Thursday, September 15, 2016

SlutWalk Rough Draft

Jamie Porter
Stephanie Brown
ENGL 306
September 12, 2016
The Protest of the SlutWalk
            In the world today, there is a nationally recognized way of thinking that affects the entire population, especially women. This phenomenon is rape culture. Rape culture covers a broad range of ideas regarding gender and sexuality, not limited to the discussion of the action of rape in general. It is demonstrated through media and popular opinions, and continues to plague the minds of people. Rape culture causes violence, stereotypes, and danger towards all women. Many individuals are becoming aware of this troublesome mindset that is deeply engraved into the foundation of society, and are choosing to do something to stop it. One of these protests is the SlutWalk, in which thousands of men and women join together with their signs and stories to protest against rape culture. The SlutWalk attempts to bring the public to attention of what rape culture is and to put an end to it. The creators of the SlutWalk desire to end rape culture, unifying women through stories and facts displayed on posters that elicit emotional and logical responses, encouraging people to stand up against rape culture.
            The SlutWalk was created in 2011 following an ignorant comment made by Toronto’s police constable Michael Sanguinetti, when speaking to a group of students at Osgoode Hall Law School. While addressing the topic of rape, he suggested that in order for woman to not be raped they should “avoid dressing like sluts.” This comment is unfortunately common when it comes to rape cases, following a familiar trend of “victim blaming,” in which the victim is accused of causing the rape rather than it being directly the rapist’s fault. In response, Heather Jarvis and Sonya Barnett created the SlutWalk. Thousands of people came to show their support, protesting against rape culture and victim blaming. Today, there are rapidly appearing SlutWalks all over the world. Though there have been many SlutWalks taking place all over the world, the intended audience remains the same.
            The purpose of the SlutWalk is to end rape culture, and therefore end victim blaming through educating the public, while at the same time unify those who have been affected daily by rape culture. The signs and clothing – or perhaps, lack of - that is worn by the participants paint the pictures of what rape culture does, and who is affects. It is also providing a unified group of women affected, allowing those who have been raped or even have been fearful of being raped to have a group of people to identify with. They are able to know that they are not along. The creators of the SlutWalk, Jarvis and Barnett, are trying to make a serious change in society.
The audience that is targeted by the SlutWalk is everyone who has been affected by rape culture. This may include those who are affected directly, are unknowingly taking part in rape culture, or who promote it. The largest drive behind the SlutWalk is to educate people to the situation. Many people participate in rape culture without understanding what they are doing is wrong. This includes the Toronto police constable Sanguinetti, who believe are helping the situation while only adding to it. It also presents the dangers of rape culture to those who continue to take part in it even knowing all that it includes. The messages displayed on the signs speak directly to these people who stubbornly refuse to change their ways. The final audience of the SlutWalk is the women who have been affected by rape culture. The SlutWalk has the effect of unifying these women in their shared experiences, reminding them that they are not alone. An identity of women who have been affected by rape culture is created through the SlutWalk.
Rape can happen to everyone, regardless of gender. However, there is a higher probability that a woman will be raped compared to a man. Because of this, the SlutWalk joins together an identity of women as a whole. For a woman, there is almost always the chance that someone might assault them, whether it be by a stranger or by someone they know. 1 in 4 college women will be raped – which is a truly terrifying statistic. Even those who have not been affected directly are still plagued by the mere knowledge that something similar to that could happen to them. This troubling mindset causes women to be unified as a whole, and this group of people targeted by the SlutWalk.
In order to strive towards its purpose of ending rape culture, the SlutWalk uses all three rhetorical strategies. One of the strongest used strategies is pathos, in which protestors rely of emotional persuasion. With a subject such as rape, it is not surprising that people would have a very emotional response to it. Protestors elicit emotional responses through the signs they hold and the clothing that they wear. Many women chose to participate in the SlutWalk nearly naked, some appearing in lingerie or shirtless. People have emotional reactions to this type of appearance, and even more so when reading the signs in which they hold that explain their choices. Many hold signs reading: “Still not asking for it.” This is in reference to victim blaming, in which many people suppose that the reason women are raped is because of the revealing outfits they wore. Another way in which protestors appeal to emotions is through the stories that they share through the signs. Many woman participating in the SlutWalk have been through sexual assaults. They share these experiences with the world in way of signs, showing their first hand experience. Seeing these stories can cause people to have emotional responses to the SlutWalk in general, desiring to have a change in society once they see the ridiculousness of all of it.  Logos is also used throughout the SlutWalk strengthen the protest. All of the signs that they are holding scream about the ridiculousness of rape culture, and pointing out the fallacies present in the rape culture mindset. The stories that are told and the language used begs the obvious question of why has nothing been done to change this yet? The SlutWalk is in large part meant to educate people. The public is educated extremely logically, through the stories that are told and the key points made throughout the walk. Ethos is also used throughout the SlutWalk. A large portion of the women present during the SlutWalk has been raped, or has known someone that was raped. Their individual story gives them authority when talking about such things as rape, rape culture, and sexual abuse. These very powerful rhetorical strategies allow the SlutWalk to be extremely successful.
The SlutWalk is an extremely influential movement, working to educate society on the dangers of rape culture and strive to end it. With every SlutWalk that appears across the world, thousands of men and women are able to join together to protest sexual abuse. Women as a group are unified through this protest movement, joined by the identity that the SlutWalk creates
As of today, this protest has been successful, though not necessary in the best way possible. More people are becoming aware of rape culture in society and about victim blaming, but it has not spurred a massive change yet. However, SlutWalks continue to grow in popularity, which demonstrates peoples increasing understanding of rape culture.









