Slut Walk Campaign

            Toronto’s Slutwalk is a social issues campaign designed to promote the understanding that the way women dress does not encourage or invite sexual assault.  Public relations can be used to promote or prevent change and in this specific case the public wants to establish a new understanding with local organizations to promote change in the way the police force and society view sexual assault.  Public relations uses rhetoric as a tool to change the way in which we view relationships and worldviews and therefore it can promote such change while helping define and interpret context for both the organization and its publics.
             This social issue has been a major problem in our society and the Tornot police department typified how big of a concern naming can be and how stereotypes are not an accurate way of judging someone. The way in which we name people can have major negative consequences. The name “slut” has had a negative connotation and is directed towards predominantly women who are labeled as promiscuous or dress in a less conservative way.  Naming women as sluts has become dangerous in our society. It has been normalized that a woman who has a certain reputation or dresses a certain way is seen as an object or lesser of a human being. Therefore many people believe that if a woman dresses in a reveling way or has a bad reputation she is prone to violent acts and perhaps even invites sexual assault.  On Jan. 24 a representative of the Toronto Police gave insight into the Force’s view of sexual assault by stating, “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.” 

             The issue here is that the police and society believes these stigmas and this makes it difficult for many women to report sexual assault for fear that they will be blamed and not seen as the victim.  This social issue campaign is advocating change.  Their mission is to spread the word that those who experience sexual assault are not the ones at fault, without exception.
             People are asked to gather and dress as “sluts” and walk together as allies against sexual assault. The purpose of this campaign is to make it known that slut-shaming is wrong. People should not be judged based on their sexuality and should not be a target for violence because of their openness with sexuality. The community is not pleased with the ideologies of the protective services so they decided to use public relations as a way to communicate a need for change within the police force.

In public relations, relationships are created to build order and predictability. The police are ideally seen as the protectors and heroes. How can sexual assault victims come to these protectors if they could ultimately blame the victim because of the way they were dressed? This social issues campaign test these relationships by advocating for change in the way they name and view sexual assault victims. The community not only challenges the hierarchy of the police force, but they also ask for the police force to rebuild their relationship with the community. They sated, “We want Toronto Police Services to take serious steps to regain our trust. We want to feel that we will be respected and protected should we ever need them, but more importantly be certain that those charged with our safety have a true understanding of what it is to be a survivor of sexual assault — slut or otherwise” (slutwalk).

             This campaign wants to make sure that sexual assault victims can go to these protectors without preconceived judgments.  By doing so this campaign also challenges worldviews.  Sexual assault is a tabooed subject and many people do not talk about. The Slutwalk campaign challenges our view and redefines the name “sluts”. The purpose is to change society’s idea of the way we name women and to insure that sexual assault is not welcome to anyone for any reason. This social issues campaign has successfully used rhetoric as a tool to change the way in which we view relationships and worldviews and therefore has promoted change in the way we name women while helping define and interpret the issue for both the organization and its publics.
             Great steps have been taken towards changing our worldviews. This campaign’s message has spread to many different towns, states and even countries. This is all possible because of public relations and how effective this campaign has been with their message, challenging relationships, redefining the way we name and changing worldviews. The message spread virally and led to multiple Slutwalks in Boston and London, to name a few. The message is the same. Social intervention and rhetoric are key theories used in this successful campaign. Public relations allows for the community to speak to local organizations and help redefine issues and work together with two way asymmetrical communications.