Photos: SlutWalk Vancouver 2012

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      The second annual SlutWalk Vancouver had a distinctly different vibe today from the one that took place a year ago.

      The event today, which began at the Vancouver Art Gallery, was much more adamantly pro–sex worker, with signs on the steps promoting equal treatment for people who make their living in this industry.

      This message was reinforced by Vancouver resident Katrina Kollmann, who proudly painted the word "slut" across her chest.

      "I come here because one, I like to take back the word slut because I really want to support sex positivity in my community, as well as all over the world," Kollman told the Georgia Straight. "What better place to do it than the art gallery? Everyone knows where it is."

      She said that prostitution should not be hidden. Rather, she maintained that it should be legalized and moved into safe locations.

      "Keep the girls off the street; keep the boys off the street," Kollmann added. "That's the worst place for them."

      Sex worker Sue Davis told the Straight that women should be allowed to wear whatever they want without any fear of repercussions or being judged.

      "As a sex worker and notorious Vancouver slut, I’m definitely here to undermine the slut stigma," she quipped.


      Sex worker Sue Davis explains why she attended SlutWalk Vancouver 2012.

      Some women engaged in a chant to get their point across. You can see this in the video below.


      Chanting helps get the message across.

      There were about 200 people who attended SlutWalk Vancouver. Below, you'll see snapshots of some of the participants.


      Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter at twitter.com/csmithstraight.

      Comments

      17 Comments

      dysfunctional

      Jun 30, 2012 at 6:15pm

      Third Wave feminism = Slutwalk.

      Yes it's good that the third wave is supportive of sex-worker's rights (80-90% are not street workers and most choose this line of work) and advocate for decriminalization because it makes them safer. However this wave is so problematic in other ways. For one thing, you can thank them for their activism in contributing to women’s peer pressure to be slutty and promiscuous. They may be pro-sex but I don't think this extreme is "sex-positive", liberating or empowering for women in general. It's just the other end of the spectrum of their second wave anti-sex radical feminist sisters. Both waves are at odds with each other and hopefully their energies spent infighting will bring the end of feminism in North America => which has outlived its usefulness.

      2nd Nation

      Jun 30, 2012 at 6:25pm

      Local activist motto: "never let an issue go by without hooking your own agenda to it".

      so tell me......

      Jun 30, 2012 at 11:51pm

      This helps women how????????????????????

      Save Vancouver

      Jul 1, 2012 at 8:03am

      Slutty isn't the word for most those outfits. More like Scary.

      weird

      Jul 1, 2012 at 9:10am

      I dont get the pig nose,purple hair, or the neon coloured outfits? This is just another "party in the streets, act like idiots" excuse. Not buying it. Its more of a joke than a positive statement of any woman.

      Mark Fornataro

      Jul 1, 2012 at 9:43am

      @so tell me..., re: your question, it helps women by the fact that given a misogynist male cop in Ontario told an audience-with many women in it- that women shouldn't 'dress like sluts' if they don't want to be raped, women(and their enlightened male supporters) who don't want to be the target of this kind of disrespect have a right to counter it by taking it to the streets. If this cop's grossly insensitive views were to remain unchallenged it would only feed in to a violence-against-women-is-okay mentality, and given the legacy of the failure's of the police re:Robert Pickton I don't think any intelligent,compassionate person would be comfortable with that.

      srt

      Jul 1, 2012 at 4:56pm

      These women aren't really dressed like sluts. They're just dressed badly.

      hAYOKA

      Jul 1, 2012 at 5:17pm

      everyone wants to be a pimp , pimp this pimp that , pimp shows , pimp polotitians , pimp cars , pimp pimp pimp . I say slut up and take your quipment and find the right thing to do and don't tell me what to wear or that you can do violent shit to me becuase I wear it and you to fucked up to know whats the right thing , FUCK YOU pimp !!!

      CannotBeUnseen

      Jul 2, 2012 at 12:53pm

      WTF? You're trying to erase the negative connotations to the words "slut" and "whore" by glamorizing exactly that? How does that work??

      This walk might have good intentions but it does a very poor job promoting "healthier attitudes towards sexuality". In fact, it does the opposite. It only reinstates all the discriminatory baggage to these words, which you allegedly are trying to erase and free yourselves from.

      These costumes and scantly clad outfits are NOT the way to scrap these pernicious words (slut, whore, sex-worker, etc). If you want people to take you seriously, you have to act like a grown up and resolve this issue in a mannerly fashion.

      For the love of God, put on some real clothes! I doubt you'd go to a job interview in a kermit and miss piggy costume.

      Hiawatha

      Jul 2, 2012 at 2:17pm

      We won't be truly liberated till no one bats an eye at this sort of bacchanalia in the streets. Grand-vile on Saturday night, for instance.