Slut Walk Stands Up for Sexual Assault Victims

Two nights before Halloween, the air is crisp. However, the cold October weather, chilly wind included, does not stop scantily clad men and women from meeting at a small picnic table outside of FSU’s Frost Hall on Thursday night.

Jill Morris, professor and director of Students For Women’s Issues, arrives first, carrying a blow-up Tyrannosaurus-Rex costume: “Last years Halloween was one of the worst days for assault and rape on this campus,” she says. “which is why we chose this time, right before [Halloween] to put on this year’s Slut Walk.”

Soon, more students begin to wander over. Many of them are in costume, some in normal clothes, and one girl braving the cold in pink, lace lingerie, rainbow socks and high heeled shoes.

Andrew Johnson, a graduate student in psychology, proudly holds a sign declaring: “Real men don’t rape women!” Johnson notes that many survivors of sexual assault and rape, especially women, feel that it is their fault that they were assaulted.

“First of all, raping people is just wrong. It’s terrible,” Johnson says, almost smiling at the obvious statement, “But further than that, it puts up this barrier towards recovery when people think that they are at fault for what happened to them. It’s never the victims fault.” Johnson pauses, looking around at the many students gathered, looking over each other’s signs and costumes. He continues, “That’s why I’m here. I want to promote ending the stigmas, ending the self-blaming.”

As the time nears for the walk to begin, Dr. Morris comments, “There are so many guys here! Heck, there’s so many more people here than last year.”

Bobby Brusberg and Benjamin Mann stand together holding signs with messages stating that clothing is not consent. Both FSU students are part of the newly formed Social Progress Club (SPC).

“We all came out,” Brusberg notes about SPC, looking around him, “Well, except for three of us that couldn’t make it.”

“We’re promoting social progress, and this walk is something that does just that,” Mann adds on, nodding towards a group of four students exchanging signs and commenting on the costumes people wear.

When Jahree Sosa, student mentor, rounds the building, she pauses in apparent surprise: “This is way more people than I anticipated!” She exclaims.

With the arrival of Sosa, clothed in a tight black and white dress and fuzzy boots, Morris begins handing out the glow sticks she and Sosa purchased for the event. The glow sticks, Morris semi-jokes, are a uniting factor for all walkers in the event.

“The purpose of the Slut Walk is to empower sexual assault victims through reinforcing the idea that victim blaming and shaming is inappropriate and the way people dress, whether provocative or conservative, does not grant another person access to their body,” Sosa explains.

The walk begins at Frost just after 6 p.m., and heads right to the heart of campus, the clock tower. Sosa leads the march, bearing a sign exclaiming, “Your dress does not mean yes!” She chants loudly, her voice echoing across campus, drawing attention from the students still milling about.

Halfway through the march, Sosa shouts: “How we dress-“

The people following her shout back: “Does not mean yes!”

Sosa and her followers chant the rest of the way to the clock tower. They cheer upon arrival and gather around the base of the clock for a group photo.

Sosa steps away from the tower. She faces the students and falls silent for a moment.

“Thank you for coming out here,” Sosa says, looking at the faces before her. “It was really important to get this message out. This walk, it reiterates that when people are assaulted it’s not their fault.”

Sosa continues, “Whether it’s a woman in a tight black dress, or a man in a thong, clothing is not permission. A look is not permission. And we have to keep fighting for that. Thank you. This means so much. Thank you all for coming.”