good job w the photos thomas. i believe ppl took this too far and plenty jumped on the bandwagon before really seeking out what the officer was actually saying. unfortunately everyone should really be aware of what they wear or how they portray themselves, not everyone is mentally balanced to interpret things as we'd hope they would correctly.

It was a powerful rally and afternoon. Thank you to the Amazon Collective for pulling this off. Something to be said for when people get together. This movement has spread to events around the world.

Dear Aaron and Monkwan: do you think it is possible to have this conversation without using the word "slut"? By the way, I wear miniskirts in my kitchen, doing dishes, simply to feel the wind up my thighs on a bright and sunny Sunday alone. Who in that scenario am I trying to entice? When you wear "wife beaters" to the gym, do you do so to show off your rippling, sweaty sinews to your fellow cronies in hopes someone accidentally-intentionally drops soap in the shower later? Bad boys you're so asking for a near-by broom handle from a senial janitor.

slut   /slʌt/ Show Spelled
[sluht] Show IPA

–noun
1. a dirty, slovenly woman.
2. an immoral or dissolute woman; prostitute.
Use slut in a Sentence
See images of slut
Search slut on the Web

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Origin:
1375–1425; late Middle English slutte; compare dial. slut mud, Norwegian (dial.) slutr sleet, impure liquid

Are you trying to state that women don't wear short skirts to attract? Do you believe that?

The guys who wear wife beaters at the gym are definitely showing off. Absolutely. I've always worn a t-shirt. There is really no heat around here that warrants a wife-beater. Water and shade are easily accessible in this society.

I would use the urban dictionary to define the word. That has the conventional definition.
By the defnition you've posted, I've still used the word in the proper context.
"To dress slutty; to dress immorally, overly revealing, unpresidential."
This protest was called the slutwalk.

Further, if showing even a lock of your hair as a woman, in other present day nations, is equivalent to wearing duct-tape over your nipples and a fruit roll-up makeshift bikini bottom in North America, than don't you think what's considered "slutty"/provocative is on a slippery slope to being, I dunno, SUBJECTIVE, socially constructed and therefore UNPOLICEABLE whereas behaviours that endanger or encroach upon another's rights to life, liberty, and/or the freedom to pursue their own happiness can be? By a little something like, I dunno, that such uncomprehensible education and conditioning as the phrase we all heard repeatedly in kindergarten on the magic story-telling circle carpet "keep your hands to yourself" somehow lost on adults due to an occassional hormone rush? I'll be sure to anicipate and accommodate all possible gawking gazes upon me the next time I leave the house...because that's totally possible??? Good to know that an average of a 5 inch height difference between me and half the population increases my risks of being the victim of violence (in language, attitude, or action) exponentially every time I leave my house (especially after sunset) and especially in, say, for example, shorts I wear for the sole intention of RUNNING?! I didn't know breathable and wicking fabrics were the potential deciding factor in whether or not I come home from less than a block away brutalised in some fashion or not at all--do you wear a literal, pedometer-slash-45 decible ALARM in your pants when you go for a jog? I do and so do a number of my friends.

To dress in a miniskirt is immoral? Un"presidential"? Is your t-shirt or any outfit you choose, say popped collar shirt to the bar, put on with thoughtful intention as to attract the opposite sex and/or any pathological attention from anyone ("rapists") that may take your intention wrong? Again, do you live and dress around fear or your own desire and why should, as you suggest, I and anyone else with a vagina dress and live around fear? Why the double standard? Are you nervous at the bus stop, in London ON, after dark? I highly doubt it. And no, sorry to break your little "gigolo" (male equivalent somehow not in the common lexicon) heart, but I do not dress to attract most of the time, never once have I gone to the bar no matter how much or little I was wearing with the intention of going home with someone, never have I gone home with someone after a night at the bar like these girls the slut walk was organised around and like most women who, 80-90% of the time, even in fashion magazine surveys, I dress to impress and strike up conversation with other women. That's why we wear things we know you don't like--like those parachute pants that have come back from the early 90s that make asses look 9 extra mom-jean type inches long or the resurgence of shoulder pads--it simply looks interesting not sexual. Do you exist and dress with my pleasure in mind all the time? Why then would you suppose, wrongly, that women do? Further, if you missed the point of the "Slutwalk" it was intended to be an IRONIC use of the word. The news story that sparked it was the fact that a person trusted to protect the public, like you, has the audacity to think in terms like the pathological "rapist" (as if that's a category of person) that someone dressed in anyway could be inviting violence onto their body. His job, and yours, in a world of sensistivity, and I presume you heterosexual so if you love vaginas in your life please work to protect them, is to abolish prejudices built into the deepest recesses of our consciousnesses, that allow us to laugh off such a word as slut in common usage as normal and acceptable, in the same way we have "Nigger" and the expectation that sitting at the back of the bus is justifiable. They weren't actually calling themselves sluts--they hoped and acted on the hope that using such a word in a large public venue, in honour of the situation, would help engender discussion and critical thought and people seeing how both absurd and passively abusive that kind of language is. Can you use the word at your job? Would it be thought unprofessional or fall under the constitution's hate mongering tenets? Why should a public authority not be questioned for these behaviours? Why don't boys get called a name, shouted out the windows of cars on a Saturday night downtown, when he is dressed to impress? Why should it be any different for me? I have been yelled at and expect to be when I leave the house in something short (daylight or not), cat called, hooted at by middle aged, married, construction workers, and called slut even when I was stil a literal virgin; I have never once left a bar without being groped, grabbed, pinched, squeezed, spanked or without having genitals grinded up on the back of me EVER. And you, honesly, believe I want, enjoy, or invite that intention? Switch places, imagine you're me, would you? Have you been touched by someone recently in a way that you found uncomfortable? No?! Why not...that's my fucking norm, including at work, and including at work on a university campus by someone twice my age asking me to stay back a while simply because when I thought I was alone sorting envelopes I reach slightly to high for myself and exposed my belly button--I was dressed business casual. My boss happened to be standing in there watching me. I must have been subconsciously trying to get attention.

