There have been, as I’m sure, at this point, you’ve all noticed, many, many critiques of Slutwalk. For a brief, but thorough, summary, check out the Feminist Frequency’s Link Round Up: Feminist Critiques of Slutwalk. Critiques have ranged from questioning Slutwalk’s authority or ability to ‘reclaim’ a misogynist and gendered word like ‘slut’ and whether, in fact, such a thing is possible or desirable, to the marginalization of people and communities of colour and ignorance around how class and privilege might play into both the event as a whole, as well as factor into the assertion that ‘slut’ has been reclaimed and now means something awesome/compulsory-sexuality-for-everyone!, to the reinforcement of mychoice feminism (FUCK YEAH) in so much of Slutwalk discourse, which represents individual choice and personal empowerment as, somehow, a ‘movement’. Critiques have been nuanced, thoughtful, intelligent, and hey, we’d like to think, kinda important. And yet, when given any ‘air time’ from supporters, i.e. aside from the space given to critiques by the criticizers themselves, they are completely misrepresented and almost immediately erased. Once again.
In fact, much of the more positive coverage of Slutwalk, when it does pander to critics, for some reason, paints them as distracters and derailers; faulting them for leading the conversation off track into a purposeless argument of semantics. The Socialist Worker wrote, in a piece entitled: Sparks of a New Women’s Movement
“The Slutwalks also have their critics. But in many cases, the criticisms focus narrowly on the use of the word “slut” and don’t discuss the actual message of the protests and the wide popularity of their demand to stop blaming women for sexual assault.”
Wait a minute. We’re doing what now? In following the coverage of Slutwalk, as well as the statements and blogposts coming from the various satellites, admittedly, obsessively, I have noticed one thing. The focus, and the re-focusing of the conversation back to the word ‘slut’ and the intended reclaimation of the word as, been coming, not from the critics (though critics have most certainly addressed this issue), but from the organizers and satellites themselves.
When Chloe Angyal was included in a conversation on Seattle’s KUOW 94.9fm about Slutwalk, she argued that the protest wasn’t really about reclaiming the word and that, rather it was about “protesting the idea that sluttiness causes rape.” Other feminist writers and supporters have done the same in an effort to keep the Slutwalk conversation on track, reminding folks that this is really about fighting rape culture and victim blaming, often noting that really it’s the critics who are doing all the derailing, that we are “discrediting the movement”, when we should, in fact, be talking about rape.
Now, I agree (and I *think* I’ve made this very clear) that we should indeed be having conversations about and taking action against victim-blaming, sexual assault, and rape. I understand and support the initial anger against the Toronto cop who engaged in victim blaming, as well as the desire to take action. The fact that the discourse and the action has been derailed into a conversation and focus on ‘sluts’, language, reclaiming language, privilege (in terms of who calls themselves slut, why, and what this means) and, yeah, essentially arguments around semantics can be credited squarely in two places:
1) The organizers who decided to name the event ‘Slutwalk’
2) The Slutwalk organizers and supporters and satellites who keep asserting that these walks are, in fact, about reclaiming the word ‘slut’.
In response to Angyal’s pretty mild (and supportive) statement on KUOW 94.9fm, Seattle Slutwalk felt the need to issue this open letter, clarifying that:
“Reclaiming, or more accurately, reappropriating the word “slut” is a fundamental cornerstone of the movement, as a brief look at our posters bearing the slogan “reclaim the word slut” would suggest.”
As we have already witnessed, both Slutwalk DC and Slutwalk Toronto, have stated the same thing.
On May 16th, Slutwalk Calgary issued a statement which addressed the whole issue of ‘The Name’, concluding that “This will probably be our last comment on the name. That conversation is nothing more than a distraction from the real issue, which is our communities blaming sexual assault survivors for the actions of their attackers. Period.” Well. Ok. I agree. Sort of. The conversation should be about blaming victims for having been assaulted. But wait. Then WHY is the conversation continually being re-focused back onto the whole name thing? And the assertion that one group, on behalf of all women, regardless to how this might impact them, are ‘taking it back’. MY opinion on this? If you don’t want to talk about the name, then don’t call your event Slutwalk.
It is not the fault of the critics that the conversation is being derailed. It is the fault of Slutwalk. And it is the fault of Slutwalk organizers who keep telling us that reclaiming slut is indeed central to the conversation.
Elizabeth Shulte, whose article I quoted earlier, really manages to erase and invalidate criticism, arguing that criticisms coming from activists on the left go “so far as to portray SlutWalk organizers as white and privileged, and therefore completely at odds with the concerns of women of color. One blogger even accused organizers of being “white supremacists.” *GASP*
Shulte goes on to criticize Gail Dines perspective on Slutwalk simply because on her website (way to stretch your research wings there) “Dines situates herself in the tradition of theorists Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin, who argue in favor of censoring pornography and every man’s culpability in violence against women.” So the marginalization of any criticisms at all are generously extended to anyone who dares to align themselves with radical feminist arguments. Which is, of course, what many of the criticisms are about.
