This post was provoked by my brother's girlfriend's facebook. She's apparently on the executive committee for the Oklahoma City Slut Walk. I think the Slut Walk is a stupid idea, and I will explain why. WARNING: if you are not interested in a deeply intellectual exercise, do not read on. If you accuse me of being regressive, or having mala fides, or hating women, I will ignore you. I live and breathe politics. Mastery of communication is a job requirement for me. I know what I'm talking about. Engage this discussion seriously, or not at all.
The Slut Walk has the stated goal of communicating that how women dress is their choice and should have no impact on their safety, or the likelihood of being sexually assaulted. I, and I think most people, can generally agree with that. According to Wikipedia, the movement of protests got started because a Toronto PD officer basically said "if you want to reduce the risk of getting raped, don't dress like a slut". A stupid, and insensitive, comment to be sure.
However, as I stated on my facebook, protest medium IS the message. If you have a large group of angry women dressed like sluts, people will ask "why are they dressed like sluts?" when you want them asking "why are they angry?". A friend of my brother's girlfriend responded that that's where the protests signs come in. Tragically, you have already lost most people. No one really cares what your sign says when they've already formed an opinion about your cause. My proof of this is the Occupy Movement. Occupy fizzled, in large part because of the same communication failure. Occupy was supposed to communicate that there were a lot of employable people who had been screwed out of jobs by Wall Street. Fair! Totally fair. However, all people saw were dirty hippies banging on drums and living in tents. Doesn't matter what the sign says. A group of angry dirty hippies with dreadlocks and beards with clever signs does not visually communicate "large number of employable people under-employed because of corrupt plutocrats". What the Occupy gang should have done is worn suits and ties instead of clever t-shirts and wool tuques. Instead of forming drum circles and doing call and answer chants, they should have handed typed resumés to everyone that passed by. Held cleanly organized press conferences. Hell, they had thousands of sympathetic cameras aimed at them. Instead of message discipline, they gradually lost support because even the most sympathetic newspaper will have a hard time whitewashing people shitting on police cars.
Back to the Slut Walk. You want attention. Roger, got it. However, you are getting the wrong kind of attention! Rather than discussing the core issue, IE the fact that rape is wrong under any and all circumstances, you are merely engendering debate on whether or not the word Slut is redeemable. Instead of raising awareness about how young women still aren't safe on the streets in the 21st century, you're letting SoCons sidetrack the debate onto cultural morality. When it comes to politics, all publicity is not good publicity. The SlutWalk, by the simple power of it's visual impact, makes it way too easy to debate tactics instead of the issue. And when that happens, you have already lost.
Protest is not about confirming people's beliefs. It's about changing the minds of the undecided and the opposed. The problem with the Slut Walks are that the undecided, who tend to be moderate, shy away from controversy. The undecided support your base principles, but are made uncomfortable by your methods. Use the old politics rule: Soccer Moms are your target audience. Soccer Moms absolutely think their daughters should be able to walk the streets safely and freely regardless of how they dress. They also don't want their daughters dressing like sluts. This already creates cognitive dissonance, and the Slut Walks only add to it (sample thought process: "I agree with you that dressing like a slut should not result in you being raped, but I still don't like people dressed like sluts").
Political messages need to be simple, and wholly consistent. "Take Back the Night" protests get this, and are hugely effective. Large groups of women, walking together at night with candles. Powerful, beautiful imagery. Women refusing to be cowed, banding together and using light to drive back the darkness. No need for clever signs, no need to explain or convince people. It's visceral, it gets the message across. Everyone, from the most hardcore evangelical christian to your vegan married gay buddhist can support it without a hint of cognitive dissonance.
When it comes to politics, there is no overkill. Don't whisper in the shadows when you can shout from the rooftops. Don't be ten when you can be a million.
The Slut Walk has the stated goal of communicating that how women dress is their choice and should have no impact on their safety, or the likelihood of being sexually assaulted. I, and I think most people, can generally agree with that. According to Wikipedia, the movement of protests got started because a Toronto PD officer basically said "if you want to reduce the risk of getting raped, don't dress like a slut". A stupid, and insensitive, comment to be sure.
However, as I stated on my facebook, protest medium IS the message. If you have a large group of angry women dressed like sluts, people will ask "why are they dressed like sluts?" when you want them asking "why are they angry?". A friend of my brother's girlfriend responded that that's where the protests signs come in. Tragically, you have already lost most people. No one really cares what your sign says when they've already formed an opinion about your cause. My proof of this is the Occupy Movement. Occupy fizzled, in large part because of the same communication failure. Occupy was supposed to communicate that there were a lot of employable people who had been screwed out of jobs by Wall Street. Fair! Totally fair. However, all people saw were dirty hippies banging on drums and living in tents. Doesn't matter what the sign says. A group of angry dirty hippies with dreadlocks and beards with clever signs does not visually communicate "large number of employable people under-employed because of corrupt plutocrats". What the Occupy gang should have done is worn suits and ties instead of clever t-shirts and wool tuques. Instead of forming drum circles and doing call and answer chants, they should have handed typed resumés to everyone that passed by. Held cleanly organized press conferences. Hell, they had thousands of sympathetic cameras aimed at them. Instead of message discipline, they gradually lost support because even the most sympathetic newspaper will have a hard time whitewashing people shitting on police cars.
Back to the Slut Walk. You want attention. Roger, got it. However, you are getting the wrong kind of attention! Rather than discussing the core issue, IE the fact that rape is wrong under any and all circumstances, you are merely engendering debate on whether or not the word Slut is redeemable. Instead of raising awareness about how young women still aren't safe on the streets in the 21st century, you're letting SoCons sidetrack the debate onto cultural morality. When it comes to politics, all publicity is not good publicity. The SlutWalk, by the simple power of it's visual impact, makes it way too easy to debate tactics instead of the issue. And when that happens, you have already lost.
Protest is not about confirming people's beliefs. It's about changing the minds of the undecided and the opposed. The problem with the Slut Walks are that the undecided, who tend to be moderate, shy away from controversy. The undecided support your base principles, but are made uncomfortable by your methods. Use the old politics rule: Soccer Moms are your target audience. Soccer Moms absolutely think their daughters should be able to walk the streets safely and freely regardless of how they dress. They also don't want their daughters dressing like sluts. This already creates cognitive dissonance, and the Slut Walks only add to it (sample thought process: "I agree with you that dressing like a slut should not result in you being raped, but I still don't like people dressed like sluts").
Political messages need to be simple, and wholly consistent. "Take Back the Night" protests get this, and are hugely effective. Large groups of women, walking together at night with candles. Powerful, beautiful imagery. Women refusing to be cowed, banding together and using light to drive back the darkness. No need for clever signs, no need to explain or convince people. It's visceral, it gets the message across. Everyone, from the most hardcore evangelical christian to your vegan married gay buddhist can support it without a hint of cognitive dissonance.
When it comes to politics, there is no overkill. Don't whisper in the shadows when you can shout from the rooftops. Don't be ten when you can be a million.
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