On the street… at Slutwalk

One of the many starry ideals of Slutwalk was to arrive at a place where we would not be judged, either on the street or on the witness stand, by what they wear. And yet I couldn’t help noticing. I walked for a while with Jaime Woo , and we were taken by all the screaming hair colours, the DIY protest slogan t-shirts, the amateur-prostitute costumes. These girls and women had put so much, and such varied, effort into dressing—all to prove that it doesn’t actually matter. Usually, I’m surrounded by people who slave to look effortless. This was the furthest opposite, something wild, free and incredible to see.

En route I that I hoped to see some Kathleen Hannalikes, and later, feminist journo Canice Leung told me she’d indeed seen riot-grrl-reviving slogans finger-painted on limbs. I missed them. But I did see derby girls and shirtless-in-solidarity dudes and ex-punk moms with babies in leopard-print strollers.

The parade did big things: it rallied women around their rights, including, as rape survivor Jane Doe yelled, “equality and hot consensual sex.” It shamed cops for chauvinist, institutional prejudices, and raised awareness about unreported rape and unfair trials. And, controversially, it made people say “slut” a hell of a lot—and maybe think about why they do.

Finally, for me at least, Slutwalk gave new and true meaning to “street style.” So I present a sampling of, as my best friend–punned, out-rage-ous fashions.

This woman had on a DIY tee and vintage fur and greeted me with a cheerful “hi, slut!” when I snapped her pic.

A crowd-favourite line came from Michael Kaufman, founder of the White Ribbon campaign. To wild applause, he claimed that saying a woman is asking to get raped by how she dresses is like saying a bank asked to be robbed by having all that money lying around.

This York University student wears her blue wig on bored days, and made her strapless dress from caution tape. She’s in third year, but dropping out of her womens’ studies program because she doesn’t think it’ll get her a job.

Boy on the left wore a Douglas Coupland for Roots t-shirt and took pictures of the crowd, and his adorable friends, with his dad’s20 -year-old Nikon camera. “They’re just for me,” he said—but unlike too many other male photographers, he was looking for action shots, not pretty faces.

The girl in the middle found out about Slutwalk from her high-school newspaper. “I wear jeans and a t-shirt every day,” she said. “But if I wore something like this, people would say I was a slut—even though I’m the same person. So that’s why I dressed up.”

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Tags: Slutwalk   Posted in Vogue Style