In April 2011, a team of five people put together Slutwalk Toronto, a protest responding to slut shaming and victim blaming culture, exemplified by a recent event at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. In the name of campus “safety”, Toronto Police Constable Michael Sanguinetti advised “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order to not be victimized”. The sentiment of those in the over 3000 crowd that day were shared by folks around the globe - leading to over 200 Slutwalks internationally and the establishment of “Slutwalk” organizing groups. This collection engenders a critical engagement with the global phenomenon of the Slutwalk movement, considering both its strengths and limitations. The chapters take up Slutwalk through a feminist lens (broadly defined) consider- ing Slutwalk as a successful social movement, a site of tremendous controversy, and an ongoing discussion among and between waves of feminists across the life cycle and across the globe. Through poetry, photography, scholarly articles, creative non-fiction, personal essays, the collection seeks to unpack the discursive performance of Slutwalk as well as explore the experiences of people who attended various and diverse Slutwalks marches/protests in North America and Asia.

Alyssa Teekah has organized in community and academic research spaces, working with queer Asian-Canadian filmmaker Rich- ard Fung, the Centre for Women and Trans People at York University, and Masala Militia, a ‘brown’ feminist collective. She holds a MA in Gender Studies from the University of Toronto.

Alyssa Teekah's profile page

Erika Jane Scholz was one of the initial founders of the 2011 Toronto SlutWalk. She holds an MSW from the Factor-Inwentash School of Social Work at the University of Toronto.

Erika Jane Scholz's profile page

May Friedman teaches at Ryerson University in the School of Social Work and the Graduate Program in Communication and Culture. She is absolutely passionate about popular culture and has published extensively on the topics of motherhood, fat and digital technologies.

May Friedman's profile page

Andrea O’Reilly, PhD, is Professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at York University and is founder and director of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement, founder and editor-in-chief of the Journal of the Motherhood Initiative and founder and editor of Demeter Press, the first feminist press on motherhood. She is editor and author of 19 books on motherhood including most recently 21st Century Motherhood: Experience, Identity, Policy, Agency (2010); The 21st Century Motherhood Movement: Mothers Speak Out On Why We Need to Change The World and How To Do It (2011); Academic Motherhood in a Post Second Wave Context: Challenges, Strategies, Possibilities (2012); and What do Mothers Need?: Motherhood Activists and Scholars Speak out Maternal Empowerment for the 21st Century (2012). She is editor of the first encyclopedia on Motherhood (2010). In 2010 she was the recipient of the CAUT Sarah Shorten Award for outstanding achievements in the promotion of the advancement of women in Canadian universities and colleges. She is twice the recipient (1998, 2009) of York University’s “Professor of the Year Award” for teaching excellence. She is the proud mama of three fabulous and feminist adult children.

Andrea O’Reilly's profile page