slut walk

**Gen** · 10-02-2011, 12:45 PM

Re: slut walk

Yuh see di video of the guy who did try rape di ooman ovah midwood or sunset park ?di one where di ooman a bawl out loud ?

Mi hope civilians ketch him and pap a shot and leggo di weapon in di gowanus canal

him gwine buck up pan di wrong smaddy one night

**blugiant** · 10-02-2011, 12:49 PM

Re: slut walk

An Open Letter from Black Women to the SlutWalk

September 23, 2011

We the undersigned women of African descent and anti-violence advocates, activists, scholars, organizational and spiritual leaders wish to address the SlutWalk. First, we commend the organizers on their bold and vast mobilization to end the shaming and blaming of sexual assault victims for violence committed against them by other members of society. We are proud to be living in this moment in time where girls and boys have the opportunity to witness the acts of extraordinary women resisting oppression and challenging the myths that feed rape culture everywhere.

The police officer’s comments in Toronto that ignited the organizing of the first SlutWalk and served to trivialize, omit and dismiss women’s continuous experiences of sexual exploitation, assault, and oppression are an attack upon our collective spirits. Whether the dismissal of rape and other violations of a woman’s body be driven by her mode of dress, line of work, level of intoxication, her class, and in cases of Black and brown bodies—her race, we are in full agreement that no one deserves to be raped.

The Issue At Hand

We are deeply concerned. As Black women and girls we find no space in SlutWalk, no space for participation and to unequivocally denounce rape and sexual assault as we have experienced it. We are perplexed by the use of the term “slut” and by any implication that this word, much like the word “Ho” or the “N” word should be re-appropriated. The way in which we are perceived and what happens to us before, during and after sexual assault crosses the boundaries of our mode of dress. Much of this is tied to our particular history. In the United States, where slavery constructed Black female sexualities, Jim Crow kidnappings, rape and lynchings, gender misrepresentations, and more recently, where the Black female immigrant struggle combine, “slut” has different associations for Black women. We do not recognize ourselves nor do we see our lived experiences reflected within SlutWalk and especially not in its brand and its label.

As Black women, we do not have the privilege or the space to call ourselves “slut” without validating the already historically entrenched ideology and recurring messages about what and who the Black woman is. We don’t have the privilege to play on destructive representations burned in our collective minds, on our bodies and souls for generations. Although we understand the valid impetus behind the use of the word “slut” as language to frame and brand an anti-rape movement, we are gravely concerned. For us the trivialization of rape and the absence of justice are viciously intertwined with narratives of sexual surveillance, legal access and availability to our personhood. It is tied to institutionalized ideology about our bodies as sexualized objects of property, as spectacles of sexuality and deviant sexual desire. It is tied to notions about our clothed or unclothed bodies as unable to be raped whether on the auction block, in the fields or on living room television screens. The perception and wholesale acceptance of speculations about what the Black woman wants, what she needs and what she deserves has truly, long crossed the boundaries of her mode of dress.

We know the SlutWalk is a call to action and we have heard you. Yet we struggle with the decision to answer this call by joining with or supporting something that even in name exemplifies the ways in which mainstream women’s movements have repeatedly excluded Black women even in spaces where our participation is most critical. We are still struggling with the how, why and when and ask at what impasse should the SlutWalk have included substantial representation of Black women in the building and branding of this U.S. based movement to challenge rape culture?

Black women have worked tirelessly since the 19th century colored women’s clubs to rid society of the sexist/racist vernacular of slut, jezebel, hottentot, mammy, mule, sapphire; to build our sense of selves and redefine what women who look like us represent. Although we vehemently support a woman’s right to wear whatever she wants anytime, anywhere, within the context of a “SlutWalk” we don’t have the privilege to walk through the streets of New York City, Detroit, D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, L.A. etc., either half-naked or fully clothed self-identifying as “sluts” and think that this will make women safer in our communities an hour later, a month later, or a year later. Moreover, we are careful not to set a precedent for our young girls by giving them the message that we can self-identify as “sluts” when we’re still working to annihilate the word “ho”, which deriving from the word “hooker” or “whore”, as in “Jezebel whore” was meant to dehumanize. Lastly, we do not want to encourage our young men, our Black fathers, sons and brothers to reinforce Black women’s identities as “sluts” by normalizing the term on t-shirts, buttons, flyers and pamphlets.

