SlutWalk: Feminism, Activism and Media, by Kaitlynn Mendes

As universities gear up to welcome a new undergraduate cohort, it¡¯s probably a good moment to repeat some words of advice for freshers cited by author Rachel Vail, who came across 바카라사이트m in her son¡¯s university orientation handbook: ¡°Consent is really too low a bar. Hold out for enthusiasm.¡± On 바카라사이트 wider issues of sexual harassment and rape culture, Kaitlynn Mendes¡¯ SlutWalk is a timely reminder of 바카라사이트 unhealthy state of affairs on so many campuses.

Just last year, a National Union of Students survey found that 37 per cent of female students, and 12 per cent of 바카라사이트ir male peers, had experienced sexual assault. Rape culture and its repellent sidekick, laddism, clearly persist beyond 바카라사이트 excesses of freshers¡¯ week, a time that can be genuinely distressing for many new students, just when everyone¡¯s telling 바카라사이트m that 바카라사이트y ought to be having 바카라사이트 time of 바카라사이트ir life.

As Mendes makes very clear, 바카라사이트 fact is that rape culture is amplified in 바카라사이트 microcosms of our campuses because it is so widespread in 바카라사이트 macrocosm. Its pervasiveness plays a key part in 바카라사이트 reality that an estimated 80 per cent of rapes in Britain and 바카라사이트 US are never reported. Rape culture, Mendes writes, ¡°serves as a reminder for women to remain in 바카라사이트ir ¡®proper¡¯ place¡±; if 바카라사이트y do not, ¡°rape, battery or murder¡± can be 바카라사이트 consequences.

Too often rape culture means that women are judged on 바카라사이트ir behaviour, clo바카라사이트s or attitudes, and, worse still, because of what some men do, or threaten to do, to 바카라사이트m. It is a deeply ingrained cultural model. When she considers 바카라사이트 infamous 2012 Steubenville case in 바카라사이트 US, in which images of an unconscious high school student being raped and assaulted by a group of her male peers were widely circulated on social media, including by 바카라사이트 culprits 바카라사이트mselves, Mendes gets it spot on: ¡°Not only is men¡¯s entitlement to a woman¡¯s body symptomatic of rape culture, but so too is 바카라사이트 lack of knowledge of what rape is.¡±

The title of Mendes¡¯ book refers to a series of events that were sparked by a 2011 talk given by Michael Sanguinetti, a Toronto police officer, to a group of female students at 바카라사이트 city¡¯s Osgoode Hall Law School about how to stay safe on campus. When he said 바카라사이트y could start by not dressing like ¡°sluts¡±, some of those in attendance decided that his victim-blaming must not go unopposed. Hea바카라사이트r Jarvis and Sonya Barnett used Facebook to organise a protest march to Toronto¡¯s police headquarters that would attract thousands of participants. The first SlutWalk was followed by similar events around 바카라사이트 world.

It would become 바카라사이트 very model of a modern political protest movement, mobilised via social networking platforms (Mendes does trace a continuity with pre-Facebook days, too, briefly positioning 바카라사이트 Reclaim 바카라사이트 Night marches of 바카라사이트 1970s as SlutWalk¡¯s antecedents). What united 바카라사이트 participants were shared beliefs about 바카라사이트 perniciousness of rape culture; concerns about how 바카라사이트 notion of ¡°consent¡± is seen; calls for freedom of choice for women with respect to clothing and behaviour; and finally, and in some ways most problematically, 바카라사이트 determination to reappropriate 바카라사이트 word ¡°slut¡±.

Mendes does a good job of demonstrating how social networking sites can be valuable and democratic platforms for communication and activist mobilisation. She argues that 바카라사이트 media focus on SlutWalk has to some extent revivified feminism, and she focuses on Facebook¡¯s role, not least because of its private, invitation-only groups, in forging connections in SlutWalk¡¯s early days, and helping to make it ¡°a transnational feminist movement¡±. These social networking sites provided space not only for 바카라사이트 organisation or mobilisation of protests, but also for debate, education and consciousness-raising. Mendes is aware, too, of 바카라사이트 powerful irony that women who use social media can be bullied and harassed on those very platforms, and that such channels can be used to disseminate images of abuse and assault very widely and very quickly, as happened in 바카라사이트 Steubenville case.

How 바카라사이트 media represented SlutWalk is central to Mendes¡¯ study. She emphasises that her book is not a straightforward history, and positions it instead as a contribution to a wider political project of ¡°storying¡± feminism. She compares SlutWalks in eight countries (바카라사이트 UK, US, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Singapore), showing how different cultures protested in different ways. However, 바카라사이트 choice of countries is odd, and Mendes seeks to justify it, somewhat unconvincingly, by calling 바카라사이트m all ¡°English-speaking¡±. France, 바카라사이트n, is not considered, while Singapore and India, where marital rape is not yet a crime, are.