We just can’t win, friends. Pointing out that race and class privilege are alive and well in this ‘movement’ is ‘absurd’, if you criticize the neoliberal, mychoice (FUCK YEAH) discourse with radical arguments, you are immediately erased from the discussion, and if you challenge the concept of reclaiming the word ‘slut’ and the impact that may have on women you are derailing.
Again, I’m lost. And I’ve really been following.
So which is it? Are conversations about the word ‘slut’ simply a tool used by critics to distract from the real issues? Are we just not getting the point? Are all critiques of Slutwalk ‘ shit’? Completely absurd? Or, are critiques being consistently dismissed and erased? For an event that claims to be completely inclusive, to really be listening, why are critics consistently being blamed for derailing?? The focus on the name, on the word, on the supposed ‘reclaimation’ of said word, is enforced and reinforced by Slutwalk organizers. As are, therefore, the derails into conversations about semantics. It seems like, if someone was really listening, there wouldn’t be such an active effort to erase and marginalize criticisms and to present them as being completely irrelevant.
Tags: media coverage, mychoice feminism, Post feminism, Slutwalk, Violence Against Women
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The supporters of the walk want to have their cake and eat it too. They waffle on whether they want to reclaim the word or not (though obviously many supporters outright state that this is their aim, as you note) and also argue that they use the name because no other term would get so much attention. The argument then stops. As if getting media attention was an end in itself. There seems to be no critical reflection (except from some critics, especially Dines) on *why* an event like “slut walk” would create a media splash and be such a magnet for young women. no critical reflection on why this is so popular. as if popularity in itself proved political merit. No one asks, media coverage -to what end?
To be fair,it’s true that the media attention has created a space for the critics, and for something close to a dialogue to happen. Even though as you point out, the critics opinions are then distorted in the aftermath. but if people listen to the actual podcasts and read the blogs like yours, this has been an opportunity to re-raise essential points about rape culture– I’m not usually so optimistic and my optimism actually ends at the point where I don’t see a pro-active response from radicals. Take back the night doesn’t cut it, and has not for decades. And the response, “no women are sluts” does not have the symbolic punch. I advocate for “perp walks”–we have to be imaginative here, because it will be impossible (I think) to roll out “real” perps. But we can have effigy like figures, and/or ask men to volunteer- and hey, that’s what I would call real support from men–not the “support” where men join in the fun-feminism to satisfy their own fantasies…Well that’s it for now, I better right my own blog on this.
My initial impression was that the use of the name was more about solidarity than it was about ‘reclaiming slut’, and the fact that, unfortunately, you aren’t going to get anyone talking by calling it ‘Sexual Assault Awareness Walk’.
But I think that we can all agree that the victim blaming message has been lost in the noise about the name. And, I certainly agree that the SlutWalk organizers share the blame by repeating the reclaim slut message. Part of the problem is that the SWTO organizers keep trying to defend themselves rather than accepting the criticism, which keeps spinning the reclaim slut issue back to the front.
I will say, however, that the SlutWalk satellites are separate from each other, and separate from SWTO. Each SlutWalk event will have its own individual goals based on the goals of the organizers. Which means that you very well can have SlutWalk Seattle wanting to focus on reclaim slut, and SlutWalks Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton wanting to downplay that aspect and focus on the victim blaming message (for their event).
Thank you for pointing out one of the many contradictions inherent in the SlutWalks that I am having trouble wrapping my head around. I have found it odd that organizers want to have their cake and eat it to by purposely naming the movement in a provocative manner destined to evoke criticism, and then asking critics to re-focus on the real meaning of the Walks.
Thank you for providing such a great resource of critical analyses of the movement through your blog and links–I have been trying to follow this issue myself and I too feel lost. One of the best discussions I’ve seen so far was hosted by Steve Paiken on The Agenda. You can watch it here: http://www.tvo.org/TVO/WebObjects/TVO.woa?videoid?934463278001
Despite having going to highschool with Ms Jarvis and having the utmost respect for her, I think she was well out of her element in that discussion. As a whole, I don’t feel as though the SlutWalk TO folks have communicated their message very well, and this whole debate about language just reinforces that belief for me.
Anyway, great blog–very thoughtful pieces. You’ve earned yourself a fan/reader here!
SLUT is a super-charged word and it has been used to subjugate women for a very long time. And it will continue to be used in this manner until its power is lost. Sometimes the way to resolve conflict is not to fight, not to raise our fists and say “Fuck no, I am not what you say I am” but to instead walk the other way and say “Fuck yeah, I’m a slut… so what?” Eventually the word will lose its charge. It can only hold power if its meaning is resisted.