The personal is political. For us, the problem of trivialized rape and the absence of justice are intertwined with race, gender, sexuality, poverty, immigration and community. As Black women in America, we are careful not to forget this or we may compromise more than we are able to recover. Even if only in name, we cannot afford to label ourselves, to claim identity, to chant dehumanizing rhetoric against ourselves in any movement. We can learn from successful movements like the Civil Rights movement, from Women’s Suffrage, the Black Nationalist and Black Feminist movements that we can make change without resorting to the taking-back of words that were never ours to begin with, but in fact heaved upon us in a process of dehumanization and devaluation.

What We Ask

Sisters from Toronto, rape and sexual assault is a radical weapon of oppression and we are in full agreement that it requires radical people and radical strategies to counter it. In that spirit, and because there is so much work to be done and great potential to do it together, we ask that the SlutWalk be even more radical and break from what has historically been the erasure of Black women and their particular needs, their struggles as well as their potential and contributions to feminist movements and all other movements.

Women in the United States are racially and ethnically diverse. Every tactic to gain civil and human rights must not only consult and consider women of color, but it must equally center all our experiences and our communities in the construction, launching, delivery and sustainment of that movement.

We ask that SlutWalk take critical steps to become cognizant of the histories of people of color and engage women of color in ways that respect culture, language and context.

We ask that SlutWalk consider engaging in a re-branding and re-labeling process and believe that given the current popularity of the Walk, its thousands of followers will not abandon the movement simply because it has changed its label.

We ask that the organizers participating in the SlutWalk take further action to end the trivialization of rape at every level of society. Take action to end the use of the word “rape” as if it were a metaphor and also take action to end the use of language invented to perpetuate racist/sexist structures and intended to dehumanize and devalue.

In the spirit of building a revolutionary movement to end sexual assault, end rape myths and end rape culture, we ask that SlutWalk move forward in true authenticity and solidarity to organize beyond the marches and demonstrations as SlutWalk. Develop a more critical, a more strategic and sustainable plan for bringing women together to demand countries, communities, families and individuals uphold each others human right to bodily integrity and collectively speak a resounding NO to violence against women.

We would welcome a meeting with the organizers of SlutWalk to discuss the intrinsic potential in its global reach and the sheer number of followers it has energized. We’d welcome the opportunity to engage in critical conversation with the organizers of SlutWalk about strategies for remaining accountable to the thousands of women and men, marchers it left behind in Brazil, in New Delhi, South Korea and elsewhere—marchers who continue to need safety and resources, marchers who went back home to their communities and their lives. We would welcome a conversation about the work ahead and how this can be done together with groups across various boundaries, to end sexual assault beyond the marches.

As women of color standing at the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, class and more, we will continue to be relentless in the struggle to dismantle the unacceptable systems of oppression that designedly besiege our everyday lives. We will continue to fight for the development of policies and initiatives that prioritize the primary prevention of sexual assault, respect women and individual rights, agency and freedoms and holds offenders accountable. We will consistently demand justice whether under governmental law, at community levels, or via community strategies for those who have been assaulted; and organize to end sexual assaults of persons from all walks of life, all genders, all sexualities, all races, all ethnicity, all histories.

