SlutWalk Toronto: Sunday April 3 @ 1:30

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Maysie Maysie's picture
SlutWalk Toronto: Sunday April 3 @ 1:30

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Maysie Maysie's picture

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Sunday, April 3 · 1:30pm - 4:30pm

Queen’s Park, Toronto

1:30 speeches; 2:00 we Walk!

IT'S THAT TIME.

On Sunday, April 3rd, Sluts and Allies will walk, roll, holler or stomp to Toronto Police Headquarters as our response to the current perspective toward sexual assault and why it happens.

We are meeting in the center of Queen's Park {just north of Wellesley} in downtown Toronto, walking down University Avenue and east along College Street to the doorstep of Toronto Police Headquarters.

PLEASE NOTE:

This is a PEACEFUL demonstration. We are uniting to make our voices heard, and asking the Toronto Police Force to be part of an ongoing conversation about training/retraining those in charge of our protective care about why sexual assault takes place, and how we can work toward a better plan in changing prevailing attitudes.

We are NOT walking to vilify the Police Force. We understand that it is through working together that change can be affected.

As you know, SlutWalk is also working at reappropriating the word Slut. To us, in our modern context, a Slut is someone — anyone — in charge of their sexuality and is unapologetic in the desire for consensual sex. Slut is NOT a look; it's an attitude. You can wear a parka and army boots, and still be a Slut. You can wear ankle-length skirts and sweaters and still be a Slut. And yes, you can wear kitten heels and and a tube top and still be a Slut.

We are not asking to 'vamp up' the streets of Toronto, as that would be falling into the traditional stereotype that we are working hard to break. SlutWalk Toronto is asking you to COME AS YOU ARE. If you want to wear fishnets, great. If you want to wear parkas, that's just as great. No matter how you visually identify, come walk with us. And we're welcoming ALL those who feel that prevailing attitudes as to why sexual assault happens need to change: WHETHER YOU'RE A SLUT OR AN ALLY, come walk, roll, holler or stomp with us.

Please RSVP to this event so we can gauge the size of the Walk. Stay tuned for further details on the Walk as they develop.

And help spread the word. We look forward to seeing you all.

For more info on SlutWalk Toronto and our objectives, please visit our website. Knowledge is power.

http://slutwalktoronto.com/

The only part I don't like is the not vilifying the police part. But I can be an ally. Smile

 

politicalnick

Sorry I can't attend but its a long expensive flight from the west coast. I will haowever express my support for your issue here.

I have heard many excuses for sexual assault including references to how someone is dressed or their prior actions and even heard someone try to use the defense of drunkeness and none of the come close to the threshold of common sense.

The ONLY reason a sexual assault happens is because the aggressor (man or woman) has absolutely no respect for their fellow humans or common decency.

Good Luck

Hellebor

 Quoting Maysie:

"We are not asking to 'vamp up' the streets of Toronto, as that would be falling into the traditional stereotype that we are working hard to break. SlutWalk Toronto is asking you to COME AS YOU ARE. If you want to wear fishnets, great. If you want to wear parkas, that's just as great. No matter how you visually identify, come walk with us. And we're welcoming ALL those who feel that prevailing attitudes as to why sexual assault happens need to change: WHETHER YOU'RE A SLUT OR AN ALLY, come walk, roll, holler or stomp with us."

 Thank goodness! I'm more Betty White than 'Slutty'.Kiss Tongue out (but considering the sexual attacks on senior women in hospitals & nursing homes, I guess I'm as reprsentative as anyone-?)

 I wonder if the officer in questions considered the sexual attacts on children & babies that are committed every year, in every place in the world? Are babies dressing slutty these days? )

 I hope I can be there. (weather permitting) I'm some distance from Toronto.

Maysie Maysie's picture

Hellbor, hi and welcome to babble. And your points about who gets sexually assaulted is exactly the point of the protest.

While one (idiot) police officer said the words that got him in "trouble", this is a prevailing myth about rape and sexual assault among the police, and among normal people.

Jane Doe's Op Ed regarding the remarks. For those who don't remember, Jane Doe is the woman who was sexually assaulted because the police failed to warn women in her neighbourhood that there were sexual assaults going on ("the balcony rapist"). She sued the Toronto police, and after 10 years, won.

