The current feminist movement called SlutWalk is a global fight against victim blaming of sexual assault and abuse. Slutwalk was initiated in Toronto, Canada, in February 2011. The movement started up in reaction to a comment made by a Toronto police officer named Michael Sanguinetti. He stated “Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.” Sonya Barnett and Heater Jarvis decided to use the word slut in their response and gathered over 3,000 at Queen’s Park in Toronto for ‘Slutwalk’.
Some rape myths usually sound along the lines of ‘Did you see how she was dressed? She was asking for it.’ or ‘Rapists look for clothing that is easy to remove quickly, they carry around scissors specifically to cut clothing off.’ Both of these statements are false. Acquaintance rape is the most common type of sexual assault and accounts for over 80% of all rape cases, and 50% of them happen on dates. (Marshalledu.com) Acquaintance rape occurs when someone you know or trust forces you to have sexual intercourse.
Under current legislation, the New York State Law affirms that convicted sex offenders are charged with 10 years of probation for any felony sexual assault and 6 years for a misdemeanor sexual assault charge. (SVfreeNYC.org). Under this rule, convicted sex offenders don’t spend a single night in jail. In fact, statistics show that 15 of 16 accused rapists walk free.
What can we do to stop this? Change the face of rape culture.
A) Stop blaming the victim and start blaming the rapist
B) Change the way we communicate with each other
C) Enforce stricter legislation on convicted sex offenders
D) Help public movements such as SlutWalk be heard on a global scale
Link to my Final Project Paper: http://www.scribd.com/doc/75294260
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