Recently, there has been a fair bit of controversy about the global Slutwalks, which started in
America after a police officer told students from Toronto's York University that if women want to avoid rape they shouldn't  dress like 'sluts.' The Slutwalks are protests against this attitude; girls and guys scantily clad march the streets in an effort to promote the 'dont tell us how to dress, tell men not to rape' philosophy. Adelaide has its Slutwalk scheduled for this Saturday. The idea is that no one deserves to be raped, and women should be able to dress how they like without fear of men exerting their physical dominance over them. If men have so little control over their brains that they cannot control themselves when they see a sexily dressed girl, then maybe they should be locked up!

However, as brilliant as these walks are, the problem begins, or at least is fostered, a lot closer to home then men. It disgusts me to say this, but the judgement on girls' worth based on their virginity starts at highschool, among girls. Regularly, I see my class mates log onto facebook and 'stalk' other girls, with comments like 'look at how she dresses she's such a skank/slut/whore' and 'i'd never wear anything that short, what a ho' populating the conversation frequently. Actually, they pretty much make up the conversation, along with who the poor girl apparently got with, and how could the guy have so little taste. How can anyone hope to change the way men view women when women tear down other women all the bloody time?  Strangely enough, these girls never tear down boys, only their peers. Girl spirit is extremely low. it's no wonder girls have self esteem problems right through highschool, and often still in later life!

Girls regularly objectify other girls for their sexuality, and they do it so normally that its not wonder boys do it too. Girls shouldn't have their worth judged by whether or not they've had sex or not; worth should be about being a good person. But no, in today's culture, a good person is defined entirely by how you dress and who you kiss.

Beyonce's new song "Who Runs The World (Girls)" is yet another example of how girls are objectified. Beyonce chants that girls run the world, whilst gyrating in lingerie around a SWAT Team, saying she could get them to do anything she wanted. But hey, its not because of your brains or your goodness as a characters, its because you've got a (barely clad) tits and ass that you're rubbing all over him Beyonce!  The message that this sends out is "Hey, girls have power, but you have to act like a sex goddess for it to be there.. but don't be too sexy, or else you'll be a slut and no one will want you." Beyonce is marketing to all girls that the way you can have power over guys is through your sexual prowess, which is completely the wrong message.

And it's not just the music that markets the wrong message, it's the damned clothing stores too. Supre (which is aimed at girls from 10 onwards) has recently been in trouble for shooting a clothing add that appeared on bus stops with topless models to sell the popular 'jeggings' pants. What sort of message is this sending to your ten year old when she has the pants she's told are fashionable linked in her head with topless girls?!

The world sees women as a minority group, and we are. We are powerless, and we are likely to remain so if we dont start realising that the concept of virginity being irreparably linked with chastity and moral goodness is not true.With girls being told from the ages of 10 that sexuality is the way to power but also makes you a slut and therefore of no worth, what are they supposed to think?!  People need to be judged on their personality, not whether they wait until marriage or not! Women need real power, and equality, not just power thats sold through sex, and the judgement that accompanies it!