Signed by: The Board of Directors and Board of Advisors, Black Women’s Blueprint | Farah Tanis, Co-Founder, Executive Director, Black Women’s Blueprint | Endorsed by: Toni M. Bond Leonard, President/CEO of Black Women for Reproductive Justice (BWRJ), Chicago, Illinois | Kelli Dorsey, Executive Director, Different Avenues, Washington, D.C. | S. Mandisa Moore | The Women’s Health and Justice Initiative, New Orleans, Louisiana | Black and Proud, Baton Rouge, Louisiana | Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program at Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts | Population and Development Program, Amherst, Massachusetts | Zeinab Eyega, New York, New York | Black Women’s Network, Los Angeles, California | League of Black Women, Chicago, Illinois | Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community, Minneapolis, Minnesota | Brooklyn Young Mother’s Collective, Brooklyn, New York | Women’s HIV Collaborative, New York, New York | National Organization of Sisters of Color Ending Sexual Assault (SCESA), Connecticut | Girls for Gender Equity, Brooklyn, New York | My Sister’s Keeper, Brooklyn, New York | The Mothers Agenda New York (the M.A.N.Y.), Brooklyn, New York | Sojourners Group For Women, Salt Lake City, Utah | Dr. Andreana Clay, Queer Black Feminist Blog, Oakland, California | Dr. Ida E. Jones, Historian, Author, The Heart of the Race Problem: The Life of Kelly Miller | Willi Coleman, Professor of Women’s History, member of the Association of Black Women Historians, Laura Rahman, Director, Broken Social Contracts, Atlanta, Georgia | Marlene McCurtis, Director, Wednesdays in Mississippi Film Project | Issa Rae, Producer, Director, Writer, Awkward Black Girl, Los Angeles, California | The Prison Birth Project| Ebony Noelle Golden, Creative Director, Betty’s Daughter Arts Collaborative & The RingShout for Reproductive Justice | Yvonne Moore, Southern California, Sexual Assault Survivor | Kola Boo, Novelist, Poet, Womanist | Jessicah A. Murrell, Spelman College C’11, Candidate for M.A. Women’s Studies | Shanika Thomas | Cathy Gillespie | Kristin Simpson, Brooklyn, New York | Mkali-Hashiki, Certified Sexological Bodyworker, Certified Sound, Voice, & Music Healing Practitioner, Owner & Operator of Body Ecstasy, Erotic Wellness Facilitation | Linda Mizell, Ed.D., Assistant Professor School of Education, University of Colorado at Boulder| Sherley Accime, President, C.E.O. ANEW, NY, SeaElle Integrated Therapies | Diedre F. Houchen, M.A. Ed., Alumni Doctoral Fellow, Black Education, University of Florida | Hanalei Ramos, Co-founder, Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment, NYC | Minh-Ha T. Pham, Cornell University Professor | Cynthia Nibbelink Worley (W.A.R., Women Against Rape) |Wendi Dragonfire, wendi-dragonfire.com | Sydney Kopp-Richardson Urban Policy Analysis M.A. Candidate, Milano the New School for Management and Public Policy Research Assistant, Social Justice Initiatives | Radha McAlpine | Desi K. Robinson, Executive Producer, Women in the Making: Tomorrow’s History Today | Laura E. Polk, Anthropologist, Washington, D.C. | Sfirah Madrone, Olympia, WA | AF3IRM | Rev. Raedorah C. Stewart, MA aka RevSisRaedorah, Queer Womanist Scholar Poet Mother | Jacqueline A. Gross, Oakland, CA | Devorah Hill, Media Educator, Manhattan Neighborhood Network, New York City | Elizabeth Lipton, Member, Pitzer College Feminist Coalition | Robin Morgan | Charlene Sayo, Member National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada | Elizabeth C. Yeampierre, Esq, Executive Director, UPROSE | Mandy Van Deven, Writer, Speaker, Changemaker | Wendy Ruiz | Hortensia Gooding, Vocalist, Administrator | Carol Griffin | Karynna A. Lynne, Lancaster Pennsylvania | Idrissa Simmonds, Writer and Educator | Ginnette Powell | Sydette Harry, Blackamazon, New York, NY | Susan Brison, Author, Aftermath: