Walk a mile in her shoes ~ SlutWalk

It [SlutWalk] is a global movement, with protest marches taking place from Washington, DC all the way to New Delhi, and while its official name does raise eyebrows, it is an extremely serious and relevant movement. Earlier this year, after a Toronto police officer suggested that to remain safe, "women should avoid dressing like sluts”, the SlutWalk rallies began with participants protesting against excusing rape by referring to any aspect of a woman's appearance. After reading some of the experiences and stories that women shared about their rape ordeal, it bothered me that a great percentage of them, in their traumatized state, were victimized and blamed by the very people who were supposed to make them feel more at ease, considering the circumstances. Many women are infact afraid of going to a hospital / clinic and getting examined by a doctor and/ or reporting their rape at a police station out of fear of being victimized; there have been cases where doctors and police officers have blatantly blamed rape victims for having aggravated their perpetrators because they were either dressed "provocatively" or supposedly had loose morals.  In some cases, the very doctors who examined these women also ended up raping them. 

The movement has now reached South Africa, with marches taking place during the months of August and September. For those people who live in Cape Town and want to get involved, please visit  SlutWalk Cape Town. If you are in the immediate Johannesburg area the event is now on Saturday, 24^th Sept 2011 (instead of the initial date of the 20^th Aug) around the Zoo Lake area. For more info please visit SlutWalk Jo'burg.

To learn more about SlutWalk, please visit SlutWalk international.