That makes more sense now.

_49K6655-Edit, a photo by wanderingval on Flickr.

Okay, the fact that it was in response to specific comments from a stupid officer makes more sense. I can't believe that there would be such surprise that so many stupid cops exist. There are some great police officers to be sure but plenty of idiots. The officer at my college who gave a safety lecture back in Boston told the women there that if they are being raped they shouldn't try and fight it because they could get more hurt they should "just lay back and try to enjoy it." WTF?! So I have a better grasp of what the Slutwalk was trying to do but I don't think it really hit the mark.

Boy Slut meets Clothing optional on Slut Walk, Toronto © Linda Dawn Hammond / IndyFoto.com '11
The Slut Walk protest march was held in Toronto on April 3rd, 2011 in response to offensive remarks made by a Toronto police officer during a safety forum at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School this past January. Constable Michael Sanguinetti allegedly told the meeting that “...“I’ve been told I’m not supposed to say this, however, women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.” (as victims of sexual assault). It was yet another example of blaming the victim for their behaviour rather than that of the perpetrator.

Walk co-founders Heather Jarvis and Sonya JF Barnett addressed the crowd at the start of the march. Barnett explained the provocative decision to incorporate and thus re-appropriate the word "Slut "', which she conceded "... is a strong word with a strong meaning. If we had not used it many less of you would be here today... " The "Slut Walk" dress code did not require participants to necessarily 'dress like a slut', the point being made that to be targetted for rape does not require any particular outfit, let alone a provocative one, on the part of the victim. Nor should wearing clothes designed to attract be considered an invitation to assault. or absolve an attacker of responsibility for their actions.

Hundreds of protesters and supporters, male, female and other, walked from Queen's park to the Toronto Police Headquarters on College Street. Speeches were held at police station by Deb Singh of the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre, Michael Kaufman of the White Ribbon Campaign, Alyssa Teekah, SWTO York Liaison, and Jane Doe, the activist and author who successfully sued the Toronto Police in July, 1998, for failing to warn her about a serial attacker, known as the Balcony rapist, who was operating in her neighbourhood. "Doe" is still under a publication ban and could not be documented.

See the following sites and articles for further information.

SLUTWALK Toronto website
www.slutwalktoronto.com/

Slutwalk Poster

Slutwalk Toronto 055, a photo by JiBs. on Flickr.

If somebody wants to dress like a slut are they feeling like they can't do that because they'll be judged or that it is currently an invitation to sexual advances? Neither of those things are going to change. Nor would many women who dress that way even want them to change.

Slutwalk?

Slutwalk Toronto 043, a photo by JiBs. on Flickr.

You know. I'm not sure I totally get the Slutwalk thing. I realize they're standing up for a woman's right to express herself and wear what they want and not have it be sexualized and make the idea of being a woman who has and enjoys lots of sex a positive thing. I'm for that, but something about it still just doesn't make sense to me. If slut is going to be a positive term don't we still need a word for people who go beyond the bounds of healthy and will literally have sex with anybody? It's hard to remove the idea from outfits that seek to enhance one's sexuality from sexual desire. Nobody is contending that a woman dressing provocatively is an invitation so what exactly are the women marching to draw attention to?

Jury Duty Day 2

It was an interminably long, long time spent watching Ball & Hymen and the defense lawyer voire dire the jury and I had a good story ready that would have biased me and had me dismissed me right off the case.  I never got called into "the box" as they call it, so I never had to use it.  I wish I'd been called right away.  It would have saved me from having to be there the entire time. 

They finally found a jury and I'm not on it.  Thank goodness for that.  Some of the people who are on the jury were rambling idiots and I'd have killed one of them by forcing my sneaker down their throat.  Then I'd be right back in court on trial for murder.

I twittered like a mother fucker during the entire proceeding which is not permitted.  It helped to keep me sane by having conversations with fellow twits.

 

Jury Duty Day 1

I was told "Do not to blog, twitter, face update or tweet about this by the judge.  Myspace is probably okay since nobody reads those anymore, anyway.  It's probably a good place to store secret information.  

So, I went in for Jury Duty.  They sent me the little warning thing in the mail and I figured, what the hell, I believe in the Justice System kinda. It's better than most and a few million people died in part so it could exist so the least I could do was be on a jury.  Plus I could use a short break from Monkey Wrangling.  So I biked down to the courthouse.  It feels very unofficial to ride a bike to court.  I even carried my bike helmet into the courtroom because I didn't want some asshole to steal it or the lights on it.  Yes, I'm a dork with lights on my helmet.  I'll be a living dork so fuck yourself in your facehole if you can't deal.  Sorry, I seem to be a bit self-conscious of my bike helmet fashion mis-statement.

Where was I?  Okay, I go in and wait in the stew room for a while.  They finally send us up to the courtroom and they start to pick random names to sit in the 18 seats from which they voire dire the prospective jurors.  We find out it's going to be a long 3 week case but a rather interesting one.  The plaintiff is a male who is suing his supervisor who is female.  He alleges that she sexually harassed him and that it caused him to suffer emotional grief and stress and he wants to be compensated.  It amused me that the two lawyers for the plaintiff have the last names of Ball and Hymen.  Ball and Hymen contend that their client was sexually harassed.  Or maybe I'm just an adult with the mentality of a 7 year old. 

I go back tomorrow.  I don't think I'll be picked but the lawyers may toss out a few people and I'll get stuck as an alternate or something lousy.  It's interesting but not 3 weeks of my life interesting.  My students might learn something while I'm gone.  I almost wanted to be called so that when they asked me for my background information and family info I could say to the court that I had 20 kids all ages 6 and 7 and each from a different mother.  If they do select me I'm sure I can say something to warrant getting tossed off the jury.  I actually think that it would be really hard to prove sexual harassment from a woman without lots of witnesses.  It's possible, but not likely. 

I'll ramble more tomorrow.