Do you, Phyllis, believe that men - or women - don't give any thought to the reasons why they wear what they do when they leave the house? That's what the cop was pointing out, that most of the time we don't give much thought to that, and maybe women should. Doing so - thinking about it - isn't necessarily about fear. It can also be about self-awareness. When you dress, you might not always want to ask yourself why you are choosing to dress a particular way - at least, not every time. Dressing to 'attract' doesn't men you have the intention of going home with a man. It can be to show people who you are, or to like the way you look and enjoy yourself for that evening. Clothing is a big part of women's identity, whether work clothes, or evening clothes, or sportswear. It gives people an idea of who you are (whether accurate or not).

By the way, I don't think the walk was organized solely around women who are promiscuous, if that's what you are saying, ( "never have I gone home with someone after a night at the bar like these girls the slut walk was organised around)". I think anyone with the energy, and who doesn't mind people misinterpreting thei presence at the walk, and who thinks women should claim the word 'slut' by uniting with others in that manner, made the decision to do the walk. I agree, the cop shouldn't have used the word slut. But for feminists or women in general to claim that he thinks dressing in a particular manner is the only reason women get attacked is a distortion of his intentions, more than likely.

Phyllis, from your description of your experiences in the bar, I would have to agree there is something seriously wrong with the way men see women, and the freedom they seem to have to behave that way. I have noticed, also, how sexualized our world is and how men seem to think all women 'want it', or if they don't want it, they'd better act as though they do. I wrote on this also on the event page, listed above. You are talking about sexual harassment, a term that is as as objectionable, and emotive, to some men as 'slut' is to women.

