For every step backwards the government takes in protecting women’s rights, women take one step forward. For every Donald Trump, there is a Hillary Clinton. For every Brett Kavanaugh there is a Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. For every woman that gets pushed back, there is one pushing forward. On Sunday, Oct. 28 local women took several steps forward at the third annual New Paltz SlutWalk.
With their eyes on the upcoming elections, Hudson Valley feminists took to the streets and marched for an end to rape culture, including victim blaming and the shaming of sexual assault victims, as a part of the larger, transnational SlutWalk movement.
This protest was organized by a group of Hudson Valley based feminists called “SlutPaltz,” who are aiming to create proactive social change, fostering awareness, discussion and action in the community by asserting a public expression of sex positivity, body positivity, solidarity with Black Lives Matter, as well as other minority groups and people of color, freedom of gender identity and much more.
“This demonstration is organized around the radical notion that no one deserves to be raped, and that the clothes we wear are never synonymous with consent,” the press release stated.
Those participating in the demonstration were encouraged to wear whatever they wanted and carry signs that expressed solidarity with survivors while simultaneously rejecting rape culture in order to uphold the ideas of the first SlutWalk in Toronto, Canada in April of 2011.
“We at SlutPaltz have this radical belief that no one is ever ‘asking for it’,” the press release said. “Sexual assault and violence are prominent in our culture: we can’t turn on the TV or read the News without being confronted with the reality that women are not safe. We are not safe at home, school or work and the government will not help us.”
From Nov. 1-9, an installation will be held called “#METOO: Facing the Pain and Prevalence of Sexual Assault.” The kick-off gathering will be held on Nov. 1 at 11 a.m in the Student Union Building.
For updates on Slut Paltz, join their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/SlutWalkNPZ/.