Blow Out (and about) // Slut Walk London

Who: Slut Walk
What (it says on the flyer): “…marching, stamping, rolling, shouting and hollering through the streets.. to tell the world that rape is never, ever the fault of the victim – no matter WHAT they were wearing!”
Where: Trafalgar Square
When: 11th June, 1pm

http://slutmeansspeakup.org.uk/

I’m weird about wearing shorts whilst riding my bike. The reason being, a few years ago, a mid life crisis in a convertible slapped my arse as he drove by. Pervert. Last week it was well hot and I decided to get over it and bust out the shorts. Why should I be hot and have white legs because of some dick head? The general consensus among my friends is that we dress for women not for men. Mainly because men don’t get most of our ensembles (to me it might be Tokyo preppy meets New York hip hop, to them it’s possessed children’s TV presenter). We certainly don’t wear certain clothes to attract unwanted attention.

In January this year a policeman in Toronto advised women that if they didn’t want to get raped, they ‘should avoid dressing like sluts’. This ignited a global debate regarding the blame culture surrounding rape and sexual abuse. Slut Walk was born so women can march and protest about being allowed to wear whatever the hell they want without being harassed. We are always being told not to get too drunk and not to wear slutty clothes unless we ‘want’ to attract unwanted attention. What should really happen is that men should just stop… y’know. The attention should be on the perpetrator and the crime that they have committed – not on who was wearing what. Unless it’s The Fashion Police making an arrest.

So dress up or down in whatever you want and join everyone outside the Hard Rock Cafe at 1pm then descend down Piccadilly into Haymarket and end in Trafalgar Square for the Rally. The only thing you should worry about in your outfits is getting cold, or hopefully if this Summer sorts it’s life out: sunburn.

– Jude Brosnan