Amber Rose is a role model. Yes, you read that right. The woman who has been slut shamed by every publication and even her exes, has taken a stand against them. How? You may ask, well the answer is simple, with her slutwalk.
Amber Rose, the model who is formerly known as Wiz Khalifa’s wife, has become a feminist pioneer in her own right partly because of her annual slutwalk.
Rose started her slutwalk in 2015 after Kanye West, Amber’s ex-boyfriend, went on "The Breakfast Club", a New York radio show and said, “If Kim had dated me when I wanted, there would be no Amber Rose. It's very hard for a woman to want to be with someone that's with Amber Rose. I had to take 30 showers before I got with Kim."
Kanye went on the radio and talked about numerous topics, including Amber, that many listeners-like myself--had a problem with. One of those topics was West’s sister-in-law, Kylie Jenner’s relationship with “rapper” Tyga. Now, even though neither Tyga nor Kylie publicly said anything until she turned 18, they didn’t need to. Based on their Instagrams and feud with Tyga’s ex wife, Blac Chyna, it was apparent to everyone that they were together. Amber, being Chyna’s best friend and a woman herself saw something wrong with a 17 year-old going out with a 25 year-old, and since none of Kylie’s family said anything about how wrong the relationship was, Amber decided to. And then the aforementioned feud started.
Because Amber is no stranger to public scrutiny, she decided to take West’s words and use them to her advantage. So following West’s appearance on the radio show, Amber and Blac Chyna decided to call more attention to slut shaming by wearing body suits covered with words that degrade women at the 2015 Video Music Awards.
However, Amber isn’t the first woman to host a slutwalk, the first was in 2011 in Toronto. The goal of a slutwalk is to empower women who have been slut shamed. Some women are seen wearing lingerie to combat the issue that for some reason women are "asking" to be slut shamed based on the clothes they wear.
The first slut walk was a response of “a flippant remark reportedly made by a police officer after a spate of sexual assaults on the campus of Canada's York University. According to local media reports, the officer said: 'Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized,'" according to CNN.
The success of Amber’s first walk, which took place in L.A. during October of 2015 featured many milestones for the one time slut shamed model. At the slut walk, there were signs saying, “Strippers have feelings too!” “F--- your 30 showers!” and “We’re taking slut back!” as well as hundreds of women backing Amber Rose and her statements.
After seeing the turnout from the first and wanting to empower more women, in 2016 Amber Rose announced the second slutwalk to take place in L.A. on October 1st.
I am so proud of Amber for taking a stand and taking back the meaning of the word, slut. What was once a word with a negative meaning, is now used to show women how not to be ashamed of being sexual beings.
Amber Rose has grown as a woman and is not afraid to speak her mind about any issue. She has encouraged me to speak out about issues that I believe need to be addressed, and I thank her for that.