Quote:

Here we go again.

A police officer gives utterance to a rape myth, to which, research shows, many of our institutions and public opinions adhere. He is required to apologize, police brass act surprised, and the media spins.

Women’s groups and activists get too brief sound bites to explain that rape mythology is a systemic issue within and beyond policing, and not about one bad apple or misguided cop, one isolated crime or comment. Nor, for that matter, is it about one good cop, a “happy” victim or a “sensitivity” course. Instead, there are many integrations and manifestations of rape mythology that show up in evidence-gathering, training content and structure, as well as in the police military culture.

Quote:
 What was lost in the telling this time is that the offending officer, who told York University students that women could avoid sexual assault by not dressing as sluts, said so just six months after the auditor general of the City of Toronto officially declared that “the police service, after a decade of criticism should be recognized for its work and commitment in the way it has improved the investigation of sexual assault” and that “no other police service in North America has devoted the extent of resources and attention to sexual assault investigations.”

That “decade of criticism” resulted from Jane Doe’s 11-year lawsuit, which found the Toronto force guilty of negligence and gender discrimination in its sexual assault investigations. An audit into its practices was initiated by Toronto City Hall in 2000 and resulted in a steering committee on which we sat.

Quote:
 Women continue to report rape to police in shockingly low numbers. The conviction rate is abysmal. Its incidence on the university campus is particularly high. The persistence in individualizing the problem shows brass unable or unwilling to eradicate a culture of rape mythology that the Doe vs. Toronto police win was meant to reverse.

Good cop/bad cop. It seems it was forever so and will always be the accepted fall-back position.

Our report can be obtained by asking the chair of the Toronto Police Services Board.

Forgive us if we appear fatigued.

Hellebor

 Thanks for the Welcome Maysie!

 It's like a trip in the Time Machine. A really rotten Time Machine!

 I remember well all these excuses for the inexcusable way back when. I thought we had grown up. I thought even the most callow constable had some kind of training about these things, or at least know when to shut his gob.

Caissa

Heather Mallick opines:

"Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized," Toronto police Const. Michael Sanguinetti told a class on rape at Osgoode Hall Law School. He then apologized and ran for cover, but the fact is, in the Sanguinetti world we live in, women are judged on their appearance.

SlutWalk, a beautifully conceived and organized protest against this kind of women-hating, starts at central Queen's Park at 1:30 this Sunday and winds up at Toronto Police Headquarters at 40 College St. Wear anything you like, the organizers told me when I emailed them. Because it isn't what you're wearing that matters, it's that cops, and indeed rapists, will assess you whatever you wear. Their assessment will invariably be different from yours.

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/965577--mallick-what-to-wear-for-slu...

PraetorianFour

Maysie if you don't mind me asking questions I have a few.  If it's not appropiate please delete the post.

 

This statement confused me a little.

"As you know, SlutWalk is also working at reappropriating the word Slut. To us, in our modern context, a Slut is someone — anyone — in charge of their sexuality and is unapologetic in the desire for consensual sex. Slut is NOT a look; it's an attitude. You can wear a parka and army boots, and still be a Slut. You can wear ankle-length skirts and sweaters and still be a Slut. And yes, you can wear kitten heels and and a tube top and still be a Slut."

So this is basically taking the word slut and deciding you (generally speaking) don't like the context it is used in so you're trying to change the definition.  From the middle ages, dirty untidy slummy, usually directed towards women. Also used as an insult, denoting promiscious women. But now we want it to imply a woman who is unappologetic about her sexual activities.

That's an interesting approach.  In my experience it seems like the main users of the word slut are young women using it on one another. Probably 90/10 in an insulting/friendly manner.

 

I'll probably get hammered for this but am I wrong to believe that how you dress IS important?  I wouldn't go to a job interview with a T shirt saying fuck authority.  I wouldn't go to a rabble.ca coffee meet with an "I've been to Afghanistan T shirt".  If I was a woman I would be really consciencious of what I was wearing and where. For example if I was going out to the bar with a large group of friends I would be more inclined to wear something ultra revealing. If i was walking with a friend or alone to my campus across town at 3 am I probably wouldnt wear stockings a mini skirt and belly top.

