"There’s a huge difference between harassing a woman and trying to start a conversation. Here are some tips: talk to her, not at her. Treat her with respect: be aware of her personal space, ask her how she’s doing or what she’s reading instead of commenting on her body parts, look at her face instead of her chest. If she ignores you, drops eye contact, or walks away, back off. It wasn’t rude of you to approach her, but she’s not being rude if she doesn’t want to keep talking to you, especially if you initiated conversation while she was running an errand, waiting for the bus, or on her computer at a coffee shop."

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After walking around West Hollywood Park and seeing young women holding signs that referenced their childhood rapes, it was difficult to think of a single reason why SlutWalk wasn’t important or meaningful and I felt my reservations about the movement sliding away. Speaking to attendees like Mandy Burgundy, a 34-year-old trans woman who is harassed daily because of her style of dress, or Lillian Behrendt, a 21-year-old who bravely admitted to being sexually assaulted three times, really put things into perspective. Behrendt actually wasn’t going to attend the event, but as she read more about it, it began to feel more personal.

“Every time I was raped, it felt like my fault,” Behrendt said. “When I was first raped at the age of eight, that was the conclusion that I came to, but no one said it was my fault. Because of the culture we live in, I knew instinctively to blame myself for what happened. Victim blaming in not acceptable, it doesn’t matter who the victim is. Slut shaming is not ok, all it does is support and perpetuate rape culture. I’m doing this for personal reasons. Maybe I don’t unanimously support the SlutWalk message, but this is a start for a lot of us.”

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