In a commentary about the upcoming SlutWalk (4 December 2011) in newnation.sg,
So what’s a slut? A woman who sleeps around – yes. Who wears her sexual availability prominently – yes. Who is promiscuous – yes. An average slut would be your not-bad-looking-under-strobe-lights, promiscuous skank out at St James on a Saturday night looking for a one-night stand. Ugly sluts exist too, but they’re probably more difficult to come by. Men, as I gather, look for attractive women to have intercourse with.
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Except that – if the photos plastered online were any indication – a fair bit of SlutWalkers don’t exactly qualify as sluts. So unless these wholesome voluptious women with no business showing their overflowing bits in a overly-tight bra top out in public HAVE actually been called a slut previously, their protest to be called a slut without shame makes no sense. Like a meat-eating person joining PETA.
– newnation.sg, 4 September 2011, SlutWalk: a celebration of the right to be slutty even when you aren’t by Fang Shihan
SlutWalk? It is a protest march — well, it’ll be rather short of that in Singapore, but that’s no fault of the organisers — against the judgemental gaze of men and other self-appointed moralists. Triggered by a misogynistic comment by an officer of the Toronto Police in January this year, the first march was held in that city on 3 April. Similar marches have since been held in several other cities in North America and Europe, and also in New Delhi, Seoul and Johannesburg.
The thing was triggered by a 24 January 2011 safety information session at York University, Constable Michael Sanguinetti recommended that women not dress like “sluts” in order to avoid sexual assault, a remark that provoked uproar. While he later apologised for that remark, it was nonetheless felt that those words represented still widespread attitudes, and that more needed to be done to drive home the point that such attitudes are unacceptable.
Singapore’s will be held on the same day as SlutWalks in Hong Kong and Bangalore. More details, including of fringe events, can be found at slutwalksg.com.
I made the following comment
what exactly are sluts protesting against? I find it hard to figure this out
1. there is no law against slutyiness, so they are not demanding legalization
2. since sluts appear to be proud of their sluttyness, they cannot be objecting to being called sluts
3. is there discrimination against sluts? like being denied entry to pubs or not getting promotion at work? I dont recall hearing about such cases
4. do the media portray sluts negatively? considering that many hollywood stars are slutty but get eagerly pursued by paparazzi, and many girls are keen to become Playboy centrefolds, I should think sluttyness get a fairly good press
in summary, I would advise sluts to just enjoy being sluts and not feel shortchanged without good cause; they are getting along fine in this world