Slutwalk Protests In Canada

For years girls and women all around the world have been victims of rape culture and misogynistic views. Everywhere males are told that they are not in the wrong if a girl is dressed a certain way because she is “asking for it”. This is shown through public figures, social media and is even an issue in third world countries. Our society has deemed it socially acceptable to blame women for being rape victims if they aren’t dressed according to mankind’s standards.

What is even stranger is that women fully enforce this sexual double standard. Over 99% of woman agree that women enjoy sex as much as men do, yet when asked to describe a woman who has had many sexual partners, over 59% percent of women used words that fell under the negatively connotative ‘Promiscuous’ category, using words like “slut,” “cheap,” “loose,” “whore,” “easy,” and “dirty.” Twelve percent of women even used words that would suggest that sexually liberal woman are psychologically damaged, using words like “insecure,” “lonely,” “desperate,” “needy,” and ‘unfulfilled.” Only 8% of women tagged a sexually liberal woman in the more positive category of “sexually focused,” the respondents feeling that “these women were uncommitted and focused on sex rather than the relationship” (Milhausen and Herold). In addition, “Women were more likely to discourage a female friend from dating a highly experienced male that a male friend from dating a highly experienced female” (Milhausen and Herold). This fact furthers the case for women’s involvement in maintaining the double standard. In a one study researchers found that “Women will endorse a sexual double standard in which women are judged more

Adams and Fuller(2006) define‘‘misogyny as the hatred or disdain of women. It is an ideology that reduces women to objects for men’s ownership, use, or abuse. This ideology is widespread and common throughout society’’ (p. 939). The devaluation of young minority women through the hip hop culture is an epidemic. The word choices conveyed in

A few stories from her book consist of young females, as young as fourteen, and their treacherous journey through adolescence with the title of “slut” weighing on their shoulders, when in reality it may not have been true or consensual sexual relations. Continued in her book, there are cases where women are asked about their sexual relationships and gynecology records when filing a lawsuit against people or companies for sexual harassment from males and payment inequality. When men were surveyed, 92% said that the double standards, that they themselves live up to, are unfair, but 65% said that if a woman they liked had slept with ten to twenty men the previous year, that they would not take them

The theory being tested in the article is that women participate in slut shaming as a way for them to distance or separate themselves from other women. The reason they separate themselves is a way for women to categorize other women into different statuses and a way for themselves to maintain their own status. The status classes women are categorized in are linked to the social class they are a part of. Slut shaming among women is not necessarily based on their sexual acts, but of the way they act as a woman. The theory also states that slut shaming is also a result of male dominance and female submission. The slut label was created by men due to a double standard created by society. The double standard is that men are expected to act upon their sexual desires regardless of being in a relationship or having any emotional connection with the person they’re engaging that sexual act with all while women are only allowed to participate in sexual activities if they are in a loving and committed relationship. However, if

Almost five years ago, two events ignited this transnational movement. The first one occurred on January 24th in 2011 when Toronto police officer named Michael Sanguitti and his colleagues were speaking about campus crime prevention at Osgood Hall Law School. While addressing the issue of sexual assault on campus, Michael Sanguitti gave the students some not-so-sage advice, saying, “Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.”

Quotes from those who feel they have been personally victimized cause the reader to feel angry towards the school administration or officials who are enforcing such a strict dress code. When Bates gives account after account of the dress codes in schools being unfairly carried out or too strict all together, the reader begins to feel sorry for the girls who fall victim to their administrators’ discrimination. Bates says “I can’t help feeling there is a powerful irony in accusing a girl of being ‘provocative’ – in projecting that societal assumption onto her adolescent body – before she is even old enough to have learned how to correctly spell the word.” By stating this, she is arguing that high school girls are too young to already be faced with sexual assault or discrimination from a culture that tells women to cover up because boys can not control themselves. The personal accounts in Bates’ article give the reader an emotional connection to the victims mentioned, thus building

In the article Good Girls'': Gender, Social Class, and Slut Discourse on Campus sociologists Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura Hamilton conducted a research at a Midwestern university in order to better understand the use of slut discourse between woman. Slut shaming is the act of criticizing a woman for her real or presumed sexual activity. It also includes criticizing her for behaving in ways that are associated with her real or presumed sexual activity. Slut shaming exists within a society because of the society sexual double standards. Traditionally men are encouraged by society to engage in sexual promiscuity but women are forbidden in engaging in sexual promiscuity. If a woman dares to engage in any behavior that could be interpreted as sexually promiscuous then she is branded as a slut or a whore.

