(video MA for very heavy language)



In early 2011, a Toronto cop told a woman that had been raped that she
was a "slut" and was responsible for beig raped, In response to this
outrage was born the Slutwalks, protests in many cities against blaming
and shaming victims of sexual assault on the basis of appearance or
dress.



Hundreds of marchers, maybe a thousand, marched from the White House to
the Washington Monument. The march was mostly women with some men as
well-and one counterprotester with a sign who called the marchers sluts
and said they should be raped. At least he did not stay around after
making one harassing pass only.



One message of the march were that dress is neither solicitation for nor
consent to sex. Another message was that anyone who is raped should
blow the whistle if they can, because rape is what rapists do and will
continue to do until they are stopped. One chant of the march was "Yes
means fuck me, no means fuck you!" The march is one of the very few
effective anti-rape protests that is also sex-positive, emphasising
consent and self-ownership.



There are entirely too many men who think that minimal dress is intended
as a sexual soliciation. I've got news for them: That would be too
likely to be missed to be a useful way of communicating interest in
someone and asking if that interest is shared! Even worse is those who
think that not only can a person's dress be a sexual solicitation, but
that that is an open invitation to any and all.