Feminism and Sluttiness

A Toronto cop who warned women that dressing like sluts can attract sexual assault was reprimanded and underwent “further training,” Chief Bill Blair said Sunday.
 

Blair called Const. Michael Sanguinetti “inexperienced,” adding the officer uttered “something stupid and he’s apologized.”
 

The constable’s comment sparked outrage, prompting more than 1,500 protesters to stage a “SlutWalk” Sunday from Queen’s Park to police headquarters on College St.
 

“I don’t think the officer meant any offence,” added Blair.

In that 1500 people on the "Slut Walk" were a lot of people who lacked something better to do, as this was not worthy of a demonstration. Constable Sanguinetti phrased what he said badly, but there is a certain element of common sense in it.

There is of course no excuse for rape no matter how someone is dressed. That said, if you dress like a slut (and so many girls at distressingly young ages do this today) people will think you are one. This is not a "Rape Me" sign, but it's not exactly doing much to promote yourself on any higher plane.
Slutty is Sexy, but Sexy is not necessarily Slutty. What should be encouraged is a bit of restraint in dress and demeanor, provided you want to be taken seriously as a person as opposed to a bit of ambulatory plumbing. This is old-ish fashioned I guess but I'm not telling women to wear floor length dresses and cowls. You should be working your curves, not so much your skin.

Back to the intent of our beleaguered Constable's statement. There is not much protection from the random attention of predators, so the condemnation from rape victims is somewhat off target. What you do have some control over is how you will look to your average drunken 20-something guy toward the end of the night. If you look like a street walker you'll likely get propositioned much like one. If this is your intent, mission accomplished.

Looking nice but not like a "slut" will if nothing else give you a shot at a higher quality of guy on any given night and avoid a fair bit of low-quality propositioning. This however is all of the difference it can make under the law of this land.

What Const Sanguinetti was trying to say was a waste of time and has just landed him in trouble. This is the responsibility of parents, and as long as your daughters live with you, you have some control over what they wear. If you keep your girl(s) from dressing like Lady Gaga or Katy Perry when they're 10 or 12 years old you are well on your way to raising a young woman who sees herself as more than a piece of meat to be flaunted to boys. Last I checked, THAT was Feminism.