 

Everything I've learned while traveling abroad both in uniform and trying to blend in, i've noticed how you dress and how you present yourself is very important. While no man has a right to put his hands on a woman we all know how some men in soceity think and act. Isn't dressing "less slutty" on a basic level good advice?

 

Respectfully, P4

 

Maysie Maysie's picture

Hi PraetorianFour.

First, I didn't write the text at post #1. I copied it and quoted it from the SlutWalk Facebook Group.

Second, reclaiming words has a long history with feminists. That's worthy of a whole other thread, since I'm not 100% on board. But I respect women, in this case, who try to reclaim.

See "Bitch Magazine" and "Cunt" by Inga Muscio.

Thirdly, as for what women wear, I hate to drift this thread into the realm of rape and rape myths, but women, girls and babies are raped no matter what they were wearing, doing or saying. As Hellbor and I said upthread. Please read those posts again.

A young, attractive (by society's standards) woman, walking late at night (or whenever), wearing clothes as you described, doesn't actually have a higher chance of being raped. Check out the Assaulted Women's Helpline's website and the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre. Read the histories, and other pages on their sites about rape and rape myths.

The first one is, most women are raped by someone they know, someone they "love", and someone who they may live with, have children with, share a mortgage with, are related to by blood.

Once again, with feeling:

Rape isn't about sex, it's about power.

Rape is to sex like smashing someone in the face with a frying pan is to cooking.

In no other crime is the victim entirely blamed for both the crime and the lack of preventing it. Why didn't the cop say "That guy shouldn't have raped her?" Why didn't you say that? As if the rape was inevitable? That's fucking bullshit. Why must the focus always be on the woman, the woman. What she was wearing, how she was acting, e-fucking-nough already.

I'm vaguely recalling having these kinds of discussions with you before in the past. And while you worded your question nicely, and I'm in a nice mood right now, I strongly suggest you find these answers yourself and not expect feminists on babble to do all your work for you over and over again.

Edited to add:

"Whatever we do, wherever we go, Yes means Yes and No means No" 

"Wherever we go, however we dress, No means No and Yes means Yes" 

Oh, and focusing on what women wear (and NOT focusing on men's behaviour) is soooo two centuries ago.

Maysie Maysie's picture

Bump! It's today! 

I might not be able to go. I have too much work, plus I'm sick. Frown

Krystalline Kraus' piece on SlutWalk

oldgoat

My son and I got back from the event a while ago.  My daughter was supposed to join but two major papers due in two days plus a nasty cold intervened in her plans.

I was impressed with the turnout.  I'm not much at estimating crowd #s, but having been at the anti police brutality demonstration in front of police headqurters last June, I'd say this was about 4/5 the size of that.   Probably half the numbers arrived at Queens Park within 15 minutes before starting. (last minute types, we progressives). I saw a few people I know, including our own stalwart Krystalline Kraus, a random friend from my work, and a friend of my son's from U of T was a marshall.

Very positive energy in the group, and an entirely life affirming and optimistic experience. The signs were poignant, often funny, and in some cases brought forward an old trauma and pain in a way which reminded us all of why we were there.

The police presence was surprisingly absent.   As far as the walk south goes, I'd say there was just enough to safely manage traffic. Things seemed to be largely left to the marshalls to run things, and they did a good job.  Compared to the demonstratiom of last June 28 when there was a line of cops with interlocking bikes along the entire front of headquarters and hundreds more with riot gear on each end at Bay and Yonge, today we had only a few dozen in evidence, and mostly not in any kind of military formation.

 

 

deb93

PraetorianFour wrote:

I'll probably get hammered for this but am I wrong to believe that how you dress IS important?  I wouldn't go to a job interview with a T shirt saying fuck authority.  I wouldn't go to a rabble.ca coffee meet with an "I've been to Afghanistan T shirt".  If I was a woman I would be really consciencious of what I was wearing and where. For example if I was going out to the bar with a large group of friends I would be more inclined to wear something ultra revealing. If i was walking with a friend or alone to my campus across town at 3 am I probably wouldnt wear stockings a mini skirt and belly top.

 

Everything I've learned while traveling abroad both in uniform and trying to blend in, i've noticed how you dress and how you present yourself is very important. While no man has a right to put his hands on a woman we all know how some men in soceity think and act. Isn't dressing "less slutty" on a basic level good advice?


