Stop victim shaming

A woman should never be called a slut, be blamed for being raped or told how to dress.

If you agree with these three statements you should consider yourself a Slutwalk advocate.

Slutwalk is a global fight against slut shaming, victim blaming and rape culture and the movement has recently reached Mandurah.

Slutwalk Mandurah founder Nicole Dean said she was ‘‘fed up’’ with women being labelled.

‘‘Most women at some stage in their life have been called a slut and it is wrong — we want to change society’s views,’’ she said.

Ms Dean said she joined the Slutwalk Perth movement in March because she agreed with the group’s ideals.

‘‘The walk is to end victim blaming — if someone gets raped they are asked, ‘Why did you get a taxi home alone? How much did you drink? What were you wearing?’, instead of, ‘Are you OK?’ Women get asked, ‘What did you do to deserve it?’, and it is not right,’’ she said.

Ms Dean said the global movement began last year at a university in Toronto, Canada when a police officer was giving a speech on rape prevention.

‘‘His greatest bit of advice was, ‘Don’t dress like a slut if you don’t want to get raped’,’’ she said.

‘‘Women at the lecture took offence to this and started a march.

‘‘What they thought would be a couple of hundred people turned out to be more than 3000 and a worldwide movement.’’

Ms Dean is inviting the community to join her on her Slutwalk march on Saturday, November 24 at 11.30am at the rotunda on Mandurah eastern foreshore.

For more information visit facebook.com/SlutwalkMandurah.