Slut walks: demonizing sensible advice

In January, a Toronto police officer inadvertently stepped on a feminist landmine while conducting a crime prevention seminar at York University. What prompted it was a spate of late night attacks against women walking around on campus (which are continuing). Among the preventative measures discussed, Constable Michael Sanguinetti recommended that women not walk around alone at night ‘provocatively dressed’.

Sounds like common sense advice to avoid rape?

Not if you’re a feminist. The usual suspects promptly seized upon that comment as an attack by the police on women’s freedom. To drive the point home, a ‘slut walk’ was promptly organized in Toronto, which was then copied across various American cities, as this MSNBC article recounts.

Confusing practical advice with moral pronouncements is commonplace in the left’s knee-jerk grievance mongering ‘dialogue’.

To see why Constable Sanguinetti was not ‘blaming the victim’, lets reframe his advice in terms of a nonsexual crime. Let’s say I want to drive my Cadillac Escalade into downtown Toronto and park it late at night in Regent Park (a bad neighbourhood). I leave the doors unlocked, the windows rolled down and the keys in the ignition. I can do that. I have a right to do that. As far as I can tell, it’s even guaranteed by the constitution. And furthermore, I vigorously defend my right to do that.

But at the same time, when I report it stolen, the reporting officer has a perfect right to tell me I am an idiot. And if I ask Constable Sanguinetti about the advisability of this course of action at a community safety meeting, I expect him to tell me that it is not a very good idea. This is what the good constable did at York University in January, except the crime was rape not auto theft. But regardless of the crime under discussion, he is no more taking the side of the rapist than he is taking the side of the auto thief. (Psst..this example is adapted from one given by Camille Paglia from an article of her’s on the same subject.)

The police force would be blaming the victim only if they charged victims of sexual assault with lewd conduct - as they do in Saudi Arabia, or as the police in Canada do when they charge gun owners with unsafe storage who report their guns stolen.

All of this would be common sense if it weren’t for the fact that the left aggressively pushes a grievance agenda that is completely divorced from reality. And because their advice (‘go ahead and dress like a slut and walk around at night alone because you have a God given right to do so’) is so dangerous, it is precisely the targets of their compassion who suffer the most.

For if a young woman finds herself alone at night in an underground parking garage with a rapist, her sacred human rights will do her precious little good against the deranged pervert now confronting her. In this case, Constable Sanguinetti could help her a lot more than a community organizer would be able to. Of course, a close second best would be a snub-nosed 38 in her purse, but I suspect that the activists who are so strenuously championing her right to dress provocatively wherever she wants to would be just as adamant that she do so only while in a state of complete helplessness.

Comments

[Powell Lucas]

My first response on reading the comments by Mr. Sanguinetti is "why should we curtail the freedoms of of one group of citizens just because of the unlawful activities of a group of perverts." We already do this to children, who are kept isolated in a protective cocoon simply because of roaming pedophiles. We are turning more and more citizens into semi-prisoners, locked away from contact with their peers and the outside world simply because society doesn't want to deal with the human garbage that trolls our streets looking for innocent victims. Let's reverse the process and lock away, for long terms, the individuals who are responsible for the fear that stalks the neighbourhoods, campuses, and playgrounds of the nation. If this takes a ten-fold increase in prisons, who cares. These vermin must be swept off the streets and kept isolated from human contact. The strange part is that it tends to be women, who are most affected by these predators, who protest whenever harsh measures are proposed to clean up the problem.

[Nick]

Great post. I think you hit the nail on the head here. Wish Common sense was a lot more common.

[Alain]

You are spot on, but I have discovered that any advice or statement which does not fit the radical feminist dogma causes the radical feminists and their fellow travellers (includes a fair number of males these days) to lose all control. It is much like a person trying to deny the law of gravity, because it interferes with one's freedom.

It only requires a modicum of common sense to understand that some places and situations are not safe, and for one's own safety they are best avoided. This applies to both sexes by the way.

[Fred from BC]

Well said. Too bad no politician would ever dare repeat it in public...

[The Rat]

An Imam in Australia blamed women for rape by calling them "uncovered meat". While this officer's advice was an order of magnitude less offensive, it was till the same advice. Yes, some men will always be unable to control urges, and yes, some men may be spurred by the sight of an ankle or a thigh, still it is the responsibility of the man to control his urges. Honestly, a woman should be able to walk naked in the streets without fear of rape. I'm no feminist, but I think that officer's advice was badly worded in the least, and offensive in his use of adjectives.

[SDG]

I'm going to withdraw cash from an atm in the middle of the night in a bad neighbourhood then just wander around screaming while clutching the cash in my fist. You better feel sorry for me when I get stabbed for my cash.

[Fred from BC]

Yes, some men will always be unable to control urges, and yes, some men may be spurred by the sight of an ankle or a thigh, still it is the responsibility of the man to control his urges. Honestly, a woman should be able to walk naked in the streets without fear of rape

In Utopia, yes. Here in the real world, not so much.

I get what you're saying, but personal responsibility does cut both ways. People *should* be able to leave their keys in the ignition (or wander around in a bad area at night with a handful of cash, as someone above suggested), but they can't. People (not just women) have to take responsibility for their personal safety by taking reasonable precautions and exercising judgment where necessary.

[CleverOne]

To the males posting: Thankyou!!

I am livid pissed at the SlutWalk organization. You males are smart and logical and I really think I'm the only woman that uses my logic filter in my common sense thought processes. I am a Woman.

The title of this event is terrible. Sexual assault and rape victims deserve to be treated with the utmost respect not made fools of by supporting a group callled "SlutWalk" ..ridiculous. Please change this and treat these victims with care and RESPECT. Thanks a lot for rubbing salt into the wounds of these women who've been burned. O... yeah, I'm shocked the creators are women. Get a life and get creative. I'm sure as hell not supporting a group called SlutWalk no matter what it's for. This is serious. Change the group name and don't embarass yourselves. What the hell were you all thinking?

Abigail Jane Dalgleish, Jessica Poor, Mariam Afshar and Anna Fry: You are the dumb sluts in this situation and need to get a fucking life. Don't brainwash and hurt these precious women any more than they have been.
Women need to use thier brains and stop dressing like skanks becuase it WILL get them raped. It's the way sociopathic men behave and it would be simply common sense to send out your personal messages by your clothing, This cop, although crude, was right.

-CleverOne