Naked Bike Ride!

Emma

I'm in two minds about Slutwalk. I agree with the premise but object to the idea of "reclaiming" a word that has never had anything but negative connotations. Also, a lot of the organisers are quick to stress that they're not feminists, which I think is really sad. On the other hand, if people who are willing to identify themselves as feminists <i>don't</i> go, is that even worse?

Anyway <a href="https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=110848702337390">I'm already going to this on Saturday</a>.

Siolae

@Emma. The dates don't clash. Slutwalk is not this Saturday, it is on 11th of June. Originally it was to be this Saturday but due to massive response the police asked for the date to be changed.

Emma

Ah good, will try to get along to it in that case.

ADGS

I think the idea of slut as "a word that has never had anything but negative connotations" - or, as some other commentators have argued, one applied exclusively to women - is long out of date. It's been in use internally on the gay scene since at least the eighties, for instance, where it is neither necessarily pejorative, nor applied to women. And before that, it barely had a decade being exclusively applied to sexuality - even my parents' generation sometimes use it to mean women who can't be arsed doing the dusting.
Of course, all that haziness of definition is as much an objection to the organisers as the objectors.

Mirandola

ADGS - I think it may be the other way round. The word meant slovenly before it meant promiscuous.

ADGS

That's what I said, though I'm knackered enough this afternoon that it might not have been entirely clear. The word primarily meant slovenly until at least, I would guess, the sixties/seventies (varying by region and class) - and then had barely a decade of that before being co-opted by the gay scene. In fact, thinking about old-school Soho, I wouldn't even be surprised if gay culture was the first place it started being applied primarily to the promiscous, with that definition gradually filtering through to the straights. But my knowledge of palare &c isn't nearly good enough to be definite on that.

JoeV

I think the usage of 'slut' or 'slutty' to mean promiscious goes further back than the 70s and 60s and it is widely used outside the UK as well, at least in the northeast US. It was used interchangeable with whore (pronounced Who-a) and when I was growing up always applied to girls/women.

miss annie

Slut would not have come from Polari, it's much too obvious.

Emma

Well, women were being described as sluts (meaning promiscuous) in Fielding's Tom Jones and that was written in 1749.

Alex

Are men welcome to attend the march, assuming they support its aims? I imagine the [LPFMG](http://londonprofeministmensgroup.blogspot.com/) guys will be out in force.

Siolae

Everyone welcome.

ADGS

I didn't remember it from Fielding at all! So it oscillated from primarily sexual to primarily domestic and then back? Interesting.

Re: palare - it wasn't always that oblique, cf use of 'she/her' to describe another queen, which is about as obvious a substitution as you get.

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ADGS

But of a slovenly man! And that was not long after the use in <i>Piers Plowman</i> of 'buxom wench' simply to mean a commendably obedient young woman.

missthing

I am very surprised about the amount of negative response this has had. Surely this march is raising awareness for a cause that is overlooked and dismissed so often and regardless of how the organisers have left stuff out, (like freedom of wearing what you want should include women in burkas joining the march to dispell common stereotypes associated with any form of clothing) can only be a good thing despite the reality, the concept is still good, no?

Emma

I think most people have been arguing about etymology rather than the idea of the Slutwalk itself to be honest.

I am thinking I will go, although the idea is problematic (for the reasons I mentioned originally), as it will be good to be a part of something that is at least broadly in line with my beliefs.

nesta

Slutwalk is tomorrow = and everyone is encouraged to attend and where whatever you like!

Kaz

Hi SG'ers! Did anyone go to this? If so, I would be interested in talking to you! Please whisper if you went and are willing to be interviewed. Cheers.

ChangN4N6

Please let me know if this is to be run again. sounds cool. Chang