Organizers of Hawaii’s first SlutWalk, an international movement protesting so-called slut-shaming of victims of sexual violence, want to demonstrate that women should be free to express their sexuality — through clothing or behavior — without being blamed or shamed for it.
The event, which is expected to include sign waving and a march, begins at 10 a.m. today at the state Capitol. Participants are encouraged to wear whatever they want.
“The whole point of these SlutWalks across the country is to end the sexual double standard and victim-blaming that women face. Oftentimes when women are victims of harassment and assault, we get blamed for the way we dress and look, which is ludicrous,” said 22-year-old Kayla Marie, an exotic dancer and the event’s organizer. (She declined to be identified by her full name due to safety concerns.)
The movement got its start in Toronto in 2011 after a police officer told York University students that women should stop dressing like “sluts” to avoid sex assault. Like other SlutWalk events that have since been held across the country, from Los Angeles to Chicago to New York, event
organizers here want to reclaim the derogatory word and call for an end to slut-shaming, the practice of shaming or attacking women and girls for engaging in behavior judged to be promiscuous.
“The word ‘slut’ is used to really dehumanize and objectify us when we’re not doing anything wrong,” Kayla Marie said. “These are decisions that we make with our bodies. It’s a culture that paints sexualized women as not human. We’re all for ending the culture
of shame and stigma around sex and sexuality.”
She said several organizations have helped
to promote the event
including Women’s
March – Hawaii, Amnesty International Hawaii Chapter and Hawaii J20, a nonpartisan group opposed to the Trump administration.
The Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery, an organization against human trafficking, objected to an earlier direction of the event, which sought to rally support for legislation aimed at decriminalizing prostitution. Kathryn Xian, the nonprofit’s executive director, cautioned that the proposed legislation to legalize pimps and johns would remove protections for sex trafficking victims.
Xian said after she contacted event organizers and some of the groups lending their support, the event’s focus shifted to align with the national SlutWalk movement.
“Now that it’s back to its original mission,” the Pacific Alliance is supportive, she said. “Our agency has always been supportive of initiatives to call out slut-shaming and blame-the-victim scenarios with regard to rape survivors, and that’s what the original mission of SlutWalk was.”