I do dress with intention. The conversation above and the police situation was about dressing as a "slut"--I have never once dressed with that epithet in mind. I am aware I may be raped, but no outfit a man wears tends to be thought of culturally as rape-worthy or hollared out epithet worthy. I made no implication they were promiscuous--the cop did as did the two commentors above i.e. the implication being, that if you dress "slutty" you invite potentially negative if not dire consequences. My point about not going home with anyone was to theirs about attention and specifically, attraction. I have no problem with how many or few partners anyone of any gender chooses to have. But I personally have been "held accountable" on many occasions in bars by potential suitors who assumed that because I was dressed in a "hot" outfit I was there to pick up and I was entirely confused as to what about my outfit or demeanor led them to think that. I've also been creeped up on from behind before and when I flipped around to rebuff was asked (I'm biracial) if it was because I "don't like white guys"--my internal, but unvoiced response: "no sir, I just don't like men wearing basketball jerseys for shirts with the moniker 'Whiteoaks Crew' tatooed down their calf...I like them a little bookish or even remotely literate and my name isn't 'baby girl' it's Eleanor and not like the car from Gone In 60 Seconds/no I do not like that movie, thanks." I didn't think the cop thought that was the only reason women get raped but the fact that he did tell a teenager that her appearance was both "slutty" and potential fodder to entice rape, that she should consider her clothing more closely, is where I take issue. Like I said above--one "man's" provocative is another's innocuous (lock of hair versus nearly naked in 2 different current day cultures). I use clothing to express myself, to be different and interesting (I own those parachute pants mentioned above and pair them with a blouson effect top for an Annie Hall effect, I also paint, write and express myself in multiple other ways). I simplified the fashion point for those above to get home the notion that a provocative dress is not always adorned to attract anyone. Sometimes I want to enjoy my own body and sexuality in a way that is either self-gratifying or polymorphous. I don't hate on men. I do consider myself a feminist. And I'm not militant or mean. I just think that rather than blaming one's physical appearance for violence inflicted upon them the paradigm in cultural thinking should shift in that we all know to touch only when asked. Unfortunately, predominately, it doesn't happen the other way around. Women rape. Humans...rape. But statistically...there is a gender bias on who grabs who in a bar or in an alley. Some of that is Darwinian and based on physical prowess and primal instinct but come on, we can control our own impulses. And men I dont assume to be rapists, at the bar, do assume it's okay to reach out and grab someone simply because they look attractive. Whether I look attractive or whether I prance around makeup-less in a hoodie and jeans my main goal in dressing or being is not to attract the opposite or same sex let alone sex at all. I would hope, as slut, sexual harassment is objectionable and becomes more and more distasteful and more socially let alone legally managed. Slut, like Muscio's sense of "CUNT" can definitely be reclaimed, redefined, and difused in this manner. I was just shocked that above "slut" was really, honestly, understood as attractive, provocative, promiscuous, or "immoral" (for whatever that means). What I think the above responders were commenting on is that you should expect an array of attention depending on what you wear--my argument is that that kind of attention paid should have decency, empathy, and forethought enough to consider the possibility that what you wear may not be connected to desire (theirs or yours) but may, like you said be connected to expression, or like I said to the sheer pleasure of being in and enjoying your own physicality. You only have one life and I do not live mine for the hope people will want to fuck me. In fact, it's a rather distant thought in my day to day and clubbing life. I have people I love, like, or simply enjoy that fulfill that aspect of my life and when I personally wear something showing off any goodie it's simply 'cause I'm vibin' out and really diggin' my own goodies or because I just spent credit card money I shouldn't have, for aesthetic reasons, and I need to justify it by unveiling it to the world.

I gather you, Phyllis, are not one of the women who are intent on reclaiming the word 'slut' though you state you dress in 'hot' outfits when you go clubbing. Perhaps you will be aware from now on, when you dress, that that is exactly what men mean by that when they use the word 'slut'. And that's probably what the cop meant when he used it and got into trouble for doing so. The word is used so commonly that he obviously used it in the wrong manner, and definitely in the wrong place.

Last paragraph, Phyllis says, "that kind of attention paid should have decency, empathy, and forethought enough to consider the possibility that what you wear may not be connected to desire."

But men don't think like women in matters pertaining to sex. A woman can believe she has rights (as men do too, of course), but if they act as though no one can take away those rights, by dressing as they have a right to, sexually provocatively, in the wrong place at the wrong time, they may be increase the chances of being noticed, and place themslves at risk.

Furthermore, there is a difference between 'should' and 'what is', and women are being warned by the police that men don't always think or behave rationally when it comes to sex. and if men won't be considerate of women, in such circumstances, then women have to take precautions.

Feminists claim that men have always been in awe of women's sexuality and the power it has over them, so that's one reason why, in general, some men intentionally demean women by referring to them as sluts - putting them in their place, so to speak. But that's probably not what the cop was doing when he used the word to get his point across. Sounds like he was as unaware of the effect of his language as some women are, of the effect of their attire on men.

