More than a hundred people gathered around the Human Rights Monument on Elgin Street on Sept. 9 for Ottawa’s seventh annual SlutWalk.
The SlutWalk began in Toronto on April 3, 2011, after const. Michael Sanguinetti of the Toronto Police Service suggested that women should avoid “dressing like sluts” as a precaution against sexual assault. He later apologized for his comments.
As a response, rallies now take place worldwide to “end victim blaming and rape culture,” according to the Ottawa SlutWalk Facebook page. “We’re here to challenge current discourses and current events alike, to remove the fine print about safety and sexual assault.”
Sunday’s walk began with speeches given by a diverse group of women, including Black, queer, Latina, and Indigenous women at the monument.
The speakers focused on their personal experiences with sexual assault, and a couple of speakers touched on the word “slut,” what that term meant to them in the past, and what it means now. The topic of clothing and clothing regulations was a constant theme among by the speakers.
The march in downtown Ottawa followed shortly after the speeches. This year’s SlutWalk was organized by the non-profit organization, the Purple Sisters Youth Advisory. The Purple Sisters Youth Advisory strive to increase awareness of young women’s issues in the community.
This year, the SlutWalk focused on inclusivity of all groups and on intersectionality.
Athourina David, a key organizer, said the Purple Sisters aims to “empower young women regardless of class, race, age, sexual orientation and gender identity, physical and mental ability.”
Munea Wadud, a Carleton University graduate and co-organizer for the event, said Purple Sisters has been trying to be more inclusive.
“Last year the person who ran the march was a trans person, and this year we have a team of mostly people of colour,” she said. “We are trying to include a narrative for people who haven’t been included in the beginning, and that is what our goal was for this event.”
Wadud took the mic before the march began to explain to the crowd why intersectionality is important to discuss at events like the SlutWalk.
“Historically the SlutWalk has been a very white movement, and for me as someone racialized, as someone queer, as someone fat, it’s important to include people like me in these types of events.”
Wadud explains that as someone with an intersectional identity, she should be allowed and welcomed to speak about her experiences, especially as a woman of colour because their narratives have a history of being excluded from the conversation of sexual violence.
The walk also focuses on how the lack of clothing worn by a woman doesn’t equal consent.
Wadud said that this year, it is time to acknowledge that “it is not only what you don’t wear, but what you wear.”
She explained that women who are fully covered or who wear hijabs, niqabs, and other religious headgear, are often subjected to assault as well.
“Yes,” Wadud said. “It is 2018 and we are still protesting this shit,” Wadud said.
Fatma A, a second-year criminology student at Carleton said the Slutwalk is important to her.
“As a university student, especially with Frosh, this topic needs to be brought up because [students] drink and consent still gets confused.”
Ren Iwamoto, a fourth-year English and creative writing student at Carleton, attended the event because of her anger towards the a recent Ontario court ruling that allows people accused of sexual assault to use excessive intoxication as a defence against criminal charges.
Iwamoto said it is especially necessary now to “fight against isolation.”
She said the SlutWalk holds significance to survivors of assault because “sexual assault survivors often feel alone, and this event expresses there is a community of support that you can build for yourself and reach out to others who can have compassion for what you’ve been through.”
