The SlutWalk movement is focused on destroying the stigma that women are asking to be sexually assaulted because of how she dresses. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

USF’s first Annual Slut Walk — geared toward removing blame from victims based on clothing — will take place Monday, Oct. 30 at the Marshall Student Center Amphitheater from 2-5 p.m. 

This event will be sponsored by Safe Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) USF. Cofounder of Safe HOME USF Kathleen Shrum said the purpose of the event is to push against rape culture in the U.S.

“[SlutWalk] is just feedback to rape culture, which has a lot of victim blaming, which tells people who have been assaulted that they are basically at fault for their own attack because what they were wearing or what they were drinking or any other number of factors,” Shrum said. “What SlutWalk does is it re-appropriates the word and takes it back so that it doesn’t matter.”

SlutWalk originated in Toronto, Canada after a Toronto police officer Michael Sanguinetti, in a safety forum for Osgoode Law School on Jan. 24, 2011, suggested students should dress more conservatively to avoid harassment.

This led to Sonya Barnett and Heather Jarvis to rally women in Toronto to march on April 3, 2011 against the police officer’s comments. Since then the movement has became popular on social media and SlutWalks began to pop-up across the globe. The movement was recently popularized in the U.S. by actress Amber Rose. 

Safe HOME USF aims to use SlutWalk to create a dialogue on campus about sexual assault and to convince administration to enact stronger consequences against those convicted of sexual assault, according to Shrum.

“We do encourage people to come out and have that dialogue and discourse because we don’t really have unreal expectations for actually changing legislation immediately but if we can just start the dialogue here on campus, we feel like we have done our job adding to the safety aspect,” Shrum said. “So anyone who wants to come talk about organizing and the resistance, we will be there to talk to you, prepare you and put your mind at ease.”

Shrum encourages all to come out and assures anyone who is apprehensive about the safety of the march that University Police will be patrolling the area for student safety. 

“We are working directly with administration and (UP),” Shrum said. “(UP) knows what our route is they are going to have some bike cops that will be there to make sure we have safety. They will be alert in case someone does show up, that is maybe a counter protester or someone who is not in support of our message.

“Also we have asked professors in the Women and gender department, in the sociology department, and any other department that wants to get involved to come out and just be a presence there and be a presence of authority and stand with the student body on this issue.”