[Wamvan] My report on SlutWalk for the Georgia Straight

[Joanna Chiu]

Hey Farida,

Thanks for your feedback! It's too bad you weren't able to make it. Natalie,
Mandavni, Elyse, Rachel, Lau, Isaac and a few other WAM members were there.
:)

As for the stats, I got the initial 1500 estimate from eavesdropping on a
news anchor's report, and I got the "over 2000" estimate from the SlutWalk
organizers. It was corroborated by my own observations too since the numbers
visibly increased as the march progressed.

I'm also curious about how to best come up with estimates for highly
attended events, though. The organizers definitely did not have a sign-in
table, and people joined and left as the walk went on.

For Toronto's SlutWalk, I've seen estimates ranging from 1000 to 3000.
Clearly, those numbers are just estimates and no one did any head counting.

Does anyone have any advice about this?

Joanna




On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 2:16 PM, Farida Hussain <faridahussain1 at gmail.com>wrote:

> Nicely done,
> Joanna, I didn't attend the walk - thanks for describing who all came and what they
> said. I like that you began with the "What to wear to slutwalk"
> consideration - must have been on at least a few people's minds.
>
> One question that I always have when reporting on these sort of events is
> "how many came?" you reported 2000 - was wondering if that is just a
> ballpark figure frm your own estimation, or if you got that number from an
> organizer, or was there some sort of sign-up sheet/ registration table where
> you got that number?
>
>
>
> On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 12:27 PM, Joanna Chiu <chiu.joanna5 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I attended SlutWalk Vancouver yesterday as a reporter for the Georgia
>> Straight. I've been following the debates about SlutWalk on the web, and
>> I've been raring to write a response but I wanted to wait until I attended
>> SlutWalk Vancouver.
>>
>> Just as I expected, the walk itself responded to all the criticisms I've
>> heard about SlutWalk.
>>
>> Here's my report. Please check it out and let me know what you think:
>> http://www.straight.com/article-392947/vancouver/slutwalk-vancouver-raises-bar-movement-against-victimblaming
>>
>> As other WAM members have pointed out, SlutWalks are grassroots events
>> that organize independently in each city. While Vancouver's organizing team
>> did an amazing job of thoughtfully unpacking the word "slut," integrating
>> diversity into every aspect of the event (in a non-tokenistic way), and
>> addressing complex topics like sex work and transphobia head on, I can't say
>> that this is true for every SlutWalk in every city because I've only
>> attended Vancouver's SlutWalk.
>>
>> If you have had a chance to attend a SlutWalk in another city, please let
>> us know what you thought of it.
>>
>> I would encourage anyone who attended SlutWalk yesterday to produce media
>> about it (whether that's blogging, releasing photos or videos, etc.). The
>> mainstream media's coverage of SlutWalk Toronto's event was awful and
>> superficial, but as the dialogue is developing and more feminist journalists
>> are stepping in, the coverage is becoming more intelligent and nuanced (even
>> when feminist journalists do not fully support SlutWalk).
>>
>> Thank you for all your work!
>>
>> Joanna
>>
>> --
>> Joanna Chiu
>>
>> Freelance Writer
>> joannachiu.com <http://www.joannachiu.com/>
>> twitter.com/joannachiu
>>
>> Founder, WAM! Vancouver
>> wamvancouver.wordpress.com
>> twitter.com/wamvancity
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>
>
> --
> *Farida Hussain*
> Student, Journalist
> UBC Graduate School of Journalism
> Phone: 604 649 8619
>
>
>
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>


-- 
Joanna Chiu

Freelance Writer
joannachiu.com <http://www.joannachiu.com/>
twitter.com/joannachiu

Founder, WAM! Vancouver
wamvancouver.wordpress.com
twitter.com/wamvancity
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