Don't let it Pass You by.

You get past a certain age, don't ask me what it is, and time can pass you by. Being in my fourties now means I am middle aged and in some aspects I am stuck in the past (apparently it happens to us all).

Take the new phenomenon that is catching on around the world, and had its origins in Toronto, these 'slut walks'. The idea came about when two police officers gave a talk to local university students after a few serious incidents, Michael Sanguinetti outraged the students by saying "if you really want to know how not to get raped don't dress like a slut". This wasn't the first comment of that sort made recently where the victim is blamed for rape crime, and there is also a long history of this. Reporting and conviction levels for rape are low. See the following statistics :

• 23% of women are sexually assaulted as an adult in Britain—and 5 percent are raped
• 54,602 sexual offences were committed in 2010 according to the British Crime Survey—up from 53,091 in 2009.
  It recorded a 6 percent increase in the number of most serious sexual crimes—up to 44,693 from 42,187
• 40% of adults who are raped tell no one about it. Of the rapes that are reported, less than 6 percent result in a conviction
• 86% of rape victims know their attacker, exposing the myth that it is what women wear that leads to sexual assault

So young women are on the march again, fighting for the right to wear and dress how they want and not be raped or abused. A popular slogan on the march is "however we dress, wherever we go, yes means yes and no means no". Good stuff.

Now this is where I got caught out because I could see sort of what was going on, but felt really uncomfortable with the name of the demonstration being 'slut walk', because to me ( being old fashioned) I took that fairly literally to be a rallying cry, rallying us to demonstrate as sluts. Of course there is that confusion, but as the demonstrations have gained momentum, interest and popularity, it seems that it is more than just trying to appropriate the term 'slut' but sort of carving out some solidarity. If a woman is blamed for being raped because of the way she dresses and she is called a slut, then we are all sluts because none of us are. Strange logic I know, but its a kind of strange Spartacus moment. Rather than single out any one women for dressing like a slut; we all are, so pick on all of us; or leave us alone ( the prefered option).

Its a bit of a head twist, but kind of cool, although I still would feel uncomfortable about joining the demonstrations under that banner, but hey, I am a bit passed it now, you young people have to understand this and make allowances. There was one today in London which I missed, but I am very glad something is taking place and that young women are taking to the streets demanding the right not to be abused and raped. I will endeavour to join the protests in future.

Now the other way that I got stuck in the past was how I just didn't get the grime scene, but Mic Righteous has managed to get through to me thank god, and now I can't get enough of it. Unfortunately I have only one grime CD by big cakes. I did always treasure that CD, but I am so hungry for grime, I want more. I'm hooked, I love the ethos, the passion, the lyrics and have just cottoned on to what the term 'represent' is all about. The rappers 'represent' themselves and their peers, then Mic Righteous says 'in the hope that you represent us too'. I find this concept so exciting in that what ever I do, wherever I go, I represent those who inspire me, the young grime mc's whose music and lyrics I love, they represent eachother, and then for all of us, young and old we do and we can get that little bit closer, and closer to being one world, one love. Peace! Yay!