On Saturday I went to the London Slutwalk with a few Nottingham feminists.  I had such a wonderful time; it was probably the best feminist events I’ve ever been to!  The Nottingham slutwalkers held a crafternoon earlier in the week, where they made the following wonderful placards:

The Nottingham placards. Mine read: "I say YES a lot, but respect my NO!"
Fran & Stuart with their excellent placards

There were some incredibly inventive banners, signs, and costumes – some serious ones, and some silly ones:

"HOW TO PREVENT RAPE: 1. Don't rape anyone, 2. See above"
"still not brave enough to go to the police"
"don't touch my lady garden!"
"are they asking for it too?"
"rape culture can suck my left one"
image by Fran Cowling
"check out my magic anti-rape jeans!"
"this virgin/whore dichotomy is getting pretty fucking old" / "my dress is not a yes"

What amazed me the most was the diversity of people marching!  As well as young women, there were loads of men with awesome banners and costumes:

"respectful men are better in bed" / "love sex hate rape"
Ms and Mr Slut.

Elderly people:

Disabled people:

A dog in a basque (which I sadly couldn’t find a photo of! if you have a photo, let me know in the comments and I’ll link it!)

Cross-dressers:

image by Fran Cowling
"no = no"

And some ridiculous fancy-dress:

I also met the lovely people from feminist blog Bad Reputation, who had a great banner:

"my hemline =/= consent"

After a tiring 2-hour march in the sun, all 3000 of us poured into Trafalgar Square for the rally.  It was uncomfortably hot – damn you BBC weather for telling me to prepare for rain! I was melting in my black slut outfit!  But despite my discomfort, the rally was incredibly inspiring, and seeing the sheer volume of protesters gathered together was an amazing feeling.

A little while later, we were interrupted by a naked bike ride. London is amazing.

Here are some more posts about Slutwalk that are better than mine:

Political Scrapbook: The Ten Best Signs from the Slutwalk – http://bit.ly/jMO9i

Lesbilicious: Slutwalk London June 2011, An Eyewitness Account – http://www.lesbilicious.co.uk/campaigns-politics/slutwalk-london-june-2011-an-eyewitness-account/

HarpyMarx: London Slutwalk – http://harpymarx.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/london-slutwalk/

Urban 75: London Slutwalk 2011 – http://www.urban75.org/blog/london-slutwalk-2011-full-photo-report/


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