Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey: Slutwalk, A New Movement!

It started in the USA and Canada, after a Toronto policeman said if women want to avoid being raped or victimized, they should not dress like sluts. The reaction was instead of telling women how to dress, the police should tell men not to rape. Now the movement has come to Europe. Thousands of "sluts" took to the streets of London on Saturday. Over 5,000 women took to the streets in London on Saturday in the latest Slutwalk, a movement which defends a woman's right to dress as she pleases without the insinuation that if someone says something or gropes her, "she was asking for it". The notion that a woman should not dress in a certain way to avoid being raped or victimized is as absurd as it is insulting, the result of hundreds of years of macho culture and male supremacy, running along the same lines as "women are too emotionally unbalanced to form an opinion and vote" and in some countries, for instance post-Saddam Iraq, a man has the right to beat his wife "if she misbehaves". The word "slut" seems to have had several meanings and interpretations over time. Its etymology comes from the Germanic Schlutt (slovenly woman), Swedish slata (idle woman). It was originally taken to mean lazy or careless, or uncared-for appearance. Hard pieces in bread arising from sloppy kneading were called "slut's pennies" in the 18th century. However, it was not restricted to women. In the 14th century, Chaucer uses the word sluttish to describe an untidy or unkempt man. Samuel Pepys (17th century) uses the word to describe a happy, bold girl: "Our little girl Susan is a most admirable slut, and pleases us mightily".