Fierce debate over UK’s first Slutwalks

It is a global phenomenon that today reached Britain – hundreds of women marching through the streets to demand the right to wear whatever they want, without being blamed for inciting sexual assault.

They marched in various states of dress through Edinburgh, Cardiff and Newcastle today protesting against the idea that victims of rapes and sexual assaults carry any blame for dressing provocatively.

The Slutwalks were a response to the comments of a Canadian police officer who told students in Toronto that “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised.”

It began in January when Pc Michael Sanguinetti was addressing a group of students at a personal security class. He said:

“I’ve been told I’m not supposed to say this,” he said. “However, women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised.”

The remark was picked up locally and Toronto’s women turned to Facebook and Twitter to voice their frustrations. More and more people joined in – the first of the walks was organised, which has the motto: “Because we’ve had enough.”

Sanguinetti apologized for his comments and was later disciplined but that failed to stop over 4,000 people turning up for the first march through Toronto.

One of the founders of that walk, Sonya Barnett, said that the Toronto police had failed womankind, and that there is a culture of judging women that is wrong.

“It was evident that if you’re going to have a representative of the police force come out [and say that] then that kind of idea must be still running rampant within the force itself and that retraining really needs to happen to change that mentality,” she said.

The Slutwalks have gone global – largely thanks to social media websites. But they’ve also been criticised from various angles: from being naive about women’s safety to setting feminism back.

Posting on her website, Sonya Barnett wrote of her amazement at the global pickup:

“SlutWalk was a reaction to not one officer’s remark, but to a history that was doomed to keep repeating. Insults, degradation, shame, rape. As I’ve said before, I never thought it would resonate around the world.”