Subject: [SocialistWorker.org] An angry SlutWalk in Detroit
-----
View original article here:
http://socialistworker.org/2012/06/20/an-angry-slutwalk-in-detroit
Report: Marie Buck
======== AN ANGRY SLUTWALK IN DETROIT ========================================
Marie Buck reports on the recent SlutWalk protest in Detroit--and the larger
fight for reproductive rights in the state of Michigan.
June 20, 2012
SOME 200 people marched through downtown Detroit as part of a SlutWalk
demonstration on June 16.
SlutWalk began in Toronto in 2011, after a police officer suggested that
women were inviting rape by dressing like "sluts." The marches, which quickly
spread to cities across the globe, protest victim-blaming and sexual
violence.
In Detroit, the march happened on the heels of the introduction of an
anti-choice bill in the Michigan legislature. The bill, which has passed the
House, would "enact mandatory 'coercion screenings' for all women in need of
safe abortion care, prohibit tele-med abortion, and enforce several new
costly and restrictive...regulations on both abortion providers and clinics,"
explained Angi Becker Stevens of RH Reality Check [1]. In practice, the bill
would likely force the closure of many of Michigan's abortion clinics.
During debates in the House, Republican Speaker Jase Bolger went a step
further and blocked Democratic Rep. Lisa Brown from addressing the
legislature after she concluded a speech against the bill with the words:
"I'm flattered that you're all so interested in my vagina, but no means no."
Many people responded angrily to the idea that the legislature would ban
someone for using the word "vagina," which is a correct medical term, in a
discussion on a bill about reproductive issues. That prompted Bolton's press
secretary to send a defensive email to press contacts stating that Brown and
another representative, Democrat Barb Byrum, were silenced not for using the
word "vagina," but for throwing "temper tantrums"--a claim dripping with
sexist condescension.
SlutWalkers in Detroit were outraged and energized by the events in Lansing.
The march began with speeches by survivors of rape and domestic abuse, and
then marchers--some clad in jeans and T-shirts, others in hot pants, bikini
tops or other clothing--proceeded through downtown Detroit, chanting "A dress
is not a yes!" and "Labia, vagina, lips and clits--keep your laws off our
bits!" Other chants referenced the scandal in the legislature: "Can't say
it--don't legislate it!"--or, more simply, "Vagina!"
At the end of the march, participants gathered in Grand Circus Park,
chatting, exchanging personal stories and occasionally yelling "Vagina!" at
baseball fans passing by.
Protester Chrissy Toppin said this was her first protest. SlutWalk, she said,
"struck a nerve" with people. Another protester, Fields Donegan, pointed out
the stigma attached to rape. "Look at what this stemmed from," said Ashley
Waterman, citing the institutional nature of the stigma, "it was a police
officer."
On the Monday following the SlutWalk, Rep. Brown staged a performance of /The
Vagina Monologues/ with the play's author Eve Ensler on the state Capitol
steps. The event, titled "Vaginas Take Back the Capitol!" attracted an
estimated 5,000 people.
The blatant sexism of Brown's silencing served as the catalyst for the event
at the Capitol. But Michigan women's enthusiastic turnout to both the Capitol
event and SlutWalk Detroit shows that women are fighting back in a war that
politicians are waging against them.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Published by the International Socialist Organization. Material on this Web
site is licensed by SocialistWorker.org, under a Creative Commons (by-nc-nd
3.0) license, except for articles that are republished with permission.
Readers are welcome to share and use material belonging to this site for
non-commercial purposes, as long as they are attributed to the author and
SocialistWorker.org.
[1] http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/06/14/michigan-house-continues-to-consider-portions-anti-abortion-super-bill