Violence and the Remaking of a Self | Yolanda M. Carrington, Activist, Durham, NC | Christine Barksdale, Owner – Sustainable Passion – Womencentric Erotic Boutique and Investigator, Ithaca Police Department | Taja Lindley, Colored Girls Hustle, Brooklyn, NY | Tesa Johnson Ferrell Jones, Vice-President, Metro State Student Government Assembly 2011-2012, AMSA National Gender & Sexuality and Women’s Grassroots, Regional Coordinator, 2011-2012 | Jeannette Bronson, Black Lesbians United Co-Founder | Dr. Blair LM Kelley, Associate Professor of History, North Carolina State University | subRosa art collective (Faith Wilding and Hyla Willis) | Valerie Ann, Johnson, Ph.D., Mott Distinguished Professor of Women’s Studies and Director, Africana Women’s Studies, Bennett College for Women, Greensboro NC | Megan Walker, Executive Director, London Abused Women’s Centre, London, ON Canada | Girls Education and Mentoring Services (GEMS) | Natassja Gunasena | Pat Gargaetas, Your SillySister, PGar | Mandy | Amy Walls | Tatiana Ray, San Francisco, CA | Tatiana Ray, San Francisco, CA | Makeda Martin, Vancouver, Canada| Elisa Schmelkes | Sekile Nzinga-Johnson | Kate Ferguson, Editor-in-Chief, Real Health Magazine | Rais Neza Boneza | Allison Tucker | Diane Sharif, PMP®, IBM Certified Sr Project Manager, IBM People Manager, Integrated Cross-Service Line Delivery | Sonya M. Toler – former Executive Director of the PA Governor’s Advisory Commission on African American Affairs and incest & rape survivor | An’Drea Hall, senior double-majoring in Criminology and Criminal Justice and Sociology, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale (SIUC) | Dayanara Marte, Executive Director, Casa Atabex Ache, The House of Womyn’s Power–La Casa del Poder de La Mujer| Maksim Bugro, Mora Media Management – Lighting Design, College Policy Debater for East Los Angeles College 09-11, and Cal State Fullerton 11-Present| Susanna Reid, PhD, ND, Sandoval Melim, PhD, DrPH, ND, Honolulu, HI | Jasmine Burnett and Trust Black Women | Brittney Glass | Patty Wetterling, Program Director, Sexual Violence Prevention, Minnesota Department of Health | Greer Schoeman, Capacity Building and Outreach Coordinator, SANAC Women’s Sector Secretariat | Patricia E. Gary, Detroit, MI | Kadihjia Kelly, MSE, Harbor House Domestic Ab use Programs, Community Education Coordinator & Outreach Advocate | Rejané Claasen, Toronto, ON | Carol Corgan | Andrea Barrow, New York, NY | Annika Leonard, Survivor of Sexual Assault, Daughter and Mother | Betty T | Angelita Velasco, Jackson, MI | Dr. Gloria J. Johnson, CEO, Life Source Consultants, St. Louis, Missouri| Heidi Williamson, SPARK RJ Now! | Monica Simpson | Jean Richards | Yasmin A. Sayyed, Ed.D. | Kim Dartez, Director of Family Tree Healthcare and Chair of Women of Color Committee for the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence | Shemeka Brand | Faith Bowman | Patricia Gray Chef/Caterer| Asha Family Services, Inc. Milwaukee, WI | Alkia L. Washington, VP of Finance, National Communication Association Student Club, University of Florida | Keleigh D. Felder | Dr. Yasmin A. Sayyed, Ed.D, Iwa Rere Arts, South Lake Tahoe, CA | The Audre Lorde Project | Rukshana Afia | Latoya Harrison | Kenya Lynn Murray | New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault | Victoria McWane-Creek | Deon Haywood, Women With A Vision,Inc | Phyllis Seven Harris | Aura Bogado| Aisha Josina Jean-Baptiste, MHP and Reproductive Health Educator | Sur Rodney (Sur), archivist | AT2W- S. Alexandryte | Julian Real, A Radical Profeminist | EL Putnam, artist and scholar, Boston, MA | EL Putnam, Artist & Scholar, Boston, MA | Sherri Rosen | Samanthis Q. Smalls | Rebecca G. Pontikes, Employment Lawyer, Pontikes Law LLC, Boston, Massachusetts | Amanda Davila | Shawn Powell Joseph | Adjoa Duker MD, MPH | Jessica Eden-Correll | Victoria McWane-Creek |

