Join us on Saturday, July 12th at 3pm for the 2014 SlutWalk Toronto. Meet us at Nathan Phillip Square at 3pm. From there well be marching north up University Avenue to Queens Park, with speeches from 4-5pm. Well announce the speakers list closer to the date.

ACCESSIBILITY INFO:

Please help us support accessibility and inclusion. We ask that participants refrain from wearing scents or from smoking at the front of the march or near the stage, so that chemically sensitive people can attend. We are also working on securing ASL translation and will update when the booking has been confirmed.

The two years since our last SlutWalk Toronto have been full of triumphs, but also stark reminders that there is still much work to be done in ending victim-blaming and holding perpetrators of sexual violence accountable.

We continuously hear of the many ways rape culture is manifested around the world and close to home.

This takes the form of:

judges failing to give convicted rapists anything more than a slap on the wrist;

schools covering for perpetrators while pushing out and penalizing survivors;

media outlets sympathizing with convicted rapists and blaming victims;

major headlining entertainers using rape victims as the butt of their jokes;

politicians making misogynistic statements that belie an utter lack of understanding of sexual violence;

victims losing their lives after an assault, either at the hands of their rapists, from their families and communities, or from suicide.

Neither is the phenomenon of victim being lobbed as an insult new. The enduring stigma around sexual victimization is one of the reasons many prefer the term survivors. The rhetoric perpetuating stigma and victim-blaming seems to have become even bolder and more toxic as late.

We challenge this stigma, because the person who should be shamed is the perpetrator, not their victim.

Originally formed in February 2011, SlutWalk Toronto came together as a response to a Toronto Police Service officers victim-blaming and ill-informed remark women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized. The single march spread like wildfire. Over the past 3 years, marches have been organized in over 200 hundred cities on every continent except Antarctica, all organized independently by community members who are tired of victim-blaming and rape culture. We are so humbled by this response and hold it to ourselves to continue to learn and do better.

We do not require participants to want to reclaim slut or any other slurs that have been used against them, nor do we require any particular dress code. We ask only that you come to support an end to victim-blaming and rape culture. Regardless of the victims ability, age, attire, gender, housing situation, immigration status, income, intoxication, job, race, or relationship with the abuser, the only person ever responsible for sexual violence is the perpetrator.

If you'd like to volunteer and help out with SWTO 2014, wed love to have you! Please email: volunteer@slutwalktoronto.com

FOR MORE INFO on what SLUTWALK is, please check out our:

Website: http://www.slutwalktoronto.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SlutWalkToronto

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/SlutWalkTO