SlutWalk 2011 in Asheville, NC (Credit: AskAsheville)
Last Friday I attended SlutWalk Asheville which was inspired by a growing movement that began with SlutWalk Toronto. The Toronto event came about because of advice from the Toronto police to not dress like sluts in order to avoid sexual assault.
Since sexual assault is both wrong and illegal no matter how the victim is dressed and since, more broadly, we cannot be truly free until we are free to be who we are, I supported the event even though I would not call myself a slut. I'm writing about this at Asheville Fashions because it was a public political fashion event taking place downtown at Vance Monument so it fits. However, even though lots of people were taking pics, being a bit older and feeling a bit out of place, it also felt voyeuristic to take them but our voyeuristic media world took care of that for me!
Here are some great pics by Erin Brethauer that ran in the NewarkAdvocate.
A local ABC affiliate videotaped some footage that made national news. It's preceded by a long ass commercial and incorrectly labeled, "Scantily clad women raise awareness for sexual assault", given that men clearly participated and not everyone was scantily clad. Is that the superior mainstream media coverage journalists are always babbling about?
The local affiliate's coverage gives a bit more context and leads with a shorter commercial. You local guys are never going to move up if you don't learn to misrepresent events to increase attention like the national media!
Since everybody has an opinion about how to stop rape, I'll leave you with a favored slogan of a former friend, Gini Web: "Whack it off!"