Skirts were short, heels were high, but spirits were even higher at Thompson Center Plaza on Sept. 29 for Chicago’s SlutWalk, where self-proclaimed “sluts” and supporters against the idea that the provocatively dressed are asking to be sexually assaulted, marched south down State Street to Daley Plaza.

SlutWalk Chicago is a branch of a Toronto protest, in response to police officer Michael Sanguinetti’s statement that “Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.”

Now it has become a series of rallies around the world that walk to reclaim the word “slut,” and discourage “slut-shaming,” as well as raise awareness to the fact that a woman’s expression of her own sexuality is not her form of consent to the sexual advances of anyone.

Chants of “Yes means Yes! No means No!” and “Rape culture has got to go! Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho!” echoed through the Loop.

Hundreds of men and women in colorful body paint, skimpy dresses, underwear, fishnet tights, high-heeled shoes, heavy makeup, and some with barely any clothing at all, carried protest signs with sayings like, “My dress is not a yes!” “Don’t teach women not to get raped, teach men not to rape,” and “Consent is sexy!”