University of Oxford SlutWalk

They said what?

They said women shouldn't dress like "sluts". Rape culture, including a standard of victim blaming, says that women should avoid dressing in ways that provoke attack. The SlutWalk arose in subversion of the mentality that women invite brutality or victimization by dressing in a slutty manner and has become an incredibly successful form of protest march.

There have been many walks around the world that attempt to reinforce the idea that women should never be blamed for rape or assault because of their personal choices, including mode of dress. SlutWalks have received both praise — for creatively empowering women and destabilizing public acceptance of gender inequity — and criticism — for being tangential to the issue, inflammatory, or culturally hegemonic. At this rally in Oxford, students and inhabitants of the city were invited to dress however they wished to come support the cause, sporting signs and chants with the phrase "Whatever we wear, wherever we go, yes means yes, and no means no".