Anyone who believes that nobody deserves to be raped is urged to participate in the Slutwalk taking place from 10am on 28 September at Pirates Sports Club in Greenside.
Operations director for Slutwalk Johannesburg Karmilla Pillay-Siokos said the purpose of the event was to raise awareness about the issue of victim-blaming in rape cases.
“Everybody who believes that nobody deserves to be raped should be part of this movement. We have an open-mic after the walk. Hearing this perspective of survivors and our families and friends can be life-changing. Once you become part of this conversation, you become empowered and inspired to go out and change the conversations you have in your own circles. This is how we fight rape culture. Each one teach one,” said Pillay-Siokos.
Anyone who shares Slutwalk’s ideals for a consent-conscious culture is invited to join. In excess of 400 people are expected to attend.
Pillay-Siokos added that the most important thing that South Africa could do right now as a country acknowledge that rape and sexual violence was a societal problem, not a women’s issue or an anti-men conversation.
“Slutwalk is an opportunity for everybody to come together and actually listen to each other and change the conversations we have around all our social conditioning. Race, age, gender, sexual preference… all the lines we use to separate our communities need to be recognised for the divide and conquer mentality that it is.”
“Patriarchy and rape culture are our common enemy and we need to stand together against the conditioning that holds us all under threat. We need to help and support each other on the journey towards changing the world.”
Participation in the event is free. There will be donations boxes on the day for people who would like to make financial contributions. T-shirts, wrist-bands and bracelets will also be on sale.
Take part in the event and tweet @RK_Gazette using the hashtags #IwillNOTnext and #SlutwalkJHB2019.
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