On the night she was raped, Annalisa Sher was wearing a sheer top.
According to the detective she reported the incident to, it was perhaps her choice of clothing that provoked the assault.
![Annalisa Sher protesting outside the State Library during the annual SlutWalk down Swanston Street on Saturday.](/web/20160906134439im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/8/3/g/x/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gr83jq.png/1472897789473.jpg)
"My see-through top 'didn't help my cause'," Ms Sher says she was told.
The 25-year-old was one of almost 1000 people who flocked to the State Library of Victoria on Saturday to protest against victim blaming and "slut-shaming".
![Protesters march in the annual SlutWalk along Swanston Street.](/web/20160906134439im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/8/3/g/h/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gr83jq.png/1472897789473.jpg)
Ms Sher says she was determined to come to Saturday's SlutWalk rally to be part of a movement trying to change old-fashioned perceptions that women who wear revealing outfits are "asking for it".
"It's time for this to change," she says. "And I want to be smack bang in the middle of it."
Event co-founder and co-organiser Karen Pickering says SlutWalk's timing just weeks after female students at a Berwick high school named on a porn sharing website were told to stop wearing short skirts is ironic, but not surprising.
"Every year this event coincidences with the issue of policing women's clothing. There's a lot of push-back against that now," she says. "But people come every year because the issue hasn't gone away."
Catherine Manning, whose Facebook post venting about the school's response to female students after it was found to be implicated in the global porn website went viral, was one of four speakers on the day.
She encouraged people to call out slut shaming for what it was.
"Keep calling it out every single time, every little bit helps," she says.
"For those you who insist on shaming young girls for their clothing choices, the next time you see a young girl wearing a short skirt, be really happy for her that she's comfortable in her skin, show her some love and respect and know that she's not asking for your judgement."
She says her daughter's school, Kambrya College, apologised to female students for telling them to lengthen their skirts, and accused the media of chasing a salacious headline and then failing to follow-up and report this "win" for parents and women.
Talitha Free attended Saturday's rally, Melbourne's sixth SlutWalk, to support other victims. She was kidnapped and assaulted when she was 17 and was later told by a counsellor that her clothing could have been a contributing factor in the incident.
She urged other women to be comfortable in wearing whatever they wanted to.
"But what you wear is 100 per cent not consent," the 20-year-old says.
Event co-organiser Jessamy Gleeson says SlutWalk is about raising awareness. "We've had a fantastic turn-out, so I'd say it's working," she says.