In The Duel, 24 hours columnists David Eby and Kathryn Marshall battle over the issues of the day. Who's the winner this week? Fire us an email at van24feedback@sunmedia.ca. 150 words or less please.

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC - The SlutWalk.

Kathryn seems to worry a lot about what women are wearing. If it isn't women wearing too much clothing, like the niqab, it's too little clothing at a protest.

Here's the deal with "freedom" - it means you're able to dress the way you like and not face punishment for it. Punishment like going to jail or punishment like a police officer telling you that you deserved to be assaulted because you were dressed like a slut.

Freedom from government interference in how we dress doesn't mean you get to dress how you please before you show up for the job interview if you hope to get the job, or before you head into that reunion if you want your mom not to have a heart attack.

How we dress, and social conventions around it, still communicates a lot, even in a free society. As a result, turning those social conventions about acceptable dress upside down can make a point, like at SlutWalk. In fact, dressing outrageously to make a point about women's freedom to dress as they please is the whole point of SlutWalk.

Read Kathryn Marshall's column

There's no requirement at the walk to dress in a particular way. Some people dress provocatively, most don't. Check out the pictures online. It's called "SlutWalk" because the police officer who started this snowball down the hill liked that word. It's a push back, not a dress code.

As we come up on Pride weekend, it's important to recognize that not all protests have to be a group of dour people standing around holding picket signs. Pride weekend is a protest and a demand from the queer community for respect and inclusion. It's also a whole lot of fun, it plays on provocative themes, and people get it.

Would the Pride parade be as effective if everyone just dressed in business casual and distributed informational brochures about the LGBTQ community? Likely not.

I agree with Kathryn that if we want to get serious about violence against women the answer is education, supporting programs and shelters for women. But it's going to take government commitment to funding those programs rather than, for example, funding oil industry subsidies, to get there.

Would SlutWalk be any more effective at moving government if it were called the Women's Equality March?

I'll tell you this much, Kathryn and I wouldn't be writing about women's shelter funding this week if it were.