Passion in fashion

SlutWalk Montreal joins the international movement to turn the word“slut” into a complimentary term

SEX ­POSITIVE PRIDE: Glam Gam’s Michael McCarthy, Julie Paquet, Jessica Klein and Sarah MurphyPhoto by Sharon Davies

Thousands of women and men—over 3,600, if Facebook is to be trusted—are expected to march on Montreal’s streets on Sunday to relay the message that sexual violence is never invited by the way someone dresses, and to champion “slut,” the word and the fashion.

SlutWalk Montreal is one of many such events held around the globe since the original march in Toronto in ear­ly April. The movement was inspired by a Toronto police officer’s comment to York University students that women should avoid dressing like “sluts” to prevent rape.

“I was enraged,” says Émilie Laliberté, one the event’s organizers. “But as a sex worker, it’s not surprising.”

Laliberté, the director of sex workers’ rights group Stella, says she’s used to victims being blamed for inciting violence based on their appearance, marginalization or because they do sex work. In rape cases brought forward by sex workers, she says, it’s normal for criminal lawyers to undermine the victim’s credibility.

Stella and the Feminist Alliance in Solidarity and burlesque troupe Glam Gam Productions began organizing SlutWalk Montreal as part of their push for decriminalizing sex work, and to demand protection for sex workers, marginalized women and transgendered and queer people, whose needs for security are regularly dismissed.

“We live in a society that creates rape, and we live with a government that says we don’t have the responsibili­ty to protect sex workers,” says Laliberté. She added that sexual assault against sex workers often goes unreport­ed, as victims are afraid of criminalization themselves.

“There’s no excuse for any kind of violence, no matter what you wear,” says Julie Paquet, of Glam Gam, which took the lead in organizing the walk. Paquet argues that people can reclaim the word slut as an empowering term, which could mean a strong, confident, independent woman (or man, for that mat­ter) who makes her own choices.

Michael McCarthy, also an organizer with Glam Gam, says he calls himself and others a slut as a compliment. He referred to the book The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton, and CatherineA. Liszt, who propose that “sex is nice and pleas­ure is good for you,” and that a slut is someone who lives by those maxims (albeit responsibly), regardless of gender. Paquet says she is happy to see that teenage girls are amongst the demographics represented at SlutWalks. “People call them sluts as soon as they have boobs,” she says. She and McCarthy agreed that with pervasive sexualized, misog­ynist messages on the Internet and elsewhere, plus the lack of sex education in schools, young women need access to sexual information that doesn’t teach them to be subordinate.

Paquet strips as part of burlesque performances, and she said some people falsely assume it’s an invitation to touch her. At the same time, stripping has helped her with confidence issues, and made her comfortable with her body shape. “So many people are thankful to see confidence with body types of all kinds onstage.”

Controversy and clashing feminist discourses have been part of the SlutWalk movement, including suggestions that organizers are privileged people, and that the word “slut” is too painful to try to reclaim. “It’s started an impor­tant discourse,” Paquet says. SlutWalk Montreal organizers have invited people with various perspectives to speak at the rally, including HIV­positive and transgendered people. ■

THE MONTREAL SLUTWALK BEGINS AT PARC DE LA PAIX (ST ­LAURENT NORTH OF RENÉ ­LÉVESQUE) ON SUNDAY, MAY 29,
2 P.M. PROCEEDS FROM T­SHIRT SALES WILL BENEFIT STELLA

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