Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Walking Sluts and BBC Facebook Commenters

Why oh why do I read things on the internet. If I was smart, I would stay clear of the thing. But, NO, what do I do? I go ahead and read stuff. What am I thinking??

What am I outraged about this time? Well, have you heard of this "SlutWalk" thing? Here's the deal. A Toronto cop, Michael Sanguinetti, goes to York University to give safety tips to students in a Personal Security class. One of his pieces of advice? "Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not be victimized". How did this go down? Not very well, as you can imagine, and the comment has help start a new protest movement based around the idea of a "SlutWalk". Protesters can dress up, get out, hit the pavement, and basically say a big F.U. to the idea of asking to be a victim by wearing certain clothes. Here is the website for the first "Slutwalk" event held in Toronto for some information on what it's all about. It's more complex and interesting than I have presented it. Anyway, inspired by this, similar events have either been held or are to be held in places all over the world!



So, the BBC picks up this story. They decide to discuss it on their World Have Your Say program. To get input for the show, they post the story premise on Facebook and people can make comments. And this is what I started to read when I, once again, lost faith in humanity. What were some saying, you might ask? Well, here we go:
Nii Adumuah Nortey the policemam is right. Ladies must b decent or be seen as different. It is time someone voiced out his opinion

Suldan Tippu Tip Hw cn u use the term slutwalk to send ur voice and b offended by it....its sily 2 show ur assests as a tool of ur beauty plus dea z a gud reason y its called private part of ur bdy.

 Touseef Dar i do agree wd ploice. IT iz also an lSLAMIC advice.

Ibrahim Meddie i agree with the police lady because she is doing her moral duty of advising citizens before falling into the hands of the victims. And God is very happy when He sees people dressed appropriately and are modesty.

Azd Warfare The police guy said the same thing what islam says hes 100% right.If u dnt wanna get raped dnt mk sm1 horny by dressing like sluts

Kipkemoi Korir I agree with policeman,women sometimes dressed half naked.we are humanbeings.our feelings high.women dress properly to avoid men temptations .

Kellc Kalombo
The Police Man is totally right... Women tend to advertise themselves like products... They should not dress like Prostitutes If they don't want to be taken like such...Their outrageousness only shows how right the Policeman is and also just how stupid those women protesting are. Real women take care of themselves like Gold (Jealously) not like cheap cloth. These women protesting should be taken and arrested because they are the ones proving to be a bad influence to the youths of today who are mostly raped because of the same dressing and behavior. We need Mothers not Holes.
 
Ismail Adefemi Allimson I do agree wit d Police.
D ladis dont kno dat dey do assault we MEN Psykologicaly by arousin sme uncontrolable emotions.


Nasiru Suwaid If a lady advertises as an invitation to treat, why should she mind the resulting harassment, after all nobody prevents examination on a super market shelf, thus how could ladies put it out & prevents examination from goers, that is cruel.

Rodney Lungani I have always argued this women empowerment issue had a motive behind lol - at times free speech has its curse, we need to draw the line somewhere

Is it just me, or are these people INSANE? Yes, these are REAL comments by what I presume to be real people, and I still can't believe what I have read. And there are more! There are LOT'S more where these came from, sadly and scarily enough.So, there are actually people out there who do believe that a woman dressing in a certain way does allow people to think they are open to be raped? Apparently. 


One of the BIG problems with this whole discussion is the definition of "slut". At what point, based on how a woman is dressed, is she considered a "slut"? The idea of dressing "slutty" is completely subjective. So, women are being told to dress accordingly to prevent rape, but no two people will be able to agree on where exactly the line is that shouldn't be crossed. This puts women in a pretty tough position. Some think that nothing short of completely covering a woman in black cloth is acceptable. Others see a woman wearing makeup and heels and it means she is trolling for sex. No, no, no. The message from the police MUST be that "no is no" and rape will not be tolerated. As long as the message continues to be that part of the issue is in how a woman dresses, then it continues to create an atmosphere where blame is still put on the woman.

At the moment, the message appears to be that if you are like one of "THOSE" women, well you're headed for trouble. One of "those" women? Can someone please define this whole "slut" term a little clearer so that women can know exactly how people want them to dress so they that when she is raped they will feel adequately satisfied that she did not provoke the situation by being dresses like a "slut"? And then, when you do define that, can you kindly take that definition and stuff it up your....


If each of those posting with attitudes like those above changed THEIR views as opposed to telling women to change the way they dress, the world would probably be a whole lot safer. Women could live in freedom and wear whatever the hell they wanted to and not feel as though they were the problem! Wouldn't that be great?

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