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| Boston Slutwalk, May 7 |
It sort of reminds me of those idiotic Facebook status update games whose claimed purpose was to raise awareness about something that affects women, which was a fun and rather harmless idea, and then turned into just another excuse to get a bunch of chicks doing anything related to sex, or being sexy, or using sexual innuendo. Now we've got Slutwalk (which will be in Minneapolis August 6), which was started in response to a huge problem, but which has become a parade of women walking around town in a bra and fishnets with facepaint on.
It's not that I necessarily have a problem with the inherent sexuality of the demonstration, but that it's so easy for blatant sexualized protests like to become cheap and derogatory, and a million other problematic things, real quick. And honestly, I don't think enough people "get" the point. I don't think enough people really understand the pervasiveness of the policing and punishment of women for their clothing choices as they relate to sexuality-- perceived or real-- to see this as anything more than a bunch of women walking around looking like they want to have sex. Which, obviously, would be wildly missing the point. Obviously, the signs are a good visual aid, but I can't help but think that "half-naked girls" will be the most memorable part for too many people.
I guess what I'm really afraid of is that it would turn into some sleazy Girls Gone Wild bullshit, in which case I would just be disgusted and the whole over-arcing point would have been utterly lost.
But, I can't say I'm opposed to the idea. Obviously the overall cause and goal are worthy. I guess I just wish we didn't have a culture of Girls Gone Wild to worry about infiltrating an otherwise good thing. I think there's room for all of it, though, ultimately.
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| (via Sodahead.) |