To endorse this letter, email us with Subject: “Add My Name” to: [email protected]

To be part of the broader conversation, learn more and to participate in our “Live Free” campaign to end sexual violence, email: Farah Tanis, Executive Director, Black Women’s Blueprint, [email protected]

Join Our Workshop: Silent No More: Supporting the Survivors and Creating Response to Rape/Sexual Assault in African American Communities. Friday, October 28, 1:30-4:30 PM – RSVP to [email protected]

Add Your Voice! Take Our Survey- Answer Anonymously-10 Questions About Rape/Sexual Assault. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/V868RZG

Give What You Can! Support the Work at The Intersections http://www.indiegogo.com/Help-Finish-The...4519&i=addr

Sign Up For Updates On Mother Tongue: Monologues In Sexual Revolution! For Black Girls & Stolen Women Taking Back Our Bodies and Our Lives – The National Black Theater of Harlem, February 24, 2012

.....

**blugiant** · 10-02-2011, 12:58 PM

Re: slut walk

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Gen</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Yuh see di video of the guy who did try rape di ooman ovah midwood or sunset park ?di one where di ooman a bawl out loud ?

Mi hope civilians ketch him and pap a shot and leggo di weapon in di gowanus canal

him gwine buck up pan di wrong smaddy one night </div></div>

yess mii saw da video. mii cyaan beeleeve natt wan sumbaddee neva ear dat ann cum to da ooman assistance. communitee tandards need fee applly

memba inn ja wan ooman bawl out rape peeps fram awl ova cum out widd dem lass. doan tink mii eva saw dat man again

serial rapist runninn loose inn brooklyn ann sum feminists gitt upset dat po po warninn oomen natt fee wear short skirts

iss itt wrang fe po po fii tell oomen natt to dress too provactivelee iff a serial rapist runninn arund?

**blugiant** · 10-02-2011, 01:13 PM

Re: slut walk

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">We are deeply concerned. As Black women and girls we find no space in SlutWalk, no space for participation and to unequivocally denounce rape and sexual assault as we have experienced it. We are perplexed by the use of the term “slut” and by any implication that this word, much like the word “Ho” or the “N” word should be re-appropriated. The way in which we are perceived and what happens to us before, during and after sexual assault crosses the boundaries of our mode of dress. Much of this is tied to our particular history. In the United States, where slavery constructed Black female sexualities, Jim Crow kidnappings, rape and lynchings, gender misrepresentations, and more recently, where the Black female immigrant struggle combine, “slut” has different associations for Black women. We do not recognize ourselves nor do we see our lived experiences reflected within SlutWalk and especially not in its brand and its label.</div></div>

intarestinn pint butt mii see manee sistas cawl addar sistas ho ann sum aff dem refer to dem friends as slut

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">As Black women, we do not have the privilege or the space to call ourselves “slut” without validating the already historically entrenched ideology and recurring messages about what and who the Black woman is. We don’t have the privilege to play on destructive representations burned in our collective minds, on our bodies and souls for generations. Although we understand the valid impetus behind the use of the word “slut” as language to frame and brand an anti-rape movement, we are gravely concerned. For us the trivialization of rape and the absence of justice are viciously intertwined with narratives of sexual surveillance, legal access and availability to our personhood. It is tied to institutionalized ideology about our bodies as sexualized objects of property, as spectacles of sexuality and deviant sexual desire. It is tied to notions about our clothed or unclothed bodies as unable to be raped whether on the auction block, in the fields or on living room television screens. The perception and wholesale acceptance of speculations about what the Black woman wants, what she needs and what she deserves has truly, long crossed the boundaries of her mode of dress.</div></div>

interestinn itt okay fe mzungu oomen fe walk rund widd tee shirts seyinn slut butt natt blakk oomen

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">We know the SlutWalk is a call to action and we have heard you. Yet we struggle with the decision to answer this call by joining with or supporting something that even in name exemplifies the ways in which mainstream women’s movements have repeatedly excluded Black women even in spaces where our participation is most critical. We are still struggling with the how, why and when and ask at what impasse should the SlutWalk have included substantial representation of Black women in the building and branding of this U.S. based movement to challenge rape culture</div></div>

oyinbo feminists tryinn fee speak fe awl oomen

realitee iss dat moas studee dat dem doo pon female sexualitee show dat mzungu oomen ar more promiscuous dan blakk oomen. mii find itt sumwat disturbinn dat itt sund like oyinbo oomen tryinn fe justifii promiscuous oomen behaviors.

