Four months ago, a Toronto police officer told a group of students that women shouldn’t dress like sluts if they want to avoid being sexually assaulted. When he uttered those words few expected them to not only be heard around the world, but for mass protests to occur.

A group of Toronto women who are sick of victim-blaming heard of the incident and decided to stage a demonstration. Word got out, the march grew, and Slutwalk was born.

Slutwalk is a modern fight against an outdated, patriarchal culture.

Slutwalk is about saying we aren’t going to allow you to victimise us any longer. If we are sexually assaulted, it’s not because of how we are dressed, what we are doing, or where we are. It is the fault of the person assaulting us. Rape is about dominance, power and privilege, not sexual attraction.

For some, Slutwalk is about reclaiming the word “slut”. Personally, I don’t believe it’s possible to reclaim something that has never had a positive meaning attached to it; the best you can hope for is to appropriate it in order to lessen the tone and reduce the associated shame. However, by including ‘slut’ in the name of the protest, they have managed two things: 1) to push back against a culture that demeans women and girls because of perceived incorrect behaviour and, 2) guarantee attention.

Unfortunately, the key aims of the protests have been lost in the despair from the media (and other detractors) over the use of the term ‘slut’. They claim that by flinging around the word as easily as we apparently do our bodies, we are teaching young women to define themselves by their sexuality.

The major fault of this argument is that society already defines women by their sexuality. There is very little that the use of a single word in this context can do to increase the existing prejudice.

Parents tell little girls they are just as capable and as awesome as boys, that they are the only ones with the right to decide what can be done to their body and by whom and, importantly, if they are sexually assaulted it is not their fault.

But when you take a look at the media, there is another message.

In the past 12 months, women who hang out with footballers were referred to as “strays”; the New York Times felt it was appropriate to tell its readers that an 11 year old girl who was gang raped by 18 men wore make up and dressed in a way that suggested she was older; reader comments in online articles about Slutwalk refer to women as objects, rather than human beings. That doesn’t reflect a society in which women are considered equal to men - it demonstrates that we are still considered public property and less than human.

Despite this, by adopting a term that is flung at us on a daily basis for no reason other than the fact that we exist, women who participate in Slutwalk are the ones who are accused of sending the wrong message to girls?

Give me a break.

If a woman is assaulted and she happens to be wearing a miniskirt, this does not lessen the guilt of the attacker, nor does it transfer any responsibility to the victim. It’s patronising to tell women we must consider how others will react if we dress in revealing or provocative clothing. It is also insulting to men, by making an assumption that they are latent rapists who will be unable to control themselves if they spy a woman revealing a little cleavage.

Women are routinely told that they must take extra care, that they shouldn’t attract unwanted attention. I think it would be virtually impossible to find a woman who hasn’t been subjected to some form of assault - whether it be leers, unwanted touching, or rape. We don’t seek it out, we don’t welcome it, but it shouldn’t stop us from being ourselves or dressing as we choose.

By stressing that women need to take additional care to ensure they aren’t in a position where they may be assaulted, once again blame and responsibility is put entirely on our shoulders. It is a form of victim blaming. Not overt, probably something that many would consider common sense, but there are limits to how much a person can do to remain safe.

Sometimes you are going to have to walk down that dark road, go into a public toilet alone or put yourself in a less than ideal situation - that shouldn’t result in indictment if you are assaulted.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t take care. Everyone, both men and women, needs to take steps to ensure personal safety. But it should not follow that a woman must additionally police her dress, behaviour and demeanour in case she attracts someone who feels they have the right to her body without her consent.

Victim blaming is about power. The power of the person doing the assaulting, of cultural norms, and of the ones doing the blaming. Slutwalk is reminding people that we are still shamed for being women.

It’s exciting to see feminism back in the streets. In Australia we have a female Premier, Prime Minister and Governor General, and this is held up as evidence that we live in a post-feminist society. We don’t. For example:

• Julia Gillard is routinely criticised for her clothing choices, marital status and lack of children.

• Other than Victoria, abortion is not completely legal in any state or territory.

• The Coalition’s proposed paternity leave scheme takes advantage of the lower wages of women.

That is not a post-feminist country.

Slutwalk embraces the sex positive aspect of modern feminism. Sex positivity rejects the notion that women cannot have the same sexual freedom as men and encourages all forms of sexual expression between consenting adults. This freedom also includes the right to not be seen as a whore just because we are overtly sexual.

Those of us who are embracing the Slutwalk are being accused of doing feminism wrong and of perpetuating patriarchal norms. Feminism is a philosophy, a political movement. Activism isn’t perfect; there is no golden path that leads to a fabled feminist utopia. If even a small number of people re-evaluate their attitude and behaviour towards victims of assault, then we’ve taken a step towards reclaiming our bodies as our own.

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You can occasionally read Mischa’s thoughts on http://flamingredphoenix.blogspot.com, or find her on twitter @mischa76, issuing death threats to her uterus. All opinions are entirely her own, except for the ones that are wrong, which are the fault of whoever is near her at the time.

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