SlutWalk, Part 2

Lagging the Pioneer Press by several days, the Star Tribune offered up this story on the upcoming local SlutWalk Minneapolis:



Contrast that with the PiPress's version from earlier this week:


It's funny -- the difference between the play of the two stories perfectly embodies why the SlutWalk organizers chose the name in the first place. As one person quoted in the Strib story put it, "If they called it a women's empowerment march, would the media have paid any attention?"

Ask yourself -- which of these two stories would most readers be likely to read? "Protest March Divides Feminists" -- it's a straight-up news head, yeah. I'm sure that's the one they'd pick.

And don't forget the PiPress ran it on the front page, while the Strib ran it on page one of the Variety section (which some still remember as the "Women's Pages").

So once again, bravo to the PiPress designer and the editor who okayed this layout and placement. On the heels (no pun intended) of the news that FBI stats omit about 20 percent of rapes because their definition of the crime was written by Andy Rooney's grandpa, anything that calls attention to the realities of rape gets my vote.