Response to “The Slut Walk
”
Can I just start off saying that I totally agree with, “the Slut Walk”. What a powerful message to carry out to the entire public. The whole debate sprouted from a male police officer speaking about safety to college students on campus. Basically, he told the students to not dress provocatively, in order to not be victimized by sexual abuse. This statement obviously stirred up an uproar, in which concluded this feminist protest, “Slut Walk”, trying to vocalize the hurtful meaning of the word “slut” and sexual abuse and rape is wrong no matter how the victim is dressed.
First of all, my opinion to the situation is that this police officer is obviously ignorant to the fact that of course, women are going to be outraged from that statement. You should not target the victims at all what so ever because I do not know of many victims who asked to be sexually assaulted, otherwise that would be consent. Also, women are not the only victims of sexual abuse, there are cases of male victims as well. “A total of 2.78 million men in America have experienced rape at some point of their lifetime.”(Male Rape. Tjaden & Thoennes, 2006). This is not including the unreported cases. Now, you don’t hear too often of people telling men to stop dressing like “sluts”, do you? So, instead of providing educational and actual factual information to help people to protect their selves, sounds like this police officer revealed his personal opinion of a woman’s attire, in which it was not the purpose of the speech he was giving.
According to Fox News Contributor, Tamera Holder, “The greater issue here is that there is an attack on women in general. Just because you are dressed provocatively, doesn’t mean you welcome an abuser. ” (Tamera Holder). On the other hand, on the same Fox News report rebutting that statement actress/singer Rebecca St. James stated, “I think that there has to be responsibility for what a woman is wearing…I think when a woman is dressing in an immodest way, a provocative way, she has to think about what is she saying by her dress.”(Rebecca St. James) I have to agree with Rebecca to a certain extent but that is a personal preference. Yes, you should expect a negative reaction if a teacher came to class naked, not the most appropriate place to do so. But I have to ask what is dressing provocative and what is modest? Are there actual set guidelines in which a person’s attire is modest? For example if I wear a dress, some people may say that it’s too “revealing” and some may consider it “acceptable”. This all depends on the persons and their background. Doesn’t most Americans shun the idea of how Muslim women have to dress, which is entirely covered; some even have to cover their face. This whole argument in my eyes is ridiculous and contradicting. My opinion is with the feminists activist who put together “the slut walk”, women should be able to dress in any way they want period, and for people to connect this controversy to sexual abuse victims is stepping over the line. A sexual abuser is a sexual abuser no matter what the woman or man is wearing, they will do it either way because they are mentally ill. So what is the next assumption that an ignorant closed minded individual can make, that child shouldn’t play outside because that is provoking sexual offenders to assault them as well?
Work Cited Page
· "5/9/11: "Slut Walk" Debated on Hannity, Tamara Holder & Rebecca St. James." News online. Youtube/Foxs News. Tamaranoraholder, 10 May 2011. Web. 23 Aug. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq1dnBRZ7EE>.
Newsgroup
· Chiu, Joanna. "SlutWalk: Does The Media Make the Message?" Web log post. 26 May 2011. Web. 23 Aug. 2011. <http://www.wimnonline.org/WIMNsVoicesBlog/2011/05/26/slutwalk-does-the-media-make-the-message/>.
Blog / Podcast
· Tjaden, and Thoennes. "Male Rape." National Center for Victims of Crime. Web. 23 Aug. 2011. <http://www.ncvc.org/ncvc/main.aspx?dbName=DocumentViewer&DocumentID=32361>.
Website
