Lauren Martin

SlutWalk 2011

Would you walk two miles across London city, declaring yourself as a slut? Well that’s exactly what 5000 women (and a few men thrown in too) did this past month. The protesters were involved in the UK’s first ever SlutWalk.

The SlutWalk first came about in Canada after a male police officer told women that they should stop dressing like sluts to avoid being raped. The officer, who was giving a lecture to Law students in Toronto, caused global outrage and thousands of women gathered Canada’s capital and formed the first ever SlutWalk.

The message that women are trying to convey is that women have the right to wear (or not wear) whatever they like without facing sexual harassment. Blaming victims, some women say, has no place in 2011.

With this strong message behind them, thousands of women dressed in as little as underwear marched from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square with message boards reading: “Yes means Yes, No means No; however we dress, wherever we go!”

Despite the upbeat and positive vibe that day, the protest has caused controversy because of its name. However organisation Rape Crisis, who is involved in SlutWalk, has said that the women are trying to reclaim the word slut, so it’s no longer used in a derogatory manor.

London isn’t the only city getting involved. Walks have already taken place in New York, Mexico City, Delhi among others. And although each city’s walk is different the message stays the same; with organisers saying that the campaign will carry on until rape conviction increases and victims get justice.

CARNAGE: Is it all that bad?

It has become the biggest selling student night, attracting thousands of students across the UK every year. After recent bad press, some are saying Carnage should be banned. The fancy dress event takes place in some of the UK’s largest cities; with Southampton holding a Carnage bar crawl several times a year.

The event is organised by Carnage UK, owned by the Varsity Leisure Group, and sees thousands of university revellers descend on to some of Southampton’s hottest nightspots each term.

Laura Tomkins, who used to work at Buddha, a Carnage Venue, says: “Carnage nights are truly one of the busiest for us. It gets crazy.”

Earlier this month, saw over one thousand two hundred students attend a Carnage UK organised bar-crawl with the theme of “Beauty vs. Geek”.

And although, the latest Carnage remained a rather tame night for Southampton, back in October 2010 a Southampton University student was photographed urinating on the Cenotaph in Watts Park, near the entrance of one of the venue.

“It seems like for this one night students don’t care what they do. They run around the city like animals – fighting, vomiting, it’s not nice,” continues Tomkins.

The recent bad press has shone a light on the negativity of mass student nights, and its impact on the city. Southampton MP John Denham has urged for a ban on Carnage UK from running the controversial events, but as of yet Carnage still seems to be going strong.

At least twenty student unions have banned Carnage UK and its advertising from its premises and have threatened to withdraw their endorsements with any bar that takes part within the last two years.

However, Southampton is yet to ban the event and continuing taking part in the UK student sensation. The main concern involving many is that these Carnage events encouraged binge drinking among university students.

However, Kyle Johnson, an organiser for the Carnage events, says: “We do not focus on alcohol and definitely do not encourage binge drinking. Our events are focused on group Identity.”

And if Carnage were banned, would it truly discourage students from binge drinking? With an estimated 34,000 students calling Southampton their home during term time, alcohol consumption and rowdy revellers are surely expected in the city.

“With or without Carnage, I think students are still going to consume alcohol, get drunk and go out”, says Johnson. “Our events just create group morality. It’s a place for all students and only students.”

And with university fees expected to rise shortly, and money being tight for everyone, let alone students, £10 for entry for all your favourite bars seems rather cheap, and one of the possible attractions for students.

Johnson reveals: “The t-shirt is £10 and gains you access to roughly ten venues. We make it that price because we know students don’t have money to burn. It’s cheap enough that most people can join in.”

Galliano is out. Good on Dior.

I am not shocked in the slightest that John Galliano was fired from Dior last week, after making anti-Semitic and racist remarks in a drunken rant. The flamboyant British designer was filmed in a bar in Paris and declared: “I Love Hitler.”

Galliano has been creative director of the haute couture French fashion house for fifteen years, and is now under police investigation, following the outrageous remarks he made.

Who will take over from Galliano at Dior?

He was being filmed by two women, one being famed art historian Geraldine Bloch, and went on to say: “People like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers would be fucking gassed and dead.”

And as if it couldn’t get any worse for the man famed for breaking all the rules in fashion, it suddenly all fell apart for him when Bloch alleged that Galliano grabbed her hair and screamed “dirty Jew face, you should be dead.”

Not only does he apparently not like Jewish people, it also became clear that Galliano doesn’t like cheap shoe’s either, telling Bloch: “I can’t bear looking at you. You’re wearing cheap boots.” Bizarre!

And then Galliano sashayed out of the bar, as if he was on the catwalk.

Dior declared that they have a “zero tolerance” policy towards anti-Semitism, and it’s assumed that on Friday Galliano was let go. And I’m glad they dealt with it in an appropriate manner and didn’t drag this out for months on end.

“Because of the particularly odious character of the behaviour and comments by John Galliano in a video made public on Monday, The Dior house decided to suspend him immediately and has engaged in a process to dismiss him,” a statement said.

And if that that didn’t make him look like a jackass enough, a separate complaint was filed by another women on Saturday for similar behaviour in October.

All this has come completely at the wrong time for Dior, with just days left before their show at Paris Fashion Week is meant to run, and at the moment it is unclear as to whether the show will go ahead as planned.

Not only did Dior wash their hands of him, but now newest face of Dior, actress Natalie Portman, who is Jewish herself, has had enough of his behaviour as well.

“In light of this video and being proud to be Jewish, I do not want to be associated with Mr. Galliano in any manner whatsoever,” she said.

I’m not surprised by this in any way. I hope Galliano gets help, apologises and gets back to what we all want to hear about – Kate Mosses wedding dress.