Q: How did you hear about SlutWalk?
A: Well I actually founded it. Sonya JF Barnett and I co-founded it; 3 women joined us as organizers in Toronto. It all started in early 2011 after two officers were speaking at York University about safety. The younger cop said that women should "not dress like sluts". We thought, ok that's the last straw! We planned a rally to the Toronto police. I had no idea how big this was going to be; I expected it to be a one time thing. I remember asking Sonya "wouldn't it be cool if like 100 people showed up?" and over 3000 people did. I was holding back tears all day.
People showed up naked, topless, in PJs with a sign saying "this is what I was wearing when I was raped". people came in tutus, people just came how they wanted and while it was a heavy day, discussion sexual violence, we were still able to have a little fun. By the time we had our first SlutWalk, 10 cities were planning theirs and today over 200 cities do them.
Q: You were invited to speak at the LA SlutWalk. What did you speak about there?
A: I was on a panel discussion hosted by Lori Adelrman. I talked about SlutWalk history and the hierarchy of respectable women. This mentality leaves certain women at higher risk of being raped, depending on their class, race, etc. Matt from OITNB also spoke; being that he is a part of the typically oppressive role, he challenged others in his position to take responsibility.
Q: How'd you get the opportunity to speak?
A: Lori Adelman invited me. She actually interviewed me before for Feministing in 2011!
Q: What does SlutWalk mean to you?
A: Personally, a really complicated, messy, exciting conversation. For 4 1/2 years we received unbearable criticism. We've gotten a lot of rape and death threats to the point we questioned whether we should continue. We wondered "should we change the name? The Language?" and we decided no we'll keep it; that's what our communities here in Toronto found worked. There's a word for "slut" in almost every language and the name was a pretty early and quick decision.
We made sure to be all inclusive: all genders, people living with disabilities, and sex workers are highly involved, which is really important to us.
Q: What do you love most about SlutWalk?
A: I love the thing we never planned for. We leave room for the heavy conversations, I mean we're dealing with violence, but we're also very celebratory and we have fun with it. We feel it's needed. People have told us they feel safe at SlutWalk.
Q: What do you hope to gain from attending SlutWalk?
A: I want to bring the history to it. The first year we had to fight the media a lot and the bad coverage they gave us. They said things like this is just for a bunch of slutty women. We got slut shamed a lot. I also want people to know how many people this impacts. In Brazil there's over 20 events around SlutWalk.
Q: Anything else on your heart you wanted to share?
A: SlutWalk isn't the only way. There are many organizations and actions against forms of violence and we need all of them. All we do is built on a history of people who've done this before, even going back to indigenous women fighting colonization. this also brings these issues to a local standpoint. In Brazil it's the fighting for the sex workers and fair work conditions. In Canada its the indigenous women who go missing. In Indonesia its about inappropriate things a politician of theirs said. That is powerful how people can make this specific go their city.
Q: Do you fulfill any Canadian generalizations?
A: Haha! Well there was this list I saw online about things only in Canada and one of them was "Only in Canada you'd see an ad on homosexual rape". Then I thought "yea, I guess being Canadian is pretty cool then." I'm actually from South Africa though originally.
Q: Who's your favorite heroine?
A: Pippi Longstocking! She's just this really awkward redhead like me that goes against the grain. I love the imagery of her and the fact that all these adults are trying to tell her what to do and how to be and she's just like "no this is who I am". I also love that she wears whatever she wants!
Q: What's something most would be surprised to learn about you?
A: That I'm from South Africa. I also used to do erotic dancing and burlesque, but my daily wardrobe consist of things that cover me up a lot; so people are like "but you're 'slutty'" and I'm like "not all the time!"
Q: What's the last song you had on repeat for an hour?
A: Hm, I do listen to the radio a lot because I'm always in my car, but I'd have to say "Lean On" by Major Lazer.
It was such a blast talking with Heather. She's really inspired me and thousands of others with SlutWalk! Connect with her:
Twitter @heatjarvis
Learn more about SlutWalk:
www.slutwalktoronto.com
www.slutwalknyc.com
www.amberroseslutwalk.com
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