How not to argue effectively: The SlutWalk

Continuing with last week's theme for how not to argue here is another great example, the Slutwalk.

The Slutwalk is an organized protest of mostly women dressing in "sluty" clothes and parading through the streets for a while for . . . . well it's not entirely clear what they are trying to accomplish (and that's part of the problem).

The first Slutwalk was organized in response to a Toronto police officer's comments that women should avoid dressing like sluts to avoid being victimized. Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, as women in city took streets doing the first "Slutwalk" in reaction to his statement.

Before I say anything else let me be clear, rape is a horrifically evil crime and if I had my way we would execute all rapists. Unlike other crimes which can be moral acceptable under certain circumstances (theft, killing), rape can never in any way be justified. So with that said . . .

The SlutWalk is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen and it actually advances goals that are counter to many of its stated objectives. I'd say it's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of, but I've heard Charlie Sheen explain his philosophy of life and Joe Biden talk about hanging out with people at Home Depot.

The stated goals of the protests are to take back the word "slut" (Wikipedia, huffingtonpost,) and to counter what the protestors believe is a culture that blames the victims of rape rather than the rapist (huffingtonpost, telegraph.co.uk).

Any rational person understands that a rapist is to blame for rape, not the victim. No type of context or circumstance can shift the blame over to the victim. There are examples of judges and other legal authorities partially blaming the victims, (huffingtonpost) but such authorities are wrong. They are behaving in a morally reprehensible way and not honoring their responsibilities to the law and citizens.

The idea that the word "slut" can be "taken back" is absolutely ridiculous. In order for something to be "taken back" you had to posses at some point and then it was taken away from you. Did regular women ever own the word "slut?" No, they didn't. While the entomology of the word does relate to dirt and being dirty in the physical sense the word has never had positive conations. What this is actually about is a group of people who don't want to be labeled anything negative for being sexually promiscuous. The actual idea is that it is wrong to say it's bad for women to be sexually promiscuous. So they want to make the word "slut" a good or neutral word because the connotation it makes is that sexually promiscuous women are morally inferior. God help us all if we say or in any way assume that being sexually promiscuous is morally wrong.

There is a valid point in this otherwise ridiculous idea. It is true that no women, even a "slut," deserves to be raped. Yes it is possible for a prostitute to be raped and that is morally and legally wrong. However even a basic amount of thought will indicate that being sexual promiscuous increases the likelihood of a women being raped or harassed. Is a prostitute or a monogamous women more likely to be raped?

It is not "victim blaming" to say "If you engage in these types of behaviors the statistical odds of you getting harassed or raped increase, so avoid those types of behaviors and your odds will be better." This is not fundamentally different than other types of crime. If I prop my apartment door open, leave for the day, and return to find my Playstation and books have been stolen am I responsible? No, the thief is. However my behavior did increase the odds of me becoming a victim. People wouldn't call me a thief, but they would say I was stupid and should have expected that to happen. Likewise people (men or women) who dress provocatively, hang out at college parties, and drink a lot of alcohol are not responsible if they get raped. But they have dramatically increased their level of risk and they are behaving in a foolish way.

Victim blaming is where you say to the victim that they are responsible for what happened to them. If I am "victimized" by my apartment complex (they kick me out) because I didn't pay the rent, then it is appropriate to blame me. I'm clearly at fault. Telling a women that getting black out drunk gave the rapist an opportunity he otherwise would not have had is not victim blaming. It's a fact of reality.

What the SlutWalk proponents are failing to understand is the difference between direct and indirect cause. If I hit a coworker in the face I am directly responsible for it and should be held accountable (unless the coworker deserved it). The coworker is indirectly responsible because he took actions that placed him the position where he could be hit by my fist. Perhaps the coworker couldn't have known that I would hit him, but suppose the coworker knew that I was mad at him and that I had made threats against him, but he still came to work. He is still not responsible for getting punched in the face, but he knowingly took action the increased the likelihood he would be. To some degree the legal system understands this. If I get drunk, try to drive home, and end up killing a bystander when I crash my car I will charged with manslaughter, not murder. My actions lead to the bystander's death, but his death was an indirect cause that I did not intend. So I am not a murderer, but I am responsible for the bystander's death.

What the Toronto police officer was effectively saying is that women who dress "sluty" are more likely to get rapped than women who do not. While some evidence does suggest this is not true (Most people who study crime say that rape is primarily about power, not sex) that hardly amounts to "victim blaming." He was trying to warn women away from behavior that might make it more likely they would be assaulted.

The SlutWalk proponents are ignoring the real problem of rape (the rapists) and going after people who are trying to prevent it (the police officer) or people who have nothing to do with it (the morality police and editors of dictionaries). Instead of cries for tougher prison sentences for rapists or stronger police tactics against suspected rapists, they are demanding that people not tell them how to dress and are trying to say the word "slut" shouldn't have negative connotations. Not only does this completely fail to address the relevant issue (something like one in six American women will be raped and most rapists go unpunished, {houghingtonpost, Wikipedia}), but (if everything I just argued about indirect causation and the relevant statistics are correct) they are adding to the problem by encouraging women to put themselves at a higher risk of being raped. Essentially,

1. Indirect causation exists and can be used to understand how some things happen.

2. Certain factors and contexts (dress, behavior styles, etc) do increase or decrease the possibility of a women being raped.

3. The SlutWalk proponents are encouraging behavior that statistically increases the likelihood of women being raped and so are promoting things that are against their stated purpose.

The point on arguing effectively is simple. Think about what you are doing and saying. Good intentions and good feelings do not excuse bad arguements and poor execution. A little basic thought and questioning reveals the massive holes and fallacious nature of these protests. There are a lot of things the protesters could do that would actually help the issue and make it harder for rapists to commit crimes. Instead they are all "dressing down" and holding signs. I'm quite certain a large number of the protesters actually do care about the high amounts of rape. Just think about what 3,000 people (the number at the Toronto SlutWalk) could have done by working at rape treatment and prevention center or partnering with police to turn in rapists. The poor fools are inadvertently adding the very problem they are trying to fight against.

This is exactly why I never go to protests. Protests accomplish nothing other than making protestors feel better about themselves. Well . . . that might not be entirely true, but that argument's for another time.