Monday, June 13, 2011

Agent Provocateur

I am a slut - I am proud to be a SLUT! - proclaimed the placard.

This, better said after the watershed, statement had been written in what looked like lipstick and was slowly moving down a busy London street along with a few thousand other, equally in your face, placards.

The ladies carrying these placards were dressed appropriately for what was Slutwalk, UK.

Slutwalk has now spanned the globe.

It all started when an extremely ill advised Canadian policeman told some students to avoid "dressing up as sluts" to avoid unwanted attention.

All over the world, well the US, Canada and now the UK (its not taken off in Iran apparently), women are dressing up, or down as the case is, to march though the streets demanding that the abusers and not the abused are blamed, and quite right too.

Of course there is a but coming and without coming across all Ken Clark I would like to ask the simple question - where is good old fashioned common sense in all of this?

I totally get that just because a lady is wearing sexy clothing it does not mean she is in any way asking for attention.
I get, to paraphrase another placard, that Cleavage is not Consent.
I am also fully on-board with everyone should be allowed to wear whatever the hell they like without fear of abuse or worse.

They are all correct, the world should be a perfect place and if I decided to walk through the Bronx, at night, wearing my finest Etonian school uniform I should be left in peace to go about my business. Unfortunately, however, the last time I looked it isn't and I most definitely wouldn't - why not? Because I would be using my common sense, the skill which helps me out when faced with difficult dilemmas such as, do I really want to swan dive off that cliff, or should I really stand up in the High Street and sing out loud just because I feel the urge, which I do often.

If you go out looking like Britney wearing nothing but a few stick on stars then you are going to get looked at, laughed at and potentially worse - so why would you? I am not in any way condoning such behaviour, but I am wise enough to know it goes on and frankly so should you Britney-woman.

If, god forbid, something bad did happen to Britney then of course this is wrong, it would take a particularly low minded person to say she had it coming, but why would you want to put yourself at risk in the first place?

A few years ago, my wife and I were walking outside the Egyptian museum in Cairo, skirting the square which was the backdrop to the recent riots. Walking towards us was a couple of young women, basically wearing clothing which would have been seen as risqué during the Slutwalk - i.e. very little. As they passed I overheard them complaining loudly about the looks and derogatory remarks they were receiving as they exercised their god given right to sightsee almost nude in a fiercely muslim country.

It baffles me, it really does, why common sense is not used more often. It works, its free and in general most people have it

However correct the banners and ladies parading through London were I doubt very much they will do much to change the situation. Until the time we can all live how we want, where we want and ebony and ivory are in perfect harmony, side by side on my piano, I will continue using common sense to avoid undesirable situations.

I would suggest everyone else does the same.