SlutWalk Winnipeg 2012

I’m going to take a little break from talking about food and instead talk about the word ‘slut’, in honour of SlutWalk which was held here in Winnipeg yesterday.

Before yesterday I understood why it was called SlutWalk.  And though I supported and defended it, it made me uncomfortable.  On my way to the walk yesterday, I was thinking about how difficult it would be to speak to children about the issue.  Young boys and girls need to be taught that slut-shaming and victim blaming are not okay, but using words that they can repeat in the school grounds.  I could not very well tell the children in my life that I was going to SlutWalk this weekend.

            But then I arrived at the Winnipeg Law Courts.  Only the organizers and marshals had arrived.  And wolverine.  He stomped around, running his nails along the glass of the front building, chatting with the ladies hanging around.  His mother made a sign saying something about how superheroes don’t support victim-blaming.

            As more people arrived I saw more children.  After the march, during the speeches, a father listened, watching his daughter play on the steps of the legislature building while women talked about their experiences with rape and victim blaming, the issue of child sexual slavery (particularly in Winnipeg) and how likely it is that a woman will be sexually assaulted at some point in her life.  The young girl paid no attention.  Nor did any of the other children who ran around the steps of the legislature or played with their mothers.  These children were not sitting here really listening to us.  They didn’t really know what was going on.  Probably all they got out of the day was that using the word ‘slut’ is not okay and that it’s not okay to do something to someone without their consent.  And now those children know not to go back to the playground and use the word to bring girls down.

            Shielding this word from our children gives it power.  Avoiding this word ourselves, and the discussions that come with it, give it power.  Allowing it to continue to have negative connotations give it power.  We can’t ‘reclaim’ the word slut, but we can claim it.  If our children know not to use it as an insult, and if we start using it in a more positive way to set an example for them in the future, then it won’t be able to hurt them like it did us.  And then what will they call us females who are intelligent, powerful, sexy and in control of our sexuality?