Despite the fact that many men continue to deny that women are objectified, being viewed as an object created solely as a means of pleasure for men is a reality for anyone who was born biologically female. Proving that women are considered less valuable than men is the statistic that women make only 70% of what men in a similar career earns (Ravelli & Webber 214). The sexaul double standard contributes to this idea as well which means that women who engage in sexual activities are “promiscuous” (Ravelli & Webber 237) or “whores” (Ravelli & Webber 237) while men who behave similarly are “Studs” (Ravelli & Webber 237) and women who do not engage in sexual activities are “virgins” (Ravelli & Webber 237) or “Madonna’s” (Ravelli & Webber 237). There are only two portrayals of women and both of these refer to her sexual activities. There are also outrageous definitions of beauty portrayed in the media to

The issue that the authors address is trying to find an explanation and understanding of why women actively participate in slut shaming.

Almost a year ago, Canada was premised on a conservative government that centered on protecting and upholding traditional laws and values. Now, we are transitioning from conservatism to liberalism. The Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, stresses the need for equality, specifically gender equality that is a key element of liberalism. Gender equality advocates for same sex marriage, anti-discrimination laws as well empowering marginalized groups including the Indigenous people and women. Women in particular, have been in a disadvantaged position even before laws were made. Society has deemed women unequal to men, thereby excluding them from participating in important matters such as running for public office, legislating laws or even as simple as having an opinion. Conservatism solidified the patriarchal society, thus rendering women incompetent and irrelevant. However, with the change in administration comes the change in ideology. Unlike conservatism, liberalism welcomes and accepts change. A key platform of liberalism is women’s empowerment and this has been established through the creation of SlutWalk. SlutWalk is a protest movement that emerged in Toronto, Canada following the remark of police officer, Constable Michael Sanguinetti. In January 2011, Constable Sanguinetti made the statement that “Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized” (Toronto Star, 2011). His tactless remarks earned national and international outrage, from

By culminating all these different definitions of the word “slut” that the mother goes on about, it means someone who does not do what society perceives as proper and key to do, therefore spurned by society. Hence the mother tries to prevent her daughter from becoming someone who does not do the

It is common in the united states that women, especially younger women, are in a bind where neither sexual activity nor sexual inactivity is all right. (p.11) Women are viewed as being affiliated to men, and society judges women’s characters and personality just through sexuality. If a woman chooses to have sex, she will be labeled as a “slut” or “unprincipled”. On the other hand, if a woman refuses to have sex, she will be called “man-hater”

During my English period, I've been analyzing a speech and some articles on the topic of slut-shaming. While I read the articles, I was shocked to discover that this was an issue in our school systems. In case you weren’t aware, slut-shaming is the act of insulting a young woman (or girl) for being sexual. In this act, people use obscenities such as slut, whore, and slag, to shame women for their supposed “crime”. This, of course, doesn’t end well for the victim. In other words, this concerns you because this is an issue that not only spans San Luis High School but the entire district. This must be resolved because it has had dire consequences for many students and it has connections towards rape culture.

In the words of pop singer and ardent feminist P!nk, “Women have fought so long and hard for our rights and equality, and now all our attention is put on being a size 0.” P!nk’s hit song “Stupid Girls”, released with her 2006 album I’m Not Dead, provides a commentary on society’s perception of a woman’s role and how women respond to that perception. She rejects the foundations of the stereotype that women exist as subordinate to men, while challenging the behavior of women who conform to these societal expectations in order to please men. Although she composed the piece to encourage women to take pride in intelligence, the song has come under critique for “slut-shaming” by stereotyping women who focus on external appearance, labeling them as “stupid”. The piece simultaneously demeans and empowers women, demonstrating just one of the many flaws in the feminist movement that exist today.