”We need to reclaim our basic rights, we need to reclaim our public space.”
A Toronto police constable Michael Sanguinetti told an audience of university students in January that women should “avoid dressing like sluts” to evade being sexually assaulted. The remark sparked uproar and women all over Canada took to the streets denouncing the police and giving rise to a movement they call — SlutWalk. The first such protest of scantily-clad women fighting victim blaming was held in April in Toronto, Canada.
Two months on, the movement has spread across the globe and similar agitations are seen in 20 American states, 60 European cities, Australia and New Zealand.
Holding placards with messages such as ‘No victim is to blame’ and ‘What do you call men who make ‘women in the Kitchen jokes? — single’, these protestors have made quite an impact.
And the protest came to India as well. The capital saw a similar stir. Women from all sections of society took to the streets in its first ‘SlutWalk’. In fact, Delhi is the first Asian city where such an action is happened.
”SlutWalk Delhi is a movement against perpetrators of sexual crimes, against the mindset that looks down upon anything that is perceived as independent and expressive,” The walk held yesterday amongst wrangling over permission from city authorities.
The clothes weren’t ‘slutty’, but the message that Delhi gave in its first SlutWalk on Sunday was loud and clear.
The march has plenty of critics in India. Best-selling author Shobha De said she had problems with the SlutWalk, ”especially with its relevance in context with the Indian culture”.
A debate on Twitter says the group’s name is off-putting to those who believe in the cause, but don’t believe in marching under the ‘slut’ banner. “This word marginalises women wanting to protest but not embrace the word ‘slut’,” tweeted a critic.
‘In India, it doesn’t matter what time of day it is, or what you wear – you can be in jeans, in shalwar kameez [a traditional suit of long tunic and trousers], in shorts, anything – and you will get attention, you will get stared at, grabbed, called names and harassed.