You raise an important issue P4: How does a woman, child, or infant dress to go to a rape these days? In Victorian times, an inadvertent glimpse of an ankle was enough to put men out of control of themselves, and the woman could be raped without punishment. It's just so confusing for the poor dears these days with babies and teens and women showing their bellies, ripe for a rape, but what if you get a judge who thinks rape is always wrong? Cripes, you poor penises could actually go to jail for raping that belly-flaunting slut!
I feel your pain, P4. How's a guy to know any more who he can rape and get away with it! Those damned feminists have taken all the fun out of rape!
Of course no one says boys and men invite rape in their tight football pants . . . What's up with that? And by your criteria, rape would be most prevalent and allowable on beaches where children and women and men wear very little clothing.
It's tricky indeed for rapists these days! Tell me P4 . . . What do you look for in a potential rape victim so you know you won't be punished? Is it sexy looking short tight skirts, or long loose ones that make access easier?

PraetorianFour

Maysie before I reply to yourself and Deb,  is one babbler calling another babbler a rapist acceptable under the babble policy? 

I'm sure if I suggested a babbler faked being raped I would get banned- is it a two way street?

Hellebor

Back in the days of miniskirts, I had a friend's boyfriend sneaky-like, slid a popsycle up the inside of my thigh. We just ran into her & B.F. at a mall, & I just stopped for a quick, "Hello & How-yadoin'". I should to tell you that the offending B.F. was a student at police college, in his final year. I should have told her that her B.F. was a 'Slut', but I never saw her again until after she had dumped that Slut.

 After she dumped the Slut, he threatened to harrass her with traffic tickets until she would loose her driver's license.

 Now that's a SLUT!

Maysie Maysie's picture

PraetorianFour, my days of interpreting babble policy are over.

To reiterate, I was in a nice mood when I answered your questions. I can't speak for deb93, but her post reflects my initial response to your inquiries.

Since any discussion of rape is very personal to women and not an abstract hypothetical discussion as it is for you, you must realize that when a man such as yourself attempts to define our realities (as you did in your extremely uninformed, ignorant and offensive post #7) that it will piss some women off. Not everyone will respond "nicely", trying to keep your tender ego intact, when you stomp all over our rights and autonomy. We're funny that way.

And this thread isn't about you.

PraetorianFour

Then I shouldn't be here. Excuse me while I go cruise for some victims to hypothetically rape because I posted as an uninformed ignorant male interested in engaging women in conversation over this topic and, as it turns out, be corrected on my assumptions.

PraetorianFour

And honestly Maysie, it's not about my tender ego being hurt. There is a huge double standard that happens here.  If I am liked, left of center and say the right things to get fists pumping in the air then I can tell someone to fuck off and die, call them a racist (rapist etc..) and throw in a few more personal attacks. If I get called on it then it's a slap on the wrist, a don't do that again, a sly wink and back to business.

If I am unliked, not in the * in * crowd then comment like "Well sir, that kind of sounds a little racist to me.." it turns into "you don't have the RIGHT to come here and accuse US of being racist! Why are you even here!  You're taking a vacation!"

Huge double standard. But you know what, when guys like me come here saying "how is that fair?" it's our fault because it's not about being fair. Or having one standard across the board for all babblers.

There is so much talk here about X Y getting away with bloody murder while Z gets sent to jail for life for a parking ticket- the very same prefferencial treatment happens here.

It's your forum and you roll how you want to roll.

Summer

 

P4 - If you want to learn about the principles of feminism and to educate yourself about rape myths (like how what a woman wears has nothing to do with whether she will get raped), then good for you and welcome to the forum.  A lot of feminist babblers have had to deal with trolls over the years and also have seen our space get taken over by posters who are new to feminism and want us to explain first principles.  This can understandably get tiring after awhile.  Also, it's sometimes hard to differentiate between an honest question made in good faith and a baiting questing made in the spirit of trolling.  You seem to fall into the first category.  That being the case, you may find this blog helpful for answering some of your questions:

http://finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/where-to-start/faq-i-asked-some-feminists-a-question-and-instead-of-answering-they-sent-me-here-why/

Here is a post of rape culture:

http://finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/rape-culture-101/

Happy reading!

