AMBER ROSE SLUTWALK 2018

Saturday October 6th, 2018 -- the streets of Downtown LA were filled with hundreds of people for the 4th annual Amber Rose SlutWalk. The day was filled with moving speeches, live music performances, amazing sponsors and as expected, some watered-down advocacy. For this blog post, I've brought in a dear friend of mine that constantly educates me on the subject at hand.
Check out the guest blog post & photo gallery below! 
PHOTOS BY: Dario Tejada [@d.vision_] & C Torres [@ctorres.xyz]

GUEST BLOG POST WRITTEN BY: Mikaela [@missmikaela__]

My experience at the Amber Rose Slutwalk 2018 was both gratifying and infuriating.  I attended the march to advocate the rights of sex workers, more specifically non-cisgender sex works and sex workers of color.  I did not go alone, for I sat in alongside with the Los Angeles chapter of Sex Workers Outreach Project. SWOP is a national grassroots social justice organization that dedicates its time to speaking up for sex worker communities regarding decriminalization, destigmatization, safety, education, and standing with other movements (i.e. BLM, LGBTQI+, trans liberation).  It is run by current and past sex workers and I was fortunate enough to be alongside with them during the march. Our main objective was to cause a visual and audible disturbance to capture the attention of those attending. Instead of focusing on twerk competitions and selling lingerie, we wanted the people in the crowd, more specifically non-sex workers, to understand that human rights and social justice revolves around the advocating for decriminalizing sex work.  It was upsetting in how many girls came up to me and my associates during the march asking us why sex worker rights matter; however, it did allow me to educate people on the importance of not shaming those who make money performing sexual services. I also challenged these women to drop the brand of “feminism” that Amber Rose and other people who participate in diluted, “free-the-nipple,’’ one-sided white feminism. True feminism is not about allowing Instagram to post female nipples.  Real feminism is intersectional and highlights the histories of those groups who have been oppressed for so long. What SWOP-LA represents is giving reparations and opportunities to trans, Indigenous, Black, Xicanx, Southeast Asian, and other marginalized folks who have been victims of discrimination, criminalization, and Westernized nationalism. While I may not have been happy with the Slutwalk overall, I did feel that SWOP-LA and myself as an individual were able to educate people who were ignorant to these issues.