on saturday we also witnessed the
SlutWalk NYC. above some participants are being interviewed. this was at union square, where they held a rally after they marched through the city. (just before we had lunch at some sandwich shop and that was sooooooo goooooddd!!). mostly young women participated with little or no clothes (a few were topless and they were photographed most; im not sure that was the purpose of their protest). the first protest march took place in toronto, canada, in april this year. they protest against explaining or excusing rape by referring to any aspect of a woman's appearance. why? it was incited by a toronto police officer who suggested that to remain safe, "women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized". he later apologized for this remark, but the slut walk was born: the founders of the slutwalk observe that historically, "slut" has had negative connotations, and their goal is to redeem the term.
on april 3, they organized a protest, and interestingly, they requested women to dress in everyday wear (to symbolize ordinary women, sexually assaulted in ordinary life), yet many women dressed as "sluts" in provocative clothing. since then, slutwalks have been held in many cities, with women dressed as above.
just last week, NYPD police officers
warned women in Brooklyn not to show too much skin after a recent string of 10 sexual assaults in that neighborhood. well.... i dont know what to think. i think i agree with some opponents that say women should not protest for the right to be called slut, and i think it would be better if they protested in ordinary clothes. we, for example, just went there to see how crazy some people were dressed. on the other hand i do understand that a police officer cannot say that you should not dress too sexy as otherwise you yourself are responsible if something happens to you. at the same time there were
protests at wall street, already since 2 weeks,
demanding to end the modern gilded age, end joblessness, stop political corruption, end health profiteering and ending war. on saturday they went to the brooklyn bridge and it all became a huge mess, resulting in the arrest of some 500 people. so i guess its good we did not go to either of those places!
