Slutwalk Chicago Isn't About Sluts

Let's talk about sluts.

After all, if you were in the Loop this past Saturday, you probably heard a lot about them. That's when the Slutwalk movement made its way to Chicago, in the form of a protest that circled from the Thompson Center Plaza, south on Michigan and back up to Daley Plaza, where a rally was held.

The crowd was a mix of ages, genders and backgrounds. I spoke with women ages 16 and 42; a rape victim who had experienced first-hand what it feels like to be told "You were asking for it" and a mother pushing her 5-month-old in a stroller; small groups of likeminded friends and a 25-person-strong team from a foster care agency who brought along the teen girls supported by their mission. Fathers balancing daughters on their hips marched next to college-aged women in full burlesque regalia.

Armed with signs with messages like, "Consent is sexy," "Wherever we go, However we dress, No means no, Yes means yes," "Real men don't rape," "Nobody asked me what my rapist was wearing" and "Look but don't touch," the event is a cheeky, but serious, stand against the victim-blaming that often surrounds sexual assault and rape cases. The movement has migrated from its origins in Toronto (where a police officer informed a group of citizens that "Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized") across Canada and the U.S., as well as Australia, Sweden, Demark, the UK, Brazil, the Netherlands, South Africa, Kyrgyzstan, New Zealand and Mexico.

It's pretty damn amazing: not only that an idea could go from catalyst to grassroots protest to international movement in a matter of months, but also that a such a cause could garner widespread mainstream coverage. "Slutwalk" turns up no less than 1,540,000 Google results; it's been covered by national media including MSNBC, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, CNN and The Guardian, to name just a few. The fact that the movement has popularized the term "victim blaming" is statement enough of its influence.

Of course, not all the coverage has been positive. There were the "why-do-you-have-to-use-that-word" critics of the vernacular persuasion: The New York Post called the reclaimation of the word slut a "feminist folly"; The Guardian argued that a word so rooted in the Madonna/whore complex is beyond salvation.

There were the "It's-not-really-that-big-of-a-deal" doubters, like Fox News' Greg Gutfeld, who opined, "Marching because a cop said something dumb seems weak in the face of graver threats against women," citing honor killings, sexual slavery and "other Sharia law creepiness" as better causes that feminists should throw their energies into. (Note: we do.) Thankfully, RAINN advocate Mick Foley was there to respond, "Look, the world gets an F in their treatment of women. But we're getting a C-minus and we're bragging about it."

And then there were the "just-don't-get-it" critics. A quick perusal of Slutwalk Chicago's Facebook page and blog turns up plenty of these: those who suggest that informing women to dress more conservatively is simply good common sense; who find the use of the word "slut" derogatory; or suggest that anyone who claims the title "slut" is inviting abuse.

And while, yes, the term "slut" is potentially problematic and tinged with all sorts of historical and sociological context, here's the catch-22: without that word, I have no doubt that Toronto's rally wouldn't have sparked as much conversation or coverage, and therefore would have had scarce chance of being replicated the world over.

As blogs and news outlets know all too well, controversy courts eyeballs. Conversations about victim blaming, rape apologists and rape culture happen every day between activists and feminists. And those circles are where those conversations stay, with plenty of three-dollar words like "intersectionality" being bandied about, but doing little to expand their audience.

But slap the word "Slutwalk" on something, and suddenly it's catchy, controversial and headline-worthy. The organizers may not have been entirely politically correct in bequeathing their movement with this name, but they were unarguably smart to do so.

In practice, of course, Slutwalk isn't about sluts. It's not about the right to have sex with multiple partners. The sexual revolution took care of that, which means the baby boomers currently blogging and talking-head-ing their frustrations about the millennials' "hookup culture" and its relavence to rape statistics can get off their soap boxes.

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Tagged as: rape, Slutwalk, rally, sexual assault and Chicago

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Cassandra A. Gaddo is managing editor and electronic media editor of Today's Chicago Woman. She is active in various local and national women’s groups, including Step Up Women's Network, Rape Victim Advocates and the TCW Foundation, and is a member of The Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Young Professionals. She writes and speaks about local, national and international women's issues, including in her blog, “Twice As Well."