Works Cited
"SlutWalk." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SlutWalk>.

Stampler, Laura. "SlutWalks Sweep The Nation." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com,    n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2016. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/20/slutwalk-united-states-           city_n_851725.html>.

"The History." The Amber Rose SlutWalk. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2016. <http://amberroseslutwalk.com/the-history/>.


4 comments:

  1. Awesome and interesting choice in topic! Your introductory paragraph really sets up what the slut walk is intending to achieve, and is perfectly followed by the context of what the slutwalk actually is. Purpose and audience are clearly identified and discussed in a structured way, which I think is needed for the overall success of this paper. I really enjoyed how you discussed how the protestors address the fallacies used in rape culture, and I really think that could potentially be made into it’s own section. What are the logical fallacies presented within rape culture that the slutwalk attempts at debunking? This could add some bulk to your discussion, and some power to your argument in saying that the slutwalk has been very successful. How is slutwalk successful? Has there been any legislative changes? I think it’s important to point out that many people now know about slut walk (Amber Rose has her own now!), and in that sense they have been successful, but rape culture still exists (the Brock Turner case). Addressing these things maybe not seem to make your argument stronger, but it will because you are addressing the questions the reader may have if they are already informed of this topic. I think addressing how the slutwalk has been successful, and discussing how the movement still has a long way to go will really add some power to your paper. The organization of this paper is very strong, and your view is strong as well. I think just addressing the possible questions of the reader in the concluding couple paragraphs would really strengthen your argument. I really enjoyed reading this, especially since it’s something I’m interested in as well! Awesome work!

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  2. I do not mean to be rude or anything and I know she told us not to worry about it but there were so many grammatical errors it made it hard to read. You do speak a lot on who it is affected by rape culture and who is standing up but I would also like to hear more of the other side. I want to know who or what the other side is using that might be hindering the slutwalk. I feel like you gave a decent amount of context. You mentioned the most likely time it started, what their goals are and how they are fighting for those goals. I don’t think you respect the “male” much. Just because it mostly happens to women you seemed to ignore the men almost completely. I do not know enough about slut walk to know what progress there is. You say there is some, maybe you can go in deeper with more information on some of the victories or accomplishments there is said to be seen. I think you grasp the ideas between logos, ethos and pathos. Of course you use the word “signs” in their descriptions. If the signs are this important maybe you could choose some more titles of these signs in your paper to get a better idea of what they are using to express themselves. The only one you mentioned may not be the best because not everyone may even know what that one means. “Still not asking for it.” I got some basic information from this but I do not know if much of it was already basic knowledge. Maybe if possible more information the average person did not know that would make your argument stronger, perhaps some statistics. Instead of just saying they were raped, you could inform us how often or how many have been raped. Finally, for revision, when you are talking about ethos, logos and pathos you may want to break that paragraph up into maybe three parts.

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  3. Jamie:
    Firstly, I liked how concise you were with defining rape culture: it was informative and detailed, but not redundant. The last second of your first paragraph seemed to be your thesis in which you explained the author’s purpose and exactly what rhetorical strategies used. I see that you have spent a large chunk of your paper on identifying the audience; the second half of the third paragraph and the fourth paragraph could be merged together into a more concise statement on the intended and the non-intended audience. I was also a bit confused on this statement, “They are able to know that they are not along” in the third paragraph. The paragraph that starts with “Rape can happen to everyone, regardless of gender” seems a bit out of place – it has great statistics so maybe a better location for this, could be with your logos analysis. I think that your topic sentences and ending sentences are complementary of one another (so that is great!); however, the paragraphs themselves could be cut into multiple chunks. For example, the paragraph on the rhetorical strategies is lengthy – perhaps pathos could be its own paragraph and you could to even greater detail on this. For your ethos argument, I would consider adding a more emotional element to the author’s legitimacy - talking about the significance of women being victims of rape themselves, healing from the emotional wounds by standing up for change, and leading for progress in society’s view of rape culture. You say that “the SlutWalk is an extremely influential movement” but that is a very broad claim. How exactly? To what extent? I think that your conclusion could be a bit stronger! Reiterate on the author’s purpose and perhaps on the extent of success and impact that SlutWalks have had on rape culture. All in all, great work and nice analysis on the rhetoric of protest! It was pleasure reading your paper!

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  4. Revision plan:
    • Add citations and more concrete examples/evidence about the SlutWalk to support my claims.
    o Statistics
    o Examples of the signs
    o Description of costumes
    • Make the general statements more specific.
    • In the conclusion, restate the purpose of the SlutWalk and the impact that it has.
    • Make ethos, pathos, and logos their own paragraphs.
    • Add a better definition of rape culture in general.

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