Dignified Sluts?

From the Washington Post:

Women draped sexy lingerie over their street clothes as they marched through Cape Town on Saturday, bringing an international campaign against the notion that a woman’s appearance can excuse attacks to a country where rape is seen as a national crisis…

… “SlutWalks” originated in Toronto, Canada, where they were sparked by a police officer’s remark that women could avoid being raped by not dressing like “sluts.” “It’s very important that women should understand that their dignity should not be taken away from them,” said Tayla Orgill, who was among the Cape Town walkers…

One does wonder – does Ms. Orgill own a dictionary?  Does she know what “dignity” means?

To be sure, a woman dressed like a slut does not excuse rape – but being dignified does require a modicum of modesty in dress.  A woman wearing a miniskirt and a low cut blouse does not deserve to be raped, but she is also by no means dignified while so dressed.  In fact, a woman dressed like that has deliberately decided to present herself to men as a mere object – dressing like that is a to say, “hey, look upon me as a sexual plaything!”.

In contrast to the sheer idiocy of a “slut walk” for female dignity, I offer the words of Mary Lane over at Catholic Exchange:

…I don’t know that I can point to a moment when things changed. All I know is that last summer I was in a bikini, and this summer I’m not. Several months ago, I hardly thought twice about what the effect of what I am wearing will be on the men I meet out in public, and now I never leave the mirror in the morning without thinking about it.

I have come to realize that we live in a world in which guys are virtually expected to objectify women’s bodies. Of course, there is a difference between “appreciating” and “objectifying”—one is natural, the other is sinful. But that line is really thin for a guy, and it’s pretty hard to control—especially when he’s walking down the beach on any given Thursday in August.

This doesn’t mean that every guy who sees you in a bikini is objectifying you—it just means that it’s probably really hard for him not to, at least on some level…

I’m building up quite a list of things I’ll keep saying until everyone agrees with me, because I’m right.  Among them is the fact that advertising works.  The reason that literal tens of billions of dollars are spent every year on advertising is because it works – it convinces people to do things they might otherwise not have done.  Not everyone, of course.  Show a car ad to a million people and hardly any of them will head down to the dealership and buy a car…but a few will.  And that is why advertisement is done…not to get everyone to do it, but to get a few who wouldn’t have done it unless presented the offer via advertisement.

In a sense, everything we see is an advertisement.  And one of the things we see all the time in our society is enticements to sexual activity – coupled with, of course, the complete objectification of those who would gratify sexual desire.  You see it everywhere…car ads, beer ads, vacation ads…all of them spice their message with sexual content.  A woman walking down the street dressed like a slut is just another form of this advertisement, and like all advertisement it won’t move most people to act…but it will move some, including some who have been so heavily propagandized by advertising that they’ve lost all sense of decency.  These are the men who won’t take “no” for an answer…men who, indeed, consider it an outrage that any woman would ever dare say “no”.  So, they take what they want.

This is not to say that a reduction in advertising for sex would eliminate rape…but the fewer advertisement, the less it is shoved front and center of public consciousness, the less likely it is that any particular man will be moved to do it.  An additional benefit of this would be an overall improving of the moral tone of the public square…even men who never move towards direct evil are yet corrupted in their hearts by the advertising, becoming less respectful, and also less willing to defend honor when it is attacked.

The most important thing to remember here is that if we want to be people who are respected and treated as dignified human beings, then our duty is to act respectable and dignified.  A well dressed young man or woman of good manners is someone to whom respect and dignity naturally flows…it is asinine to expect a badly dressed man or woman acting like a rutting beast in public should be respected or thought of as dignified.   This “slut walk” is a negation of dignity…and the real pity is that those participating in it have been so hoodwinked by modern lies that they don’t even understand what they are doing.

HAT TIP:  Hot Air