Schmutwalk Reprise

There have been some interesting developments re: the Slut Walk business in India. As I was exhorting earlier, the organizers decided to walk the talk and take the campaign to the interior of India. They chose Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh, which records the maximum rapes in the country.

So the day dawned bright and early, the air promising the dawn of a new national holiday. 5000 people had expresses support and promised to join the Charge of the Slut Brigade. The atmosphere was one of palpable anticipation of social upheaval.

But unfortunately, it was not to be. Most of the women who were to come didn’t get permission to do so from their parents. On account of this whole shebang was called the Besharmi Morcha in an admirable attempt to tale the capaign vernacular. Didn’t work; they shoulda still called it Slut Walk and explained that Slut was the English name for the goddess Lakshmi or something.

And even for those who did manage to stick some pillows under their sheets and shimmy down the drainpipe, there was stern admonishment from the organizers: “"Unlike Toronto, we advised women participants not to dress provocatively as it was against our culture," said Radhika Shingweker, a Delhi-based law student who organized Bhopal's Slut Walk. So we had a bunch of guys and a a couple of dames wearing decidedly un-slutty jeans and T-shirt… wait, what am I saying, in Bhopal, that’s like a lace thong and nipple stickers. So maybe they got it right after all.

So there you have it. A brave attempt, but nonetheless a lesson into how difficult it is to bring Western sensibilities and ideas and make them work in India. In the metros, this works much better, but the rest of India dances to a different beat, and the need is to understand that beat and hit that groove. Horses are needed for courses and right now they’re using Sheffield ponies to run the Derby.