From ““ slut ”(“ t ** ia ”) and“ walk ”, le Slutwalk it’s street protests born with the aim of opposing male-dominated control over female sexuality. They are a kind of sisterhood that leads women to come together to claim their rights by reaffirming their self-determination and independence.
The history of Slutwalk begins in 2011.
History of slutwalks: what they are
Street protests that want to demolish the macho culture, are railing against the turnips cultures, that is slut-shaming, victim-blaming, reification of the woman and paternalistic attitudes. In short, women must be free to self-determine in every aspect, they must, for example, be able to dress as they see fit without being victims of violence. The crasis originating from “slut” (“t ** ia”) and “walk” gives rise to Slutwalk, all those street protests that arose for oppose male control on female sexuality that have now spread all over the world.
The common purpose is to combat that culture of rape which sees women as an accomplice of the perpetrator and which therefore effectively normalizes all sexual violence. The objectification of women and the acceptance of stereotypes such as male aggression lead every day to blaming rape victims and to justify the violence with phrases such as “he went to look for it” or “who knows how much he had drunk”, etc. Cornerstones of turnips cultures also embodied in part by the video by Beppe Grillo that do nothing but worsen the mental state of a victim.
History of the slutwalk: the origins
The episode that led to the birth of the slutwalks originated in Toronto, at the University of York, on January 24, 2011. On that occasion, the policeman Michael Sanguinetti, addressing the group of students dealing with the topic of crime prevention, stated, as we read in Time, that:
[so che non dovrei dirlo, ma] women should avoid dressing like t ** i and if they don’t want to be victims of violence.
This phrase, steeped in misogynist and sexist culture, has aroused the ire of beyond 3,000 people who met on 3rd April of the same year to go to the Toronto Police Headquarters and start the first “Slutwalk”, so called to overturn the initial derogatory term “slut”. From Toronto, the movement has spread all over the world involving the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa with the common goal of reiterating that the blame cannot and must not fall on the victims of violence. Protests spilled into the streets with slogans like “My Dress Is Not a Yes“,”Walk of No Shame“,”Slut PrideAnd the like, to remind us that there is no distinction between good girls and bad girls where the latter are less worthy of respect.
History of slutwalks: protests today
Toronto’s slutwalk movement has become increasingly inclusive. In this first decade of protests, not only have white women but also black women, transgender and queer people, LGBTQI + communities, survivors, sex workers and men. Today this kind of protests can therefore fully fall into the ranks of the intersectional feminism: the branch of feminism that fights to destroy both gender oppressions but also political, social, cultural oppressions and that takes sides in favor of all minorities: women, transsexuals, lesbians, disabled, blacks. In ten years there have been some changes in modalities: the organization usually takes place through social media and, simultaneously with the physical march, the struggle takes place through conferences, posters, writings and podcasts. The means and ways of taking to the streets have changed but the spirit is still that of Toronto in 2011.
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