This Is What a Feminist Slut Looks Like: Perspectives on the SlutWalk Movement

by Alyssa Teekah (Editor), Erika Jane Scholz (Editor), May Friedman (Editor)

In April 2011, a team of five people put together Slutwalk Toronto, a protest responding to slut shaming and victim blaming culture, exemplified by a recent event at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. In the name of campus “safety”, Toronto Police Constable Michael Sanguinetti advised “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order to not be victimized”. The sentiment of those in the over 3000 crowd that day were shared by folks around the globe - leading to over 200 Slutwalks internationally and the establishment of “Slutwalk” organizing groups. This collection engenders a critical engagement with the global phenomenon of the Slutwalk movement, considering both its strengths and limitations. The chapters take up Slutwalk through a feminist lens (broadly defined) consider- ing Slutwalk as a successful social movement, a site of tremendous controversy, and an ongoing discussion among and between waves of feminists across the life cycle and across the globe. Through poetry, photography, scholarly articles, creative non-fiction, personal essays, the collection seeks to unpack the discursive performance of Slutwalk as well as explore the experiences of people who attended various and diverse Slutwalks marches/protests in North America and Asia.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism

241 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is hard to rate only because I appreciated some essays more than others. The collection itself focused on SlutWalk and the controversy around it and many essays had different points/views. I would have appreciated more on rape culture and helping sexual assault survivors than the look at the word "slut" and it's possible reclamation but it was interesting nonetheless.
This book made attempts to recognize SlutWalk's inclusion problems and offer diverse voices. The essays by WOC and their various SlutWalk's were some of my favourite. Some of the essays my white women missed the mark for inclusion. Still, it's one of those things where if you have any interest in the book, you would enjoy reading it.