“Shifting the paradigm of rape culture” with Amber Rose

Who is Captain Save-a-Hoe?

Captain Save-a-Hoe, was the persona of Amber Rose, the Slutwalk’s fearless leader and face of the movement, dedicated to, “raising awareness about sexual injustice and gender inequality.”

The well-publicized festival, and march took place on Sunday, Oct.1 at Perishing Square, in Downtown Los Angeles. It featured a pink carpet, “Walk of no same wall”, musical appearances, and an art empowerment show.

The Amber Rose Slutwalk was modeled after protests in Toronto as a result of a police officer telling a group of college women that they shouldn’t dress like sluts if they wanted to avoid sexual assaults. This sparked the first Slutwalk in Toronto in 2011 and 3,000 people came out after organizers planned for a crowd of 200.

The movement has been gaining momentum, especially after Amber Rose started a Slutwalk here in the United States. The Amber Rose Slutwalk is funded by the Amber Rose Foundation, a nonprofit that has several goals: gender equality and to end rape culture, victim blaming, and slut and body shaming.

Amber Rose, born Amber Levonchuck, is a former stripper, model, and reality tv host. She has catapulted to fame after being in Young Jeezy and Kanye West’s music video “Put On”.

Rose created a video with Funny or Die in 2015 called Walk of No Shame to promote her first Slutwalk. In it, she encounters a man who seems to be catcalling her, and instead says she is an inspiration to his daughter. Another stranger inclined to make their opinion known is an initially disapproving old woman who discloses that she herself has had many a romp and had to walk home the next morning. All of this is to say that Rose is no stranger to standing up for herself and other women.

Celebrity guests who attended the event included Blac Chyna and Lily Singh, also known as iiSuperwomanii on YouTube. Rupi Kaur, a Canadian poet, read some of her own poetry which have themes of love, loss, abuse, and femininity.

This was the first year Amber Rose had a conference to empower women in their sexuality. Panelists included Dr. Chris Donaghue, a doctor of clinical sexology and human sexuality, Gigi Engle, a writer, sex educator and feminist activist, and Audrey Bellis, who founded #WorthyWomen.

Rape culture is a sociological concept in which rape is normalized due to sex and gender attitudes. Here in the United States, it can be disheartening to see such crimes go unjustly punished. Brock Turner is one example of privilege and rape culture here in the United States. A former Stanford University swimmer, Turner sexually assaulted an unconscious woman and spent only three months behind bars. He exemplified a broken system. Amber Rose’s Slutwalk is one way to get the conversation started on this topic.

At the Slutwalk, many women dress provocatively. Blac Chyna, a celebrity friend of Rose and a former stripper, showed up in a see through glittering mesh dress with a black bra and thong. The purpose of wearing such risque clothing is to dispel the notion that what a woman wears has anything to do with asking to be sexually assaulted.

Projected to have had 20,000 participants, the Slutwalk is engaging more and more people into this conversation. The inclusion of speakers and performers at this year’s events is one way to draw in crowds and further the Amber Rose foundation’s mission.