I don't go clubbing anymore, but when I did and not always did I dress that way. If not clear any instance of words such as "hot" or the like above are used non-literally. I am using the rhetoric of people that think that way so that they can hear it the other way around. Me calling them "bad boys" above for example was intent to make "victim-blaming" more palpable for readers that would use the word slut. I have absolutely no interest in reclaiming or ever claiming the term in the first place as I have never once been paid for sex and have never understood or known the word slut to mean ANYTHING ELSE. When 'attractive' has come to be synonymous with, in effect, 'whore' I think there's something deeply wrong going on and going unquestioned, unchanged, and posing danger--I would hope people aspire to be critical thinkers and more humane beings day by day. It is by no means a complement to be called slut as if to say someone is "hot" (which to me isn't a complement anyway, it might be if I were over-tanned, wearing a trucker hat, drinking out of a red disposable cup of beer, scratching my breast implant scar stiches and picking a wedgie but I would like to think I have more class and can be classified as things such as: "learned", "intriguing", "ethereal", hey, even "charming"--'hot' just doesn't cut it). Further, when I dress to go out (which I hardly do anymore for above stated reasons--which again, are boys ever so uncomfortable they stop hanging out in public places they once enjoyed?) or for any occasion I do not expect men to think like women about it...I expect them to think like HUMANS. "Do unto others as you would have done unto you"--pretty genderless and easy to abide even if decontextualized from it's religious base. Men wouldn't like to be called 'gigolos' daily or always likened to, let's say, undersirable socio-economic categories; so than, why do so in return? You would't like to be grabbed by a perfect stranger? Don't do it to someone else. You wouldn't like to be walking to Museum London for a Halloween Party, in costume, as a character from Grease, fully clothed but in a way that the world notices you happen to have legs, an ass, normal geometric shapes on your body for your biological sex category that hidden or not make you a matured and thereby viable and attractive sexual organism, with nothing more than your head and hands unclothed and have a car screech by and startle you at midnight with the windows rolled down hollaring "SLUT!" at you? DONT DO IT TO ME (and it happened). Men should be expected to be just as rational as women and your suggestion that both they're not (which I would imagine they'd take issue with) and that they get a get out of jail free card for breeching the human and constitutional rights of any other human being is probably far more prejudicial than calling women sluts--it suggests they are simply too animalistic to be considered full intellectual and social agents, in a way, too animalistic or less evolved than women. What you are capable of they are, should be, and should be held accountable to be. Most days I wear one of three different coloured hoodies and a mix bag of jeans or leggings below with low top Chuck Taylor slims and a backpack and I'm 28 and somehow that look, or maybe it's my biting, stand-offish charisma when spoken to, doesn't attract only who I intend (some other not totally hipster, not totally residually punk, not totally activist, not totally left wing, sans tv, car free, meat free, socially conscious yuppie, who unabashedly love Zizek, Charlie Kaufmann, and Charlie Sheen [but in a Rosencrantz and Gildenstern way] all at once, who makes objects, images, sounds or imaginary worlds out of words who have a or multiple and graduating degrees--I think I look like these people look and what they like looking at) and instead I find myself confronted by countless clearly jobless or homeless/living-dependently who like action flicks and human Barbie dolls and nitwits like those airbrushed and found in Playboy, Sports Illustrated, or Maxim? What about me says I dig that and what can I do or how can I dress to ensure that no one says thinks the way to hit on me or to my heart is to tell me how great it would be to see me in bed with Megan Fox, how "hot" I am every five minutes, how much they'd like me to come back and enjoy their yeast-infected cess pool of a hot tub and as much beer as I want (not impressive)? How do I dress to make sure that I can walk from one end of Oxford to York end of Richmond in total peace, just hearing the birds? What do I have to do to make sure no one whose ever seen the movies Gone In 60 Seconds or Step Up or concerts by Eminem ever talk to me in that leering way again? I don't think I seem like their type so why do they bother me? I don't hit on people that are clearly not my type and I think a lot of men are capable or receptive to at least that one. I know many men that are afraid to talk to a woman one perceived "cuteagory" up from themselves; so why would some lecherous man in some back alley, in a trench coat in the bushes waiting to flash students, or in any social gathering approach someone simply because they have highly symmetrical and exaggerated estrogen features? Do you look at all the world as your sexual oyster and even think to chat up men you can tell from a mile away you have nothing in common with? WHY DOES IT HAPPEN TO ME ALL THE TIME? EWW. Just 'cause you like me doesn't mean I like you--is that not something boys can learn (like compassion, empathy, viewing people of all genders, races, and lifestyles as fully complex and kindred members of their same species with the same rights and values as they expect to be granted)? Do you not have this problem? Specifically, the problem of thug boys hitting on you when you clearly look like a librarian who has never whispered sweet nothings to someone through double-thick glass on inmate visitation day? Do men you actually like, 9 times out of 10, try to come onto you or even strike up coffee line conversation with you? If I wore a t-shirt that said "I wanna make a hybrid human being out of bearded-Joaquin Phoenix, Jason Schwartzman, Peaches, Kathleen Hanna, Wes Anderson, Jonathan Safran Foer, and Tim Burton and marry them" that people would leave me alone and stop complementing my doodles at my diddly ass call centre job as proof I'm arty and should check out 'Art Fusion' (no thanks)??? All I care about is making them go away. The day I found out 90% of men prefered women with long hair I got a Peter Pan cut with faux hawk opition built in providing you add product. I dream of a world in which I can leave my house in any outfit I want and in which only people who I would consider sleeping with would even bother talking to me with romantic or sexual intention. I am beyond grossed out and frustrated and it's making me a hermit.

Police COULD warn: "This is a known predatory area, can I safely escort you to a better lit area and cab?" And no one would or should be degraded.