I've been a supporter and follower of the SlutWalks from the get-go, and I am honestly really excited about the changes that some of the cities have gone through. It's no secret that the term "slut" being in the name doesn't sit well with everyone, and that there have been some very valid criticisms of the name by black feminists. In fact, some cities started off organizing with different names to stand in solidarity with the spirit of SlutWalk while not under the 'slut' label, such as ConsentFest, Solidarity Walk, SafeWalk: A Walk of No Shame, and Walk For Respect, to name just a few.
Two cities that have previously organized under the SlutWalk label are Boston and Chicago. In 2012 the Boston organizers changed their name to Boston Feminists for Liberation, and just this year some of the Chicago SlutWalk organizers have started a group called FURIE - Feminist Uprising to Resist Inequality and Exploitation.
I love it. I love it I love it I love it.
As much as I was excited for SlutWalks when they first started because of the new conversations they were inspiring about victim-blaming and misogyny, I am so ready for and stoked about these new phases. I love the radical brazenness of them. I love how they simultaneously speak to some of the specific concerns women of colour have had about the word 'slut', but also give a big middle-finger to the misogynists who troll SlutWalk pages.
I would be over the moon if all the towns and cities that are organizing currently under the SlutWalk label changed their names to radical (in the badass-sense, not in the SWERFy or TERFy sense) feminist ass-kickers. Not because I don't support those who ID as sluts, or who have been called misogynistic slurs, or victim-blamed because of their sexual histories or attire, or for the respectability politics of playing nice. But simply because SlutWalk was never intended to be a worldwide movement and so it wasn't created with longevity in mind.
There is a new way forward, and I think the Boston Feminists for Liberation and FURIE are that way.
Two cities that have previously organized under the SlutWalk label are Boston and Chicago. In 2012 the Boston organizers changed their name to Boston Feminists for Liberation, and just this year some of the Chicago SlutWalk organizers have started a group called FURIE - Feminist Uprising to Resist Inequality and Exploitation.
I love it. I love it I love it I love it.
As much as I was excited for SlutWalks when they first started because of the new conversations they were inspiring about victim-blaming and misogyny, I am so ready for and stoked about these new phases. I love the radical brazenness of them. I love how they simultaneously speak to some of the specific concerns women of colour have had about the word 'slut', but also give a big middle-finger to the misogynists who troll SlutWalk pages.
Not gonna lie - the name SlutWalk will always have
a special place in my heart for its fuck-you attitude.
I would be over the moon if all the towns and cities that are organizing currently under the SlutWalk label changed their names to radical (in the badass-sense, not in the SWERFy or TERFy sense) feminist ass-kickers. Not because I don't support those who ID as sluts, or who have been called misogynistic slurs, or victim-blamed because of their sexual histories or attire, or for the respectability politics of playing nice. But simply because SlutWalk was never intended to be a worldwide movement and so it wasn't created with longevity in mind.
There is a new way forward, and I think the Boston Feminists for Liberation and FURIE are that way.
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