Found Feminism: “SlutWalk” Street Protests in Toronto

An FF from our Canadian cousins across the pond. Now, for reasons that escape me, I’ve long considered Canada to be a bastion of forward thinking and at the forefront of feminist thinking.

So it saddened me a little to find out that victim blaming is as rife on that side of the Atlantic as over here. Fortunately, there’s also a healthy culture of individuality and protest. Thus arose today’s Found Feminism: Toronto’s SlutWalk.

Have a look at the clip below which explains everything (well, not everything everything; the creation of the universe or where the other sock went is not covered):

I love inversions and subversions alike, which is why this linguistic reclamation project is placing “slut” alongside the word “queer” in my heart. Our very own wordsmith Hodge is probably better placed to go into the history of the word, although my wiki-fu tells me that Chaucer used it to apply to lazy men before it became an insult for sexually promiscuous women.

Now whilst I am the first person to get all mumsy and worry over scantily clad people gadding about, I will fight to defend their right to do so without being blamed if they are harrassed or assaulted. Because that is absurd and I’m not going to go into it here – let’s focus on the positive.

And the positive action.

There’s a UK-based sister group planning a SlutWalk in Birmingham (Facebook page is here) so sign up, click “like” or even get your boob tube out and go for a walk in Brum. I may well see you there!

• Found Feminism: an ongoing series of images, videos, photos, comics, posters or excerpts – anything really, which shows feminist ideas at work in the everyday world. What’s brightened your day? Share it here – send your finds to [email protected]!