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Photos from Portland’s first SlutWalk

Slutwalk Portland 2011

For a minute let’s not think about the Canadian police officer who prompted this whole Slut walking protests by implying slutty women deserve to be raped. Let’s gloss over the back and forth bickering between self-proclaimed sluts and their blogging detractors. Instead, it’s time to see the photos from Portland’s first Slutwalk and revel in everyone’s gloriously skimpy and sexy attire. Because we do this as much for joy as for justice.

So I’ve, once again, recruited some snapshots from the fabulous Melody Awesomazing, who, whether or not she knows it, has been quasi-recruited as qPDX photographer. But, readers, I aim to recruit you as well, so hopefully these 11 pics are just the beginning of what you will see. We want you to contribute your Slutwalk photos and photos of any other PDX queers bein’ queer. So send ’em to alley@qpdx.com and we’ll get them up on the site post haste!

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Sunday’s SlutWalk – What to wear, and why it’s not (just) about being sexy

SlutWalk Portland Organizers

SlutWalk Portland Organizers!

If you’ve been reading qPDX or any other local news website lately, you’ve been hearing a lot about the Portland SlutWalk. You may have read my article in which I bashed back against Jack Donovan’s critique of SlutWalk as a “lesbian parade” for “fat” “whores” and “feminists who are embarrassing themselves”. You may have been handed a flyer for slutwalk, the pre-party, or the decompression/after party, along with a smile by one of SlutWalk’s principal organizers: Ryan Basille, Sterling Clark, Sophia St. James. You may have heard some of the backstory – namely that SlutWalk was founded in response to a police officer in Canada doling out nuanced and socially aware advice to trainees, such as: “If women want to avoid being raped, they shouldn’t dress like sluts”. You may have heard that SlutWalk itself as gone through permit, funding, and personnel difficulties, only to triumph, like we knew it would. It’s coming. It’s almost here. And what are you going to wear? This Sunday, July 31st, SW 4th and Jefferson (Terry Shrunk Plaza), 1pm.

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“Manly” Jack Donovan attacks SlutWalk Portland, qPDX, and everybody else who is not like him

"No Heart Donovan"
"No Heart Donovan"

Jack "Macho Slut" Donovan slings mud at SlutWalk, qPDX, women everywhere but he can still manage a sneer

An editorial note:

Right wing homosexual blogger Jack Donovan (otherwise known as Jack Malebranche) has spent a lot of his summer trying to discredit women who believe that suggestive attire does not invite rape. His histrionic rants are so blatantly misogynistic I’m tempted not to even address them. But he calls out Portland, he calls out individuals that have contributed to qPDX, and he calls out qPDX itself, so how can I not?

What strikes me most is his need to consistently ridicule the efforts of self-identified sluts across the US and Canada, even creating a new blog dedicated entirely to cataloging the Slutwalks. He proclaims how useless these efforts are, claiming they wouldn’t benefit the “average woman,” (as if there were such a thing) while simultaneously spending his entire Saturday making “WhOregon” t-shirts. My instinct as a blogger tells me that spending a lot of time railing against the “useless” is particularly useful in increasing his page views.

He equates not being taken seriously with rape, but between assault and a bit of mockery, I’ll take the latter. Most of us have learned to deflect hate speech, though that doesn’t afford physical safety. Even I have, on occasion, laughed at the ass crack bearing plumber, but it would sound absurd to suggest that he should have some something hard and painful shoved up his nether regions for the crime of bearing skin. So, of course, I won’t do that.

What I will say is that not everyone’s standards of beauty match Donovan’s, and all kinds of people experience sexual violence.

I will say that Portland, and any other city, is entitled to have as many parades for “lesbians,” “sluts,” “women,” and any other group, as we want.

I will acknowledge that though our writing is not always perfect, our efforts are sincere. And our ability to call each other out and yet work together again in the future may be seen as a weakness, but it is also one of our greatest strengths.

And I will give space in this blog to hear from my colleague, Perry Eising, as well as you, the reader, and my whole, diverse queer community, of which even Donovan is, for better or worse, a part.

-Alley

Perry says please note: the following opinions are mine except where indicated.

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