Slut Walk Morelia 2011

Yesterday, (June 26th, 2011) Morelia was witness to the first ever "Marcha de las Putas" or "Slut Walk" organized by three locals, Cris Mendoza, Laura Sainz and Erika Torreblanca. La Marcha de las Putas has a special meaning for Mexican women who have historically been targeted on the streets by men as they walk by. Cat calls, profanities, the well known "piropo" is the day-to-day backdrop for many women in Mexico.

Looking back over the ten years I have lived here, I have changed the way I dress to avoid this on the street sexual harrasment. I remember the first time a man groped me it was on the street in Mexico City. I was walking towards the metro, looking for my ticket in my purse, when I felt an odd pressure on my left butt cheek. I continued to walk after I had felt this, but stopped as soon as it registered in my brain that someone had grabbed me. I stopped and looked up. I turned and saw the most normal looking man standing a half block away from me, smiling and winking. That normal looking man became the most vile, disgusting creature right before my eyes.  I was enraged! In what mind, in what kind of human being, did the idea of grabbing another person in a sexual manner without their consent become something acceptable?  I considered chasing after him. I thought "Who the HELL does he think he is, grabbing me like that?" But as I saw him turn and walk away I reconsidered, fuming that I been distracted, let my guard down and promised myself to be more aware of my surroundings. 

The Slut Walk is a grass roots movement to call out these offenders and the authorities who place the responsibility on women for being victims of these types of crimes and other sexual assault. And it is a call to society so that women don't have to do what I did back in Mexico City; walk away admonising themselves for not being "on guard". It is a call for women to be safe in their own cities, towns, cities and homes.  

At the Marcha de las Putas we yelled "alerta, alerta, que camina, la marcha de las putas, por America Latina" and so we did, we marched because if one woman or girl is signaled out as a "slut" all women and girls are. And because women do not provoke sexual assault by "dressing like sluts", sexual assailants are guilty of a crime. In short, the message of the Slut Walk and Marcha de las Putas is: Stop blaming women for being women and put responsibility of sexual assault where it belongs: on the assailant.