These are exciting and inspiring times: after the blossoming of the Hollaback! movement – an initiative to fight street harassment via crowd-sourcing, we have now entered the mighty age of the SlutWalk. The inaugural SW took place in Toronto last month. Some 3,000 marchers were motivated by the controversial comments made by a police officer in a lecture to law school students on the subject of personal safety. "Women," he told them, "should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised." The effect has been incendiary: in cities across North America, from Arizona to Wisconsin, Oregon to Illinois, they have marched, and now the world follows suit: Sweden, Argentina, Australia, with SlutWalks scheduled for London, Los Angeles and Amsterdam on 4 June. The message is simple: sexual assault is an act of violence by the perpetrator, and not ever something inspired, occasioned or asked for by the victim – no matter what she or he is wearing, or how she behaves
