The news spread like fire a couple of weeks back. Delhi was soon to hold its first ever Slut Walk. The campaign originated in Toronto, Canada, in April this year when a male police officer, while talking about a rape case, said, "Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised." To protest the sexist comment, the women of Toronto decided to march down the street, wearing as little as they could, to make the point that no matter what the dress is, a woman never 'asks for' sexual abuse.

The campaign has since then spread to various other western cities like London, Melbourne, Brisbane, Montreal, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Hamilton, San Diego and Vancouver, to name a few. Scheduled for late July, Delhi is the first Asian city to follow suit.

The campaign was an instant hit on the Indian social media scene. As soon as a Delhi version was announced, the hashtag #slutwalk started to trend on Twitter’s India timeline. Young girls and boys by hundreds joined the campaign’s Facebook page and put up their support for the walk on their walls. Mainstream media too, quickly picked it up as the next cool, youth-led campaign since 'Pink Chaddi' and several news reports and opinion pieces have been floated in quick succession since then. Most of these are positive news and views on the campaign.

I, however, am in the mood for criticism. My criticism is not based on moral or cultural grounds. I don’t care if girls are promiscuous or not (What is promiscuity anyway? Just a way to control women's sexuality). I don’t care if they wear a saree or salwar suit or a micro mini or a two piece swimsuit to the walk. My problem is with the name of the campaign, Slut Walk.

What does it exactly mean for us Delhiites or Indians?

Slut, the word, entered our vocabulary through international movies and TV series as part of the cultural change that took place after the advent of cable TV. The word is ambiguous and has several interpretations, but is most commonly used as slang term for a woman who is considered 'loose' or 'easy' because of the way she dresses or the kind of makeup or accessories she wears.

Every word has a different meaning in a different culture and context. In the Indian context, this word has no significance. It is a new entry to our vocabulary and is used mostly by the upper class, English-speaking, urban youth. Two out of three of my Facebook friends told me when asked, that they have either never heard of the word before or have heard it only in English movies.

Slut Walk Delhi, quite like the original, is a campaign to reclaim the word slut. My question is why do we have to reclaim a word that doesn’t exist in our vocabulary? Reclamation of the word slut is important in the context where women are constantly shamed, judged and attacked by this term and are considered more vulnerable to sexual violence when they fit this label.

In the Indian context, women don’t have to fit to any label whatsoever to be vulnerable to sexual violence. Girls and women routinely get raped and killed here no matter what they wear or what ‘label’ they fit in to. From a bikini-wearing foreigner to a fully-clothed nun, nobody is spared of rape. With that reality, it is rather ironic to make much fuss over a word that half of the rapists don’t even understand.

The organizers of Slut Walk have now attempted to contextualise the campaign by giving it a Hindi name. The campaign is now called ‘The Slut Walk Delhi arthaat Besharmi Morcha’.

I think this is a welcome step. As crass as it might sound, the new name at least hits where it hurts. Words hurt even when you try to reclaim them. To be able to reclaim an abuse word, one should be able to wear it with pride. If it hurts one’s sensitivity too much then the reclamation doesn’t work. Slut is an abuse alright, but it’s a western abuse. So it sounds cool. A desi translation of the same word sounds more rustic, rude and more importantly real. We needed a real name for such an in-your-face campaign.

But with a desi name, the campaign is likely to have fewer takers. On Facebook, people have already started expressing their disappointment over the new name. "Besharmi Morcha is for ‘illiterate’ people who don’t know the meaning of slut. Slut walk is appropriate and sophisticated; This punch line is not appropriate this will actually lower down the standards; Slut walk is so cool, besharmi whatever sounds gay," are just some of the naive comments on the campaign’s Facebook wall.

From what I hear on the social media scene, very few of those who were ready to participate in ‘Slut Walk’ are expected to come forward for the ‘Besharmi Morcha’.

Slut Walk happened in Canada because a cop there said women should stop dressing like sluts to prevent themselves from sexual violence. In India, a few months ago, a Bollywood flick's dialogue implied far worse. "Tawaaif ki looti izzat ko bachana aur Tees Maar Khan to kaid karna dono bekaar hai". The line essentially meant there was no point in trying to save a prostitute from getting raped.

We needed a 'Tawaaif Walk' in protest then. We still need one. A 'Besharmi Morcha' might just be that.

(The writer is a Delhiite, lawyer and social media & communications consultant. She blogs at http://sanjukta.wordpress.com)

ALSO READ
Meet the girl behind Slutwalk Delhi 2011