Pink Chaddis and SlutWalk Couture: The Postcolonial Politics of Feminism Lite
…Kapur deftly analyses the postcolonial feminist politics of the Indian SlutWalk and Pink Chaddi movements. Echoing a range of contextually specific concerns, SlutWalk movements have erupted over the past year in many different locations, re-appropriating the term ‘slut’ to challenge sexual violence, advocate for sex workers’ rights, and contest misogynistic constructions of sexual morality. In dominant narratives circulating about SlutWalk, the marches began after a police officer made comments at Osgoode Hall Law School in January 2011 that women could avoid sexual assault by not dressing ‘like sluts’. Nevertheless, SlutWalks rearticulate a range of contextually specific feminist concerns that pre-date and transcend this apparently North American ‘genesis’. Moreover, SlutWalk organising has been critiqued for ignoring dynamics of colonialism, as well as institutionalised violence against women/queers of colour, and against low-income women and queers.
