When Micheal Sanguinetti, a police officer from Toronto, advised female students at Osgoode Hall Law School to “avoid dressing like sluts” to prevent sexual assault, he didn’t know he would inspire a movement that would spread through Canada and the United States.

But it wasn’t a movement supporting him.

Instead, Sanguinetti sparked a series of “SlutWalks” across the U.S. and Canada. These protests target rape culture, specifically the idea that women should be blamed for sexual assault based on what they are wearing.

A Slut Walk will take place at Syracuse University on April 28 at 7 p.m. starting in front of Hendrick’s Chapel. The event will begin with speeches from Keturah Raymond, creator of feminist magazine Femme Noir, and Jordan McGriff, vice president of anti-sexual assault group, A Men’s Issue. The speeches will be followed by performances and the march across campus.

The decision to have a Slut Walk at Syracuse was obvious, said Tatyana Laird, a senior public relations major who’s helping to organize the event. The conversation about sexual assault and violence against women was already huge on the SU Campus, and programs like It’s On Us were already challenging rape culture on campus.

“We thought, why not have our own Slut Walk?” Laird said.

They thought the protest could be another step in this positive change.

Raymond, a freshman newspaper and online journalism and information management dual major, became involved in the event after talking to McGriff. They originally intended to only collaborate for a discussion with A Men’s Issue to promote Femme Noir. But when McGriff suggested this event, Raymond was immediately excited and they started the preparing that very day.

Raymond said they hope to change the dynamics of the campus.

Justin Alvarez, public relations chair of A Men’s Issue and a junior broadcast and digital journalism major, said the idea was first brought up by fellow A Men’s Issue member and McGriff’s brother. He had attended a “SlutWalk” in Binghamton and wanted to bring it to SU.

Alvarez said with the event, they hoped to get the men involved in the cause against violence against women — something that’s also a big objective of A Men’s Issue.

Overall, the Slut Walk is aimed at starting a conversation around the issues of sexual violence and rape culture and create a comfortable space for women around campus. Laird said the name “Slut Walk” drew people in with the shock value of its name.

Some people were confused and a little put off by the event’s name. But luckily, Raymond said some people’s reactions to this event came from the other end of the spectrum.

“Some were like, ‘It’s awesome, I want to go,’ right away,” Raymond said. “When we were tabling at Schine to promote the event, many people stopped by to ask us how they could get involved with it, and offered to help us make signs and posters to use in the event.”

But even though some found it inappropriate, Laird said the name was suitable to the nature of the event, as it was about reclaiming a word usually thrown at women as an excuse for sexual assault. And after learning the meaning behind the event, many skeptics were excited to join in and help out.

Alvarez said after they started promoting the event on their Instagram page, a lot of people reached out to them letting them know that they wanted to help out and be involved. Laird said this excitement could be related to the fact that the event is about taking back the streets.

Alvarez said the name “Slut Walk” is about reclaiming a derogatory term and changing it into a non-derogatory one. He said it is also about changing the conversation behind the term “slut” and what it means to people.

“I think it’s a dope event and a dope concept,” Alvarez said. “People should come out and help us shed light on stories that might not be receiving the attention they need to be receiving.”

Raymond said that being able to put on an event called “Slut Walk” was, in itself, already huge progress for the SU campus.

“With this event, we are saying that it doesn’t matter how I look, act or dress, as sexual violence is never the victim’s fault,” Laird added.

Published on April 26, 2016 at 10:24 pm

Contact Deniz: dsahintu@syr.edu