SlutWalk: Contextualizing the movement

Prior to becoming a robust transnational movement, SlutWalk was a local movement in response to a local issue, influenced by the political, cultural, and historical realities of Toronto, Canada in 2011. This paper focuses on the specific local contexts that led to the movement's emergence in Toronto, and in so doing, can inform the diverse commentaries of SlutWalk both in academic publications and elsewhere. Contextualizing SlutWalk in this way allows for meaningful dialogue around the issues of the movement that can be critical, without simply criticizing. Contributing to feminist theory-building, it analyzes the challenges and opportunities that arise as younger generations of feminists assume leadership roles within feminist activism, and the inevitable frictions that arise when a local feminist movement is transnationalized. Positioning Slutwalk as a case study, this paper emphasizes the importance of context as a basis for first understanding, and then critiquing, feminist activism.