Many years ago when racial tension were a lot higher than they are today, I found myself in Gary Indiana. Gary was at the time sharply defined between races, Black and White. It was not unusual living a few states away to wake on a Saturday and hear of shootings or other violence that happened the previous evening in Gary.
Yet here I was in Gary, having taken a cab from the docks, out walking and enjoying the morning and the energy of the city. Because I was a Country Bumpkin and did not know any better I took a wrong turn. Every step I took I was walked further away from the White neighborhood I had been in and entered a Black neighborhood. At first I was unaware as nothing seemed any different to me. Then the neighborhood started to look poorer. Then I finally noticed that the only white face on the street was mine and people were looking at me.
I kept walking because I didn’t know what else to do. I was not from there. I picked up one follower. He walked some feet behind me, and followed me wherever I walked. About fifteen minutes later a second man joined the first, and I was getting ready for a fight or worse. Five or Ten minutes after that there were three men following me and the gap was closing between us. I was still walking, faster now, aimlessly. I was hoping to cross the invisible line that separated their world from mine. I finally made it unscathed.
My Grandfather once told me a story of when he was a young man. It occurred probably in the 1920′s or 1930′s when he was in Detroit Michigan for work. He was a blue collar worker and quite by mistake he fond himself lot in a Black District. He was walking along the back streets and alleys, when a kind hearted Woman saw him. She told him to come with her before he was “stomped and beaten” because he was a White Man wandering in a black neighborhood. He definitely was not wanted there.
The kindly Woman took him to what he called her two room shack, sat him on her orange crate furniture, fed him, and told him she would not let him leave until morning. After a night of sleeping on the floor the old Woman walked him to the street corner where Black ended and White began.
This spring there was a Slut Walk in Toronto. It started as I understand it by a women or a few women taking offense to a comment made by an instructor in a woman’s self defense class. Of course self defense course should be sterilized as much as possible from the reality of why one is in the class. Just as attending a concealed weapons course the Instructor should never mention that carrying a hidden weapon on your person puts one in jeopardy of killing another human being, and perhaps being killed yourself for doing so.
These classes or courses should be sanitized shouldn’t they? Classes should be dumbed down, made cutesy, and be politically correct so they are socially more palatable. Seriously, if I were an instructor teaching self defense, I may be less willing to teach groups of Women how to protect themselves. It would be more important to lose a few dollars than be the focus for a well intentioned comment.
The Slut Walk is spreading across the land. It reminds me of Gloria Steinem and her emergence from nowhere to becoming an almost daily celebrity on six o’clock World News. Gloria Steinem and other women were angry back in the day. They were burning bra’s and making demands. As a young man at the time I was all for bra burning!
Nothing has changed over a generation, what average heterosexual young man, or adult male for that matter would not be deep down happy about the Slut Walk coming to his town? Where else can a man get free eye candy? It doesn’t matter whether these Women are protesting a laundry soap commercial, or what they see as furthering their personal rights, the view is all the same.
From my small unscientific pole. Most Men see the Slut Walk as entertainment, almost as if the Women of Desperate Housewives stepped out of the television, and physically moved into their neighborhoods. As the off color only semi-joke goes; “Men have two brains, and only blood enough for one at a time.” We Men are simple creatures, not generally well known for our thoughtfulness and concern for Women’s Rights in particular.
I personally am all for what these Women wish to accomplish. I think deep down once the sexual clothing is replaced with something more appropriate most men are also in favor. We are Husbands, Fathers, Brothers and Uncles. Everyone should have the right to dress as they want without suffering overtones that go with clothing choices.
I would have felt the same for the Flappers, or Zoot Suiter’s, as I do for Cowboys, Gay or Butch dress, as I was for Hippies, and Women Libbers of the sixties and early seventies. It is fine by me when people want to express themselves through their clothing. I only prefer people be reasonable and responsible in their choices.
Personal expression however does not change the world on its own. The Dark Ages of Europe and onward into today show what we are really capable of. Any person, Woman or Man, who puts themselves at risk through personal expression, must be prepared for all possible consequences of their actions.
Women can’t have it both ways. Women can not dress in a provocative manner and expect every Man that looks at them to know you are simply defending their right not to be looked at as a plaything or victim. Personal violence waiting for some unfortunate woman who does not understand the implications of their actions is lurking on the other side of the filmy veneer of our society.
The silent majority generally wants what is best. The opposite of the silent majority is the smaller silent minority. Part of the silent minority are criminals and deviants looking for prey. They do not care why a woman looks like she does. They do not care about personal rights. They don’t care that an active participant in the local Slut Walk movement is a Mother of three, a PTA member, and goes to Church on Sunday.
There is the saying, “It’s all fun and games, then someone gets hurt.” Someone getting hurt from participation in the Slut Walk movement is a given. It is just a matter of when. I would not think of denying anyone the right to express themselves in a manner they choose as long as they are not hurting others.
I do have concerns over who is going to be hurt and maybe killed because they are too naive to understand the risk they are bringing upon themselves when it comes to their choice of public dress. There is no safe point, where a Woman can dress in a certain manner and not draw the attention of that silent minority who could care less about promoting her civil or personal rights. While the intention of the Slut Walk is above board, the ramifications and fallout are a cause for concern.
On the political side, how do these women expect to be taken serious when they dress and act like they have a small part in a movie? If Slut Walk expects anything other than some publicity of dubious content, they are going to have to clean up their act, and make it something that can be discussed at the dinner table in front of the kids, and from the pulpit on Sunday morning.
If a metamorphosis of this type does not happen, Slut Walk will be short lived. Right now it gathers attention like Lady Gaga, but the attention span of the public is short, and the Politicians of the world have more serious issues to contend with right now.
