Semantics of the Slut Walk

By Gillian Schutte

, by SACSIS

In 2008 hundreds of South African women donned their miniskirts and protested at the taxi rank where a young girl was brutally accosted by taxi drivers and hawkers for wearing a short denim skirt. The men who accosted her allegedly stuck their fingers into her vagina and called her a "slut."

Women were outraged. The angry protestors wore mini skirts and T Shirts saying, “Pissed-Off Women.” They stormed the ranks and told the perpetrators in no uncertain terms to lay off women and girls who wore jeans and short skirts. Their message was clear. Don’t tell us what to wear and don’t think that our short skirts are an invitation either.

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