Israel joins the worldwide protest against explaining or excusing rape by referring to a woman’s appearance. The first SlutWalk took place on April 3, 2011 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the rallies began when Constable Michael Sanguinetti, a Toronto Police officer, suggested that to remain safe, “women should avoid dressing like sluts.
The Tel Aviv SlutWalk is scheduled to take place on Thursday, March 22, 2012, (starting off at Gan Meir at 18:00) will be the first, but the initiative started in Haifa and Jerusalem, with the Haifa SlutWalk scheduled for March 23, 2012, and the Jerusalem SlutWalk on Friday, April 27, 2012.
The Tel Aviv SlutWalk organizers statement from their facebook event page:
When all over we are hearing the claim that women who choose to dress revealingly, drink alcohol or act in a certain way are responsible for being raped and sexually harassed we have to protest.
This assumption hurts not only the rape victims but also women in general. Women feel that their basic rights to live and act the way they choose is threatened. Men, too, are also affected by this attitude. They are treated as incompetent beasts with no self awareness and who therefore cannot control themselves.
In the 24th of January, 2011, a policeman in Toronto, Canada, said that to stay safe and not become victims women must not dress like sluts. A sentence like this, that was said in an official conference of the Canadian police force displays the sad state that exists all over the world. And so was born the idea of The Slut Walk, which spread all over the world.
In Israel, the situation isn’t different. When victims finally muster up the courage to ask for help they are often answered with the sentence: “you asked for it”. This general state of mind, blaming the victims themselves for what they went through, climbs up into the highest ranks of government and army.
Because of the initiative of The Slut Walks in Haifa and Jerusalem, we’d like to have a walk of our own – here, in Tel Aviv. Let’s prove that our wardrobe is our own choice and ours only. Our body is our own and therefore we have the right to dress and look the way the way we want – whether it pleases other people or not. It is no excuse for rape, or any form of sexual harassment.
Come with revealing clothes, or don’t come with revealing clothes. Come dressed exactly the way you want to dress. No one will judge you- that’s the cause. It is everyone’s right, men and women, to dress the way they want. We will be walking from Gan Meir to Rabin Square in revealing clothes. Dress the way you wish and come march with us!