Snert Snert's picture

Quote:
Not everyone will respond "nicely", trying to keep your tender ego intact, when you stomp all over our rights and autonomy. We're funny that way.

 

No quarrel with that, but does rabble policy still apply, or no? Mods?

Catchfire Catchfire's picture

PraetorianFour, no one is accusing you of being a rapist. deb's post satirizes your laughable suggestion that women should think about what they wear when they go out in public, pointing out that such a suggestion assumes that women in public are rape victims. I think it may be some time before you realize that's what you're saying, but that's what your saying.

I don't see deb43's post as a personal attack. I see it as a remarkably good-natured exposé of the assumptions inherent in the violence of patriarchy and rape culture.

Snert Snert's picture

Quote:
I don't see deb43's post as a personal attack.

 

Quote:
 Tell me P4 . . . What do you look for in a potential rape victim so you know you won't be punished?

 

Huh.

remind remind's picture

Typical, fucking typical.....

Summer

I wasn't aware that babble had a policy against sarcasm.  If you're going to participate on a message board, you better develop a thick skin.

Snert Snert's picture

There is actually a prohibition on certain types of irony -- ironic racism, ironic sexism, ironic accusations of being a rapist.  Well, OK, scratch that last one.

RevolutionPlease RevolutionPlease's picture

Couldn't avoid it, eh Snert.  Keep on mansplainin'.

Snert Snert's picture

I'm not trying to take anyone to school regarding feminism.  I just figure either babble's policy applies in this forum or it doesn't.

trippie

@P4

You can't come to rabble and express your take on any feminist issues. Cause your wrong before you even start and if you put up a fight you'er kicked out.

 

Really from my point of view, the women in Toronto already have the full force of the law on their side.

 

The police officer was being kinda sensible when he informed them not to flaunt their power indiscriminately.

 

You know, actions have repercussions, good and bad.

trippie

It's an easy concept...

 

If you decide to dress sexually provocative, you increase the likely hood that you will be victimized.

 

What is so hard about understanding that?

 

You many not be asking to be molested. But that doesn't mean you will not be viewed as a sexual object by someone else, when dressed to display your sexual power.

 

If you decide to flaunt your power over men, expect something may happen. Expect that some person will try to take that power away from you, eventually.

 

Asking men to be more submissive and compliant is not a good strategy for your protections.

 

Come on man, be realistic....

 

 

Catchfire Catchfire's picture

Hi trippie, your comments are out of order in the feminism forum (along with completely ignorant and wrong-headed), and I think you know that. Stay out of this thread from now on. If you post in it again, I will suspend you.

And Snert: you got your initial point of dissent in. Your second is offensive. As arguably the most sarcastic person on this board, your plaintive hand-wringing in this thread is disingenuous. Knock it off. The matter is closed.

MegB

Women with whom I feel a sisterhood, through experience and conscienceness, I am once again floored by the support. 

All of us who have been raped and sexually assaulted need this support and unification of ideals.

 

Thanks you for the Slut Walk!

MegB

trippie wrote:

If you decide to dress sexually provocative, you increase the likely hood that you will be victimized.

What is so hard about understanding that?

You many not be asking to be molested. But that doesn't mean you will not be viewed as a sexual object by someone else, when dressed to display your sexual power.

If you decide to flaunt your power over men, expect something may happen. Expect that some person will try to take that power away from you, eventually.

trippyyou don't even get a warning. Your perspective does not belong here.  So, welcome to non-babbleworld

Asking men to be more submissive and compliant is not a good strategy for your protections.

 

Come on man, be realistic....

Hellebor

 Look, what is provocative? It seems to me that it's an entirely Subjective thing, subject to change, without notice. :P' What is provocativen in one culture is nromal in another. What is 'shown' in one culture is not in another.

 You'd be surprised how many men find a woman completely covered up,( as some Middle eastern countries demand) extremely provocative. I don't just men men of those cultures either. Are women raped in countries where they are required to be covered from head to foot? Yes!

 If a man is walking around feeling horney & angry, & he is the type of man who will act rather than think, it really doesn't matter what the woman is wearing or who she is. It's a crime of opportunity, & violence. If it was just about sex, victims would not be attacked late at night in secluded areas. Victims would not be 18 months to 90+ years old. Victims would be age appropriate to the perp.

