The first “slutwalk” began in Toronto early this year by women who were angered by members of the criminal justice system continually blaming the victims of sexual attacks. Since then, these colorful protests have spread across the world.
While the slutwalks occurring in cities across Europe and the U.S. have faced critique by communities of color for being too ethnically homogenous, a group of militant Mexican feminists organized a June 12 “marcha de las putas” in Mexico City.
Mexican women have growing reason to take to the streets in protest. Recently, the mayor of Navolato, Sinaloa, proposed a ban on mini-skirts in order to tackle high teen pregnancy rates, noting his “political responsibility ... to take a look at the problems that afflict society.” Perhaps the preposterous claim implicit in this suggestion does not warrant an extensive debunking. However, it is important to note the familiar “blame the victim” mentality operating here, the same logic used by the Toronto cop whose comments triggered the original slutwalk a few months back.
We can assume that the mere presence of 5000 demonstrators who gathered in Mexico City for the slutwalk gave the mayor reason to rethink the direction of his gaze in examining the root cause of high teen pregnancy rates, which have more to do with a lack of social and economic options than clothing styles.
March organizers and participants explained that they turned out to stand in solidarity with feminists across the globe against sexual violence and victim blaming, and especially to show their support for a bill to be voted on in coming weeks by the Mexico City legislature on whether or not to categorize femicide as crime. They also demanded that survivors of rape be provided with the option of abortion or morning-after pills without exception.
Marches will continue in Mexican cities including Acapulco, Cancun, Chihuahua, Leon, Morelia, Oaxaca, Orizaba, Tijuana, and Xalapa.
Marches have also spread to cities in Central and South American countries including Argentina, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Further, there will be a highly controversial slutwalk in Delhi, India, at the end of July called the “Besharmi Morcha” or “Shameless Front.” It has been organized by a 19-year-old Indian woman who felt that Delhi, which is known for high rates of violence against women, needed a local campaign.
While the Mexican feminist organizers of “Marcha de Putas D.F.” explained that they gathered to combat a particular breed of sexism—namely, the deeply embedded culture of Mexican machismo—it should be noted that backward police and policy makers in North America regularly provide evidence of the global nature of sexism and subsequently, provide fodder for a global fightback for women’s liberation.
> The article above was written by Ona Tzinger. It first appeared in the July 2011 print edition of Socialist Action newspaper.
4 comments:
The writer of this article might do well to look up “puta” in a Spanish dictionary. It means prostitute and that is what the Mexico City “protest” was--a march to promote prostitution. That is true of all the slut walk actions across Central America, as well as the US and Europe. The writer of this article, and apparently the editors of this journal, are ignorant or indifferent to the Marxist and class approach to social phenomena. Lenin would roll over in his grave to see declassed prostitutes promoted as wage workers, let alone the vanguard of women’s emancipation. Just as offensive is that the article manages to add a colonial point of view: the Mexican slut walk was called to combat a “particular breed of sexism—namely, the deeply embedded culture of Mexican machismo”. As if Mexican misogyny was worse than the European kind! Small socialist groups cannot withstand the centrifugal energies of this kind of theoretical compromise.
The New Delhi slut walk generated outspoken opposition from Dalit activists since violent assault, rape, and being paraded naked is a widespread punishment for Dalit women in India. You can see how they would take umbrage to an action essentially mocking what for them is trauma, degradation, and oppression. In this linked article, an Indian prostitute provides a more cogent political analysis than SA and other socialist groups when she says in regard to the planned slut walk, ""We have to deal with HIV, STD, lack of basic amenities, voter ID cards, ration cards and other pressing survival problems".
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/every-day-is-slut-walk-for-us-delhi-sex-workers/163388-3.html
Mary Scully's comments are useful, despite the silly Marxist insults leveled at prostitutes. What the hell is a "declassed prostitute?" Is that some new kind of scarlet letter?
Here are three moral rules that should apply to prostitutes:
1) No woman (or man) should be forced or deceived into prostitution.
2) Those who do wish to be prostitutes to earn a living should be free to do so, subject to reasonable restrictions of decency and good taste (e.g., neighbors have a right to complain about streetwalkers).
3) Prostitutes (and all women) have a right to say no. Such NO, however, has to be reasonably unambiguous, and of course she then shouldn't expect to get paid.
The problem with Slutwalks is not just that it trivializes the real problems of prostitutes (as Scully points out), but also that it is primarily an effort to criminalize normal male behavior. That strategy is doomed to fail, nor is it an honorable one. Like women, men are people, too.
Here are two good books about prostitution: Denise Brennan wrote "What's Love Got to Do with It?: Transnational Desires and Sex Tourism in the Dominican Republic." Despite her academic feminist lingo, she is a good writer and an honest observer.
I, Dan King, am the author of the second book: "Naked in Haiti: A Sexy Morality Tale About Tourists, Prostitutes & Politicians." That one is fiction, but hey, it's a good book!
Enjoy
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