“My short skirt is not begging for it, it does not want you to rip it off me or pull it down. My short skirt is not a legal reason for raping me although it has been before it will not hold up in the new court. My short skirt, believe it or not has nothing to do with you.” - Eve Ensler, My Short Skirt from Vagina Monologues

For those of you fortunate enough to be familiar with Vagina Monologues and the V-Day movement, the themes of empowering women, and embracing female sexuality are likely familiar to you. However for the group of York students who were told by Toronto police officer Michael Sanguinetti, “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized,| this female empowerment and positive attitude towards female sexuality is something long lost.

This comment made by officer Sanguinetti is one that has sparked SlutWalk marches across the country, including Vancouver’s that took place on Sunday, May 15 at 1pm.

Thousands of men, women, and children gathered at the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery in a protest against men who simply cannot take “No” for an answer. Upon marching down the streets of Downtown Vancouver and gaining more participants as the walk progressed, empowering speeches and stories were told by WAVAW‘s Ariana Barer and Arlana Green, Pivot‘s Darcie Bennett, BWSS‘s Angela Marie MacDougall, Ellen Woodsworth, BCCLA‘s Megan Vis-Dunbar, Youth Co.‘s Kory Doty and Lulu Gurney, Michela Fiorido, Lucia Lorenzi, and Lilliana D’Amour. Rape, sexual assault, gender and race were all issues addressed, but the underlying message within each speech was made very clear: no one is ever asking to be raped or sexually assaulted. But in a patriarchal society, this stigma imposed upon them.

Participants either dressed in warm attire for the Vancouver rain, or dressed accordingly to the belief that it does not matter what a woman wears in society. While some women dared to march in the nude, some men dressed up like women (heels and all) in an attempt to walk in our shoes. Seeing all of these victimized participants take a stand for what they believed in was inspirational; not to mention the overwhelming feeling of hope and joy for the female society when seeing support from tons of men and children carrying signs and chanting for change into mega-phones. With almost half of the crowd in attendance being men or children, and men holding signs saying “Real men take NO for an answer”, all participants helped to charge up the crowd.

Some of our favorite signs that were cheeky and clever:

“Fashion is NOT an invitation to rape me”
“Sluts like sex, not rape”
“Cleavage is not division”

The SlutWalk Vancouver brought hope and shed light to the often overlooked issues of female empowerment, and allowed women of all ages to feel accepted as they rallied for equality and peace among Vancouver. Whether the individuals in attendance had experienced rape or sexual assault first hand, or had been in a situation where male dominance had simply over-powered female perspective, change was attempted and will continue to push through in Vancouver, thanks to the SlutWalk.

Photo by: Cassie Dixon