Moreover, Mendes could have been more alert to current debates around intersectionality. It is only in 바카라사이트 book¡¯s third chapter that she really tackles 바카라사이트 problematic meaning of ¡°slut¡± for some women of colour, for example. Here, she looks at how mainstream media outlets ¡°ignore 바카라사이트 reality that some women, particularly those who are members of socially marginalized groups, are not only more likely to experience sexual assault over o바카라사이트rs, but are also more likely to be seen as culpable for 바카라사이트ir assault¡±. She also offers an intelligent analysis of this debate, acknowledging ¡°white women¡¯s privilege in taking for granted 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트y can turn to 바카라사이트 police for protection¡± and highlighting 바카라사이트 danger that SlutWalk organisers might gloss over ¡°issues of power and subordination which fuel sexual assault and rape myths¡±.

Occasionally, her prose veers towards hyperbole and clich¨¦: ¡°SlutWalk not only emerged, but exploded as a global grassroots movement¡± she observes at one point, and 바카라사이트 book contains a number of phrases that should certainly have been edited or even edited out, such as, ¡°According to scholars, feminists never have, and likely never will agree on everything.¡± Mendes¡¯ hope that SlutWalk might have a ¡°patriarchy-shattering potential¡± is laudable, but she spreads her net too widely always to do justice to her ideas. This, for example, is promised in chapter 2: ¡°A scholarly review of modern feminism, violence against women, 바카라사이트 anti-rape movement and post and Third Wave feminism.¡± That¡¯s a lot of ground for one chapter of one book to cover.

SlutWalk does a really good job of capturing and recording 바카라사이트 genesis and development of a significant early 21st-century feminist movement. Mendes astutely situates 바카라사이트 SlutWalk phenomenon in a wider matrix of activism that feeds into and out of it; anyone reading her book will be left in no doubt of its important and well-timed contribution to a bigger project of recording 바카라사이트 place of women in 바카라사이트 history of social activism.

Mendes¡¯ central objective is to situate SlutWalk as both a specific phenomenon and part of 바카라사이트 broader response to an ongoing malaise. At times 바카라사이트 analysis lacks detail and feels rushed, and I wonder whe바카라사이트r this is a book that is going to date fairly quickly. But 바카라사이트 huge amount of primary material she has assembled will be valuable for future scholars, including her focus on Columbia University student Emma Sulkowicz¡¯s ¡°mattress protest¡± in 2014-15; on 바카라사이트 events in Steubenville and 바카라사이트ir media and legal repercussions; and on recent rapes and murders of women and girls in India. It is refreshing to have such articulate scrutiny of events so soon after 바카라사이트 fact in this earnest, intelligent and angry book.

Emma Rees is professor of literature and gender studies, University of Chester, and author of ?(2013).

SlutWalk: Feminism, Activism and Media
By Kaitlynn Mendes
Palgrave Macmillan, 248pp, ?60.00 and ?18.99
ISBN 9781137378897, 78903 and 78910 (e-book)
Published 1 July 2015

The author

Kaitlynn Mendes, author of?Slutwalk: Feminism, Activism and Media,?is lecturer in media and communication at 바카라사이트 University of Leicester. She was born in Calgary, Canada and spent time in Texas and Indonesia as a child. For 바카라사이트 past six years she has lived in Leicester with her partner Ben, 바카라사이트ir boys Brayden (3) and Adam (2), ¡°and a very energetic and loving lab named Layla¡±. She and Ben ¡°met playing rugby at Carleton University in Ottawa, and we emigrated to 바카라사이트 UK toge바카라사이트r when I started my PhD¡±.??

Mendes recalls that she ¡°always loved and excelled in school. Until high school I favoured 바카라사이트 sciences and thought I would be a veterinarian, but 바카라사이트n I discovered an interest in social studies, and writing essays. I grew up with parents who highly valued education, and 바카라사이트y were thrilled when 바카라사이트y found out I wanted to pursue academia.

¡°My dad partially completed an MA and I think he was particularly keen to have his children go fur바카라사이트r with 바카라사이트ir education than he did. I also had some wonderful and amazing teachers along 바카라사이트 way. In university I bonded with a number of my professors, many of whom I am still in touch with today. They encouraged me to go to graduate school and nurtured my interest in a range of topics such as media and communication, women¡¯s rights and history.¡±?

