I’ve been asked to speak at the Calgary SlutWalk this weekend and this is my speech. I’m nervous and excited to tell this story. Let me know your comments! I will be ending my speech with Alix Olsen’s poem Warriors. I was inspired by that circulating transcript from the Boston SlutWalk but wanted to speak a lot more about rape culture than the word “slut”

My name is Juliet and I am a feminist. I have no affiliations or motivations other than that of the safety of my sisters.

We are drawn here today for probably many reasons. One of those reasons is because of the charged word: Slut. It means so many different things to so many different people, but all of us know that it’s completely full of hate. This movement is a reactionary retort to one man’s horrible comment, but the uproar persists because that word sent vibrations through every woman across the world and finally we’ve had enough.

We’re here not only to say that we will not be taken down by your words, but also that we will not sit idly by while women are still blamed for their own rapes.

We all know the facts now:

Nearly 50% of all rapes happen within the home by someone the victim knows.

We all know that men and children get raped, too - but their appearance is never up for discussion in court.

We all know that 60% of all sexual assaults are not reported to the authorities and that 15 out of 16 rapists walk free among us today for many reasons - not the least of which is because women don’t report rapes because they are afraid of what people will think of them. Of THEM.

We’ve heard stories about how 11 year old girls have been blamed for being gang raped, or rapists pleading in court that girls as young as FOUR years old initiated sexual contact and thus are responsible for their assault.

So, what do we do with this information? How do we put an end to this tragedy?

Being here today is a start, but after we leave here - we must take with us the conviction and understanding that this shit ends TODAY.

It ends because there is NOTHING you can do to make someone raping you your fault.

It ends because all name-calling and slut-shaming does (and this includes girl on girl shaming) MORE than just create a violent rape culture (as if that weren’t enough) is promote bad body image and make women feel like being sexual is wrong and somehow unsafe.

So,  those of us here reappropriating the word slut and those of us here who don’t identify with that word at all but understand why we must come together to reject it’s power - THANK YOU. Together - with every breath we take from this day forward-  we will DEMAND to live in a world where our bodies are no one else’s business. A world where we can pursue our pleasures free of shame or judgement. A world without the horrid misconception that somehow the way we walk down the street is justification enough for rape.

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