mzungu oomen woo ar sluts ar viewed diffarantlee dan blakk oomen woo ar sluts. look pon wat gawn widd tiger ann awl imm sluttee mzungu oomen. mii meen mii saw wan mzungu porn star pon tv bawlinn oww tiger didd ar wrang by havinn awl dem adder slutt oomen cah shi wass hanest bout being a slut butt tiger misled ar by natt tell ar about imm addar sluts. mii cood imagine oww de media wood ave reported itt iff itt wass a mzungu man like bill maher widd awl dem blakk sluts.

wen skellee chatt bout double tandards shi partiallee rite cah iff itt wass mzungu ooman didd wat ri didd mii wood ignore itt

**Skelly** · 10-02-2011, 01:57 PM

Re: slut walk

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: blakkgiant</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

soo skellee iss yu prablem de double standards ar peeps doan respekk slutty oomen

</div></div>

maybe both...i believe everyone has the right to do whatever they want so long as they conduct themselves in a respectful manner...

and yes even a slut can conduct themselves in a respectful manner...

how?

by being safe and being discreet...

but the major thing that irks me is this societal double standard.

**blugiant** · 10-05-2011, 02:21 PM

Re: slut walk

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Skelly</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: blakkgiant</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

soo skellee iss yu prablem de double standards ar peeps doan respekk slutty oomen

</div></div>

maybe both...i believe everyone has the right to do whatever they want so long as they conduct themselves in a respectful manner...

and yes even a slut can conduct themselves in a respectful manner...

how?

by being safe and being discreet...

but the major thing that irks me is this societal double standard. </div></div>

societal double tandards iss dat men xxagarate dem number ann oomen delibaratelee count low.

still wat a argument yu mekkinn dat sluts can be respectful.

**blugiant** · 10-05-2011, 02:26 PM

Re: slut walk

**blugiant** · 10-05-2011, 02:33 PM

Re: slut walk

**blugiant** · 10-05-2011, 02:43 PM

Re: slut walk

A protester at the Slut Walk NYC march on Saturday. She - and Yoko Ono who first made this statement - are deeply mistaken. To make such an analogy displays her assumed white privilege and need for sympathy by relating her struggle as a white woman in america to that of african american, for whom this pejorative term has been used. Where then does this place the African American woman? I want to ask her what she was thinking but certainly that could not have been possible for a person with such gull. Her experience has no place being paralleled with that of any other and with this poster she has clearly deviated from the essential purpose of the walk which was to bring to light the reality of rape and sexual assault happening to anyone from all walks of life in pursuit to end the misplaced blaming of survivors instead of the perpetrators and to stop rape. I want to be as eloquent and politically correct as possible but this dumb white [censored] needs to be slapped for her oblivious blasphemy.

**blugiant** · 10-05-2011, 03:00 PM

Re: slut walk

**blugiant** · 10-05-2011, 03:12 PM

Re: slut walk

**blugiant** · 10-05-2011, 03:20 PM

Re: slut walk

mekk mii wander iff john lennon ann yoko were/is racist

<span style="font-weight: bold">Which Women Are What Now? Slutwalk NYC and Failures in Solidarity</span>

The original reference is from a song written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and performed mostly by John Lennon. At the time, Lennon and Ono justified their decision openly, using both the “my black friends said it was cool” defense as well as a more substantive critique based on ideas of “niggerization” – that [censored] can be redefined to include anyone who is oppressed.

But can you appropriate a term like [censored] if your body is not defined/terrorized/policed/brutalized/diminished by the word? Can we use it in a context that is supposed to belie gender solidarity, without explicitly being in racial solidarity?

I think not. And I am not alone.

