New Delhi, June 13: A police officer in Toronto made a comment at the York University that ‘women should avoid dressing up like sluts in order not to be victimised’.
And two months later on April 3, 2011, the city witnessed a thousand people on the streets protesting against this derogatory remark in the form of Slut walks. The women got down on the streets wearing revealing outfits and T-shirts with the word ‘slut’ written on them. Soon, people in North America, Australia and Britain began organizing slut walks on their own raising their voices against the men who blamed women for being raped.
Slut Walk, Delhi 2011 (to take place on June 25th, 2011 at 1:00 pm IST) aims to alter the definition of the word ‘Slut’, to eliminate the shame attached to it and restore it with dignity. Words like ‘slut’ insult a woman, makes her feel ashamed of her act and disgraces her. One does not become a slut if she has more than one sexual partner or wears whatever she wants or has dated a number of men in the past.
The whole idea of the walk revolves around the fact that no woman ‘likes’ to be raped and hence, would NEVER call for it in any manner. The problem lies in the minds of the rapists and not in what women wear and how they dress up or walk. There is nothing wrong in wearing short skirts or low cut tops and walking in high heels wearing make up. The people who experience such sexual assaults are not to blame. The thought process of this male-dominated society needs to be changed. Not women, but men should be taught not to indulge into the act of sexual harassment and look upon women as independent people and not as mere objects of desire.
This is definitely a bold and strong movement in a nation like India where female victim of rape is often excluded from the society.
-Agencies