Yolandi Groenewald 19 Aug When Toronto policeman Michael Sanguinetti offered advice to students on how to avoid sexual assault he could not have imagined that he would spark an international movement that is about to manifest itself in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
His throwaway comment inspired Slutwalk, a protest movement against linking rape to what women wear. This weekend Capetonians will take to the streets in a version of Slutwalk and on September 24 Johannesburg will host a similar event at Zoo Lake. It is a pertinent issue in South Africa.
In taxi drivers stripped and assaulted a women at the Noord Street taxi rank in Johannesburg because she was wearing a miniskirt, while in the Eastern Cape there have been reports of women targeted in taxis because they wear pants instead of long skirts. Two friends, Heather Jarvis and Sonya Barnett, initiated the movement in Canada, to display their outrage about the attitude of police to what women wear.
In some of the demonstrations that have followed protesters have gone bare-breasted. Six months later hundreds of similar marches have been held around the world, including in Mexico City, London, Orlando, Delhi and Melbourne.
Commentators describe Slutwalk as the most successful feminist protest action in 20 years. Mbuyiselo Botha, of the Sonke Gender Justice Organisation, said that the campaign aimed to give a voice to the voiceless. Though Slutwalk is an important statement it is part of a range of campaigns intended to change South African attitudes to sexual violence, he said. But the protests have hit opposition as well. Just that it was more likely to happen.
