Why Dudes Should SlutWalk Too

Slut Walking: it’s not just for the ladies.

In response to a Toronto police constable’s advice that the best way to prevent sexual assault is to “avoid dressing like sluts,” a counterculture has sprung up around SlutWalks—a movement that seeks to debunk an old, entrenched mentality that blames victims for sex crimes.

I’m starting to think Toronto is to the 2010s what Berkeley, CA was to the ’60s. And Huffington Post reports that SlutWalks are starting to spread south to “most major US cities. Ashville, Dallas, Hartford, Boston and Rochester will host SlutWalks between now and May 7.”

Over three thousand people marched in the Toronto SlutWalk earlier in April, “some wearing jeans and a T-shirt; others in outfits more appropriate for a Victoria’s Secret fashion show: thigh-highs, lingerie, stilettos.” As they marched on Toronto police headquarters the goal, writes HuffPo, was “to shift the paradigm of mainstream rape culture, which they believe focuses on analyzing the behavior of the victim rather than that of the perpetrator.”

As SlutWalks spread across the U.S. I’d like to contend that if you’re a dude, and you disapprove of rape, you should consider joining this movement. A broad coalition of women and men, straight and gay, old and young, all banding together to send the message that sexual assault and/or abuse isn’t excused or explained by sexual attraction might actually shift the needle on the old, sexist attitudes about rape.

Furthermore, the notion that women could avoid being raped by adjusting the hems on their skirts is pretty insulting to the vast majority of men. It implies that guys are sexual beasts or overgrown toddlers who can’t restrain themselves, and reinforces the myth that sexual violence comes from normal sexual urges.

It’s almost 2012—almost time for the world’s scheduled end. We might as well try to finally weed out the sexist power imbalance that hides in every social nook and cranny before we get there. SlutWalks serve as a pretty good platform—now if we could just march on the racism behind this Birther movement we’d really be getting somewhere.