Deconstructing SlutWalk

SlutWalk San Francisco, August 6, 2011

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SlutWalk speaker: You realize that you're a little girl, you're told a number of things, right?



You're told, 'You've gotta be, you gotta look a certain way, you gotta be a certain kind of pretty.' Right? You also are told that 'This world is violent and that you need to watch your back every second.'



You're also told that 'Anything that happens to you on the streets -- you're responsible for. It's your responsibility.'



Also you're also told that 'Hey, you don't have a choice to control your body. You don't have a choice to -- if you get pregnant? Hey, that's your fault. If you get raped? Hey, that's your fault.'



Well I'm here to today to say that this shit isn't my fault! This shit...this isn't Jane Doe's fault. We need to stop the victim-blaming. We need to flip the script. We need to start rapist-shaming. OK? That's what we need on the streets.



We need, we need to be in solidarity with each other. We need to have that confidence to say, to say to people that harass us on the street, that 'Hey! You know what? Wanna try and say something to me? I've got my sisters and my brothers at my back.'



And that's what we're organizing for today. We'e gonna flip the script. But you know what? And, I'm all for, I'm really, I'm so happy to see everybody out here, the sex-positivity that we've got going on right now. But you know what? We've gotta take it further than that.



'Cause all the sex-positivity in the world is not gonna, we're not gonna be able to have the sexual lives that we really want unless we have the time to enjoy those sexual lives. Unless we have the time on our side so that we're not exploited for hours and hours a day at a job that we hate. So we're not in relationships with other people who are exploited who can't satisfy our needs.



We need a movement to actually fight to end violence, not just violence against men, but violence against the cops, violence on the cops against people in the streets. Violence that the cops do, not only against women, blaming them for their own victimization, but also blaming people like Kenneth Harding, who gets shot, executed. People like Oscar Grant who get executed, every day.



We need solidarity. All across the board. So today, I'm marching, and we're all marching for solidarity, for all people, for all working people to have control over their lives. To have control over their own sexuality, and to have control for a better life that's liberated in all aspects. So, that's what I'm marching for today. And I'm so glad to see all of you out here.

Contradiction #1:

I'm a slut / Don't call me a slut!

Contradiction #2:

Look at me / Don't you dare look at me!

Contradiction #3:

Looksism is unfair and patriarchal / See how gorgeous we are?

Contradiction #4:

Let's stop rape / Cops are the enemy

Contradiction #5:

Casual consensual sex is fun / Men are evil

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Contradiction #6:

Sexual exploitation of women is bad / Let's glorify prostitution

SlutWalk speaker: My name is Erica, I'm with ESPU, the Erotic Service Providers Union.



In building a movement against sexism, the Erotic Service Providers Union would like to do our part and stop the enforcement of the anti-prostitution laws which are at the core of the most extreme institutionalized government-sponsored exploitation of human sexuality we have today here in America.



The recent case of sexual assault of a unionized housekeeper on her job in a high-end hotel in New York by the head of one of the most powerful financial institutions on the planet is a clear example of how even in the face of physical evidence the victim is being subjected to slanderous public statements meant to discredit her by intimidating (sic) that she's a prostitute.



Locally, the San Francisco Vice Department is the same unit that investigated sexual assault on the erotic service providers, means conflicting objectives are designed to put the workers in a demoralized position to choose between salvaging our economic security against our bodily integrity.



I'm really nervous, guys. Thanks for being here.



The strength of retaliation against erotic service providers or those who are perceived to be erotic service providers can only be curtailed by stopping enforcement of prostitution laws and gaining equal protection under the law.



In 2008 we justified the local ballot measure, Proposition K, before the San Francisco voters to do just that. Though the effort didn't pass, a 41% amount of voters agreed with us.



Now in 2011 we're bringing a court action against the State of California in Federal Court, to demand that they vacate the enforcement of prostitution laws because they violate among other things our constitutional right to free speech.



We hold our expression of our sexuality to be of the most valuable asset for which we have complete access, control and respect.

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