 I see no reason why women should be scapegoated for somebody else's actions. The act of violence has Nothing to do with the victim, & everything to do with the victimizer. The idea of having a 'dress code' for women is repugnant in this society. Why do we assign blame to directly women for rape, when we never do that in any other types of crimes?

 Even putting women in floor length burlap bags is Not going to put an end to rape, it will just make it harder ro run like Hell.

 Rape is 99% a Male crime. Most men are not rapists, but the great majority of rapists are men. So..Man Up!

Caissa

Deb93 wrote:
Tell me P4 . . . What do you look for in a potential rape victim so you know you won't be punished? Is it sexy looking short tight skirts, or long loose ones that make access easier?

 

 

That is clearly a personal attack and, in my opinion, should have been dealt with as such by the moderators. 

remind remind's picture

Given the  clear breach of mandate in the feminist forum, which is against babble rules, all you men  trying to get on her case for her sarcastic rejoinder, launched in the face of  nasty sexism in respect to women's rape and how it is our fault, really are  pieces of work.

Snert has been asked to stay out of the feminist forum by moderators long ago, he refuses. P4 has been spoken to about his sexism before but he has apparently learned nothing. But nothing is said about their bad behaviour by you Caissa.

Snert Snert's picture

Quote:
Snert has been asked to stay out of the feminist forum by moderators long ago, he refuses.

 

If you can find the post that directed me to stay out of this forum (and not a particular thread) then I will.

Catchfire Catchfire's picture

Caissa, the issue has been dealt with as you can see above. Your interjection here in the feminism forum, as a man, self-righteously bringing up the issue after it has been put to bed, is inappropriate. The matter is closed, and if it needs to be reopened, you are not the man to do it. I hope that's clear.

And to clarify: as far as I know, Snert has not been asked to stay out of the FF.

Caissa

That's a clear personal attack on me , Catchfire. There was nothing "self-righteous" about my one sentence post. It stated two opinions which you disagree with. Further, my gender and sex are irrelevant to said post. Deb made a clear personal attack on P4. I belief you and Rebecca aired in not labeling it as such. I'll take it to rabble reactions, if you think that is more appropriate. The issue as I see it is that moderators can't just arbitrarily declare matters of reaction closed.

Catchfire Catchfire's picture

You revived a three-day old thread to make a comment about something that had already been dealt with and explained twice. You thought that dredging up a dead issue with a one sentence contribution, which did not offer anything new, would change the way the issue had been dealt with. I call that self-righteous.

I can't stop you from opening a new thread, but I can say that it won't change anything. The decision has been made, the matter is closed.

Caissa

And I call being called self-righteous a personal attack. There is no other manner in which to interpret it. I didn't think my sentence would change anything. Disagreeing with the moderators on Babble seldom does.

remind remind's picture

Snert wrote:
Quote:
Snert has been asked to stay out of the feminist forum by moderators long ago, he refuses.

If you can find the post that directed me to stay out of this forum (and not a particular thread) then I will.


Do you ever think about what you write and what you believe your male privilege is?
 'cause this is tff, given you know you have been warned over and over again for the same thing in the feminist forum, but yet you continue on  as if you have every right to.
And I am not going hunting for where the final foot dropped on your sexism, but these are 3 threads that I remember  where your sexism was unrestricted and you were asked to stay out, or to stop.
http://www.rabble.ca/babble/national-news/williams-pleads-guilty-88-charges-including-two-murders
http://rabble.ca/babble/feminism/judicial-sex-scandal-winnipeg
http://rabble.ca/babble/international-news-and-politics/french-law-spousal-violence
So, perhaps the mods had better look at your consistent sexism, and ask themselves; why they continue to allow you to do this, and why there are no feminists left for the most part here.
ETA: and no I am not asking snert be banned, but I am asking that, given his long history of sexist abuse in the feminist forum, evidence of such linked to above (the links also cover many years not just recent history so no change can be expected from snert) and this thread itself, that he be officially banned, or the old one enforced, from posting in the feminist forum.

Catchfire Catchfire's picture

Please end the thread drift and return to the subject at hand.

Ex-moderator Audra gives a walk & talk interview to CTV during SlutWalk, Ottawa edition.