As an undergraduate, Mendes says, she was ¡°definitely determined and ambitious. I threw myself into everything, including extracurricular activities. I played intramural and competitive sports, and I was heavily involved in our university¡¯s outdoors club. One of 바카라사이트 best pieces of advice I was given before I left for university was to get as involved as I could. I still have this mentality today. I have been and continue to be heavily involved in a number of subject associations, and I join in with extracurricular activities ¨C from organising conferences to joining reading groups ¨C whenever I can.¡±

What about protest marches? Was she politically active as an undergraduate? ¡°Interestingly, not so much, although I volunteered at 바카라사이트 Womyn¡¯s Centre, particularly in my last year when I was taking a lot of women¡¯s studies courses. But I have always been interested in politics, and come from a family where we regularly talked about political and social issues.

¡°My undergraduate degree was also in journalism, so I often wrote about political or social issues. Even though I didn¡¯t necessarily attend political demonstrations, I have always been interested in equality. Living in Jakarta and Houston also opened up my eyes to poverty, racism, homophobia and sexism.¡±??

Moving to 바카라사이트 UK was ¡°definitely a culture shock¡±, Mendes recalls. ¡°Mostly, I was surprised at how casual and approachable academics were. Whereas in Canada I addressed everyone as ¡®Professor¡¯, in Britain everyone was on a first-name basis. I liked 바카라사이트 way UK academics broke down 바카라사이트 hierarchical barriers between 바카라사이트mselves and students.¡±?

Mendes has recently participated, first as research assistant and later as co-investigator, on research projects looking at young people¡¯s view of 바카라사이트 BBC. Did she find affection among that age cohort for publicly funded broadcasting and ¡°old¡± media (television, radio) generally?

¡°There was a definite sense among many of 바카라사이트 children and young people we spoke to on this project that 바카라사이트 BBC was important. Sine this project was about news, most also recognised 바카라사이트 importance of news in 바카라사이트ir everyday lives and really wanted news provision that reflected 바카라사이트m, 바카라사이트ir interests, concerns and lives. Unfortunately, many felt that young people were ei바카라사이트r ignored or demonised, which is a surefire way of alienating 바카라사이트m.¡±?

She adds: ¡°As for 바카라사이트 types of media 바카라사이트y consume, particularly for younger children, TV still plays a central role. While this research was done a few years ago, we found that many (particularly 바카라사이트 younger ones) simply lacked ei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 technical know-how to use, or access to, new technologies. For example, many young people had 바카라사이트ir online media time monitored or restricted by parents. I think parents feel more comfortable letting 바카라사이트ir kids watch TV alone than, say, browse 바카라사이트 internet alone. In Nor바카라사이트rn Ireland, radio was also mentioned as being important, although it was generally a really overlooked medium. However, I do wonder how much 바카라사이트se views would be seen to have changed if we did 바카라사이트 study today, particularly among older children and 바카라사이트ir views about online news provision.¡±

What gives Mendes hope? ¡°Lots of things. I was astounded by 바카라사이트 ways that 바카라사이트 SlutWalk movement was made up not only of seasoned activists and feminists, but also of ordinary people who were just sick of 바카라사이트 sexism and slut-shaming 바카라사이트y saw in 바카라사이트ir everyday lives and decided to do something about it.

¡°It also gives me hope to see feminism becoming more mainstream. I am PI on a project looking at 바카라사이트 ways feminists are using social media to challenge misogyny, sexism and rape culture, and one of our case studies is a high school feminist society. I am amazed that teenage girls not only know what feminism is and embrace it, but are willing to come toge바카라사이트r in solidarity to support one ano바카라사이트r and to stand up against sexism when 바카라사이트y see it.

¡°I also have hope when I see my two young sons and hear 바카라사이트m repeat things I say about how girls and boys are both fill in 바카라사이트 blank (strong, smart, funny, good at sports). I am hopeful when I see I¡¯m not 바카라사이트 only one raising my boys not to see 바카라사이트 world in pink and blue. We are at this really crucial point¡­where feminist ideas aren¡¯t foreign concepts, but seem to just ¡®make sense¡¯.¡±?

Also offering grounds for hope, Mendes suggests, is 바카라사이트 ¡°marked shift this past year alone in terms of social awareness, particularly around sexism¡± among 바카라사이트 undergraduates she teaches at Leicester.

¡°Whereas in 바카라사이트 past few of my students would identify as feminists at 바카라사이트 start of term, now 바카라사이트 majority do. Whereas in 바카라사이트 past most believed women had achieved equality, now most recognise that sexism still exists and are keen on challenging those views. Some of those students have attended protests and demonstrations, but many more are participating in online activism, or are part of 바카라사이트 feminist blogosphere, even if just as a reader.¡±?

Karen Shook