‘My Dress is Not a Yes’: Subversion and the Slutwalk Message

Abstract

This article explores the debate surrounding the SlutWalk events in the United Kingdom between April and July 2011 by reviewing relevant newspaper articles, blogs and websites. Additional material and insight was drawn from an ongoing three-year ethnographic research study in a feminist voluntary organisation which supports women who have experienced sexual violence, where dialogue about SlutWalk with staff and service users (emotionally and practically connected to the debate) was recorded. The troubling of SlutWalk, a particular political action of third-wave feminism with an ambiguous relationship with earlier forms, is considered in relation to feminist and wider debates. Accepting a position of ambivalence reflects a more personal engagement with these debates, which acknowledges the author's own theoretical transformation and praxis. The development of a more fluid theoretical toolkit allows for critical examination of ambiguities and complexities, whilst retaining a political praxis in which inequality is articulated. SlutWalk provides a context in which these ambivalences can be explored. This article therefore critically reflects on post-feminist developments, identifying differences and continuities with more traditional feminist debates, to highlight the complexity of this worldwide collective public action.