The tension over the sign at SlutWalk NYC is the outgrowth of long term tensions in organizing. Aishah Shahidah Simmons writes:

I’ve been informed that one of the (Black) women SlutWalk NYC organizers asked the woman to take her placard down. She did. However, not before there were many photographs taken….

Now, my question is why did it take a Black woman organizer to ask her to take it down. What about ALL of the White women captured in this photograph. They didn’t find this sign offensive? Paraphrasing Sojourner Truth “Ain’t I A Woman (too!)?”
ERADICATING RACISM SHOULD NOT BE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF PEOPLE OF COLOR.

How can so many White feminists be absolutely clear about the responsibility of ALL MEN TO END heterosexual violence perpetrated against women; and yet turn a blind eye to THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO END racism.

Is Sisterhood Global? This picture says NO! very loudly and very clearly.

The fact that this quote originates from a woman of color ~ Yoko Ono, really underscores the work that we, women of color, must do with each other to educate each other about our respective herstories. This photograph also underscores the imperative need for hardcore inter-racial dialogues amongst all of us in these complicated movements to address gender-based violence in all of our non-monolithic communities.

More importantly, these types of actions chip away at solidarity – nothing kills an idea of coming together faster than the realization that even in a space which is allegedly about your concerns, you are still a marginalized other.

As Aura Blogando wrote back in May:

Regardless of the fact that a scarce amount of women of color got international airtime on the BBC for the first time since SlutWalk was conceived several months ago, its organizers never reached out to women of color as equals to begin with; instead of making sure our voices participated in its visioning, we have been painted into a colored corner inside their white room. SlutWalk’s next turn, I’m quite sure, will be our tokenization. I imagine that women of color will be coddled by white SlutWalk organizers, eager to save (white)face, into carrying their frontline banners and parroting their messages at a stage near you. I’m hoping my sisters won’t fall for it; I know that I, for one, will stay home. This is not liberation – if anything, Slutwalk is an effective exercise in white supremacy.

There is no indication that SlutWalk will even strip the word “slut” from its hateful meaning. The n-word, for example, is still used to dehumanize black folks, regardless of how many black folks use it among themselves. Just moments before BART officer James Mehserle shot Oscar Grant to death in Oakland in 2009, video footage captured officers calling Grant a “[censored] [censored] [censored].” It didn’t matter how many people claimed the n-word as theirs – it still marked the last hateful words Grant heard before a white officer violently killed him. Words are powerful – the connection between speech and thought is a strong one, and cannot be marched away to automatically give words new meaning. If I can’t trust SlutWalk’s white leadership to even reach out to women of color, how am I to trust that “reclaiming” the word will somehow benefit women? [...]

If SlutWalk has proven anything, it is that liberal white women are perfectly comfortable parading their privilege, absorbing every speck of airtime celebrating their audacity, and ignoring women of color. Despite decades of work from women of color on the margins to assert an equitable space, SlutWalk has grown into an international movement that has effectively silenced the voices of women of color and re-centered the conversation to consist of a topic by, of, and for white women only. More than 30 years ago, Gloria Anzaldúa wrote, “I write to record what others erase when I speak.” Unfortunately, SlutWalk’s leadership obliterated Anzaldúa’s voice, and the marvelous work she produced theorizing what it means to be a queer woman of color. They might do us all a favor now and stop erasing the rest of us for once.

I’ve heard quite a few stories about SlutWalk NYC, and its racial issues from women who were involved in some way or another. Sady Doyle, writing for In These Times, compellingly explains her feelings of exclusion from larger political conversations and the marginalization of issues that impact women. So I suppose that’s what makes it somewhat confusing when she ascribes this long arc of feminist history bending toward racism to the simple act of branding.

But let’s go back to the image illustrating the post above. Why this young white protestor thought this sign was a good idea, we may never know. But the idea that it’s fine to appropriate the term [censored] without critical engagement of the word and what it represents to the women who are marching with you gives me pause. Perhaps it shouldn’t. Perhaps, after all these years of internal strife around racism and feminism, we should just look at this as par for the course? As Simmons asked above, what were all the other white women thinking? Did no one else wonder what that sign meant, in that context, positioned above that body?

Did anyone even care?

slut walk

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