Slutwalk

[chairman_wow]

[Image: an A4 piece of paper taped to a chest-high wall (someone tell me what these are actually called) pointing the way to the SlutWalk meetup.]

I went on the London SlutWalk last Saturday! Which was not, as some coverage would have you believe, an excuse to dress up in sexy clothes, but a protest against rape culture and the notion that only sluts get raped/all people who are raped are sluts, and the way people's clothes, background, and sexual history are used to let their abusers off the hook and I am not feeling very eloquent today GO READ THE WEBSITE. (I also liked this article about it in the Christian Science Monitor. No idea what the exact purview of the Christian Science Monitor is, but this is a really good article.)

Mainly this post is to show off the cool banners I managed to get pictures of:


[Image: A crowd with some banners. A large banner being held up by two sticks reading "End rape culture for all races and genders". IN front of it two smaller signs bearing the Socialist Worker logo and URL and the slogan: "Whatever we wear, wherever we go, yes means yes, no means no".]

(Do Socialist Worker just insert themselves into every protest? I saw so many of their signs around uni when the student protests were all going down.)


[Image: Another crowd, this time from behind. Large sign being held by two people in the foreground has an image of a bottle and wine or cocktail glass and reads "I DON'T LIKE rohypnol." Another legible sign in the background reads "Consent is sexy."]


[A single sign is visible, with the backs of others in the background: "My clothes are not LOUDER than my VOICE!"]


[A large cloth sign suspended from a metal frame. It reads: "Turn Off The Blue Light: Sex workers need human rights, not legal wrongs. www.turnoffthebluelight.ie]


[Image: A single sign visible in front of a section of the crowd reacting to the speeches at Trafalgar Square. it reads:" Why am I dressed like a SLUT? Why are YOU thinking like a RAPIST?"]

Also some of my favourites that I didn't get to take a picture of but managed to find on the internet: "I'm a bitch if I say no but I'm a slut if you rape me anyway!", You need permission to Slytherin to my Chamber of Secrets", and "River Song wouldn't stand for this shit!" The rest of the Flickr set is really good, too.

I intended to leave after the walk and get back to my dissertation work, but the speeches in Trafalgar Square, although I disagreed with one or two speakers on one or two points, were so good. I hope some of them end up online, because they were sogood. It's a good feeling to reaffirm that a lot of people who agree with you on things exist, sometimes.

A lot of great-sounding organisations were involved which I must find out more about the future, like Women Against Rape and GAPS.

I am 100% sure I will find a lot of spelling mistakes and weird sentences in this tomorrow, but I'm going to bed now.