So, really? The only way that slut-shaming will stop is when this happens, when SLUT stops being a bad thing to be. But, my belief is that engaging in semantic analysis like this, and participating in more blaming (of all things) – of a group of women who are TRYING TO DO A GOOD THING simply because it doesn’t suit our sensibilities just does more harm than it does good. It’s dangerously polarizing of the feminist group (intergroup fighting is never productive) and dilutes the fact that what everyone wants is for victim-blaming and slut-shaming to be a thing of the past.
Slutwalk’s organizers are being attacked by the very people who surely must know their intentions are good. Leave them alone already. Back to the issue, please?
@Sadie – The engagement in ‘semantic analysis’ was instigated and is perpetuated by organizers, supporters, participants, and of course, media. Not, as I have made very clear in this post, by critics. The only way slut shaming will stop is by challenging and rejecting patriarchy, sexism, and misogyny, hopefully putting an end to sexist, racist, and classist oppression at some point. Many Slutwalk supporters and organizers have been downright nasty to critics. While some have been great and have been completely open to civil and respectful conversations, many have simply attacked, misrepresented, insulted and lied about critics without even engaging in the criticisms. I do not think that intelligent criticism (and all of those critiques I linked to were, in my opinion, thoughtful and important) does more harm than good. I think that focusing and re-focusing the conversation on semantics, attacking, misrepresenting, and outright lying about critics is ‘dangerously polarizing’. The reason that the message about victim blaming is diluted is, in short, because of their focus on semantics, because of the fact that Slutwalk has alienated many, has attacked many, and has, more generally, refused to engage with critics at all, dismissing them as sex-haters or man-haters. Feminists are being attacked by many of these people. I don’t believe that what I have written, in terms of my comments here, have been an attack. I am trying to clarify what has actually been said, and trying to undo all the work that has been done to misrepresent critiques.
Meghan,
I hear what you are saying and I understand that you and others have concerns about SlutWalk’s messages (which are bound to be as varied as their organizations’ members and joiners). I also agree with your statements about what will help along the dissolution of slut shaming. I guess what I don’t get is why such criticism in the first place? And I don’t mean from you specifically, but just in general.
I don’t agree that things can’t get done in a peaceful, cooperative way. I don’t believe that criticism (which invariably leads to defensiveness, which fuels backlash and aggression… it has a very negative domino effect) is necessary to incite changes or inspire a conversation about an important topic such as this one. Once we harshly criticize each other or a group, we invite an argument, and one that will never be won. And as it stands now, we have two groups -who at their very core fundamentally agree that slut-shaming, victim blaming and our rape culture need to stop now- but because there are couple of points that they disagree on, the whole thing has been blown up and out of proportion and totally diluted the very positive intentions of it in the process. And this is really sad to me.
I propose a meeting of the minds, a “let’s find the many points we agree on and agree to disagree on those very few that we don’t” and be confident that the solidarity created by this union (because a united feminist movement carries so much more power than a divided one, this we know) is strong enough to sustain whatever comes its way. Because how can we ask others to stop participating in our blaming and shaming culture when we are doing exactly that … with each other?
~Sadie
“I don’t agree that things can’t get done in a peaceful, cooperative way. I don’t believe that criticism (which invariably leads to defensiveness, which fuels backlash and aggression… it has a very negative domino effect) is necessary to incite changes or inspire a conversation about an important topic such as this one. Once we harshly criticize each other or a group, we invite an argument, and one that will never be won.”
This is just sad. First of all, criticism is peaceful. Meghan isn’t beating anyone up is she? By “peaceful” you seem to mean “not rocking the boat”. Things do not get better if you do not rock the boat. Sometimes arguments are necessary, although this hardly could count as an argument. There has been some very thoughtful back and forth between critics and proponents of SlutWalk that could not be characterized that way. And you know, “Do not criticize” has never been good advice for oppressed people.
I took a thorough read through your blog (and some of the blogs you link to) and I think you’re better off giving women advice on how to ~please their man~ than telling activists they’re doing it wrong because other people get defensive. It seems like the only thing you do agree with us on is ending slut shaming, although your reasoning seems to be more self-serving than interested in dismantling the concept of sluthood because it oppresses women.
Thanks for writing all these recent pieces. Your subsequent comments responding to your critics have been great reading too. It all really resonates with me and I’m a new fan here.
That said, I don’t have a problem with using the word “slut” for the event itself. That’s the word the officer that sparked this whole thing used and it does pack a punch for the media. I definitely don’t think it would have ignited any satellite events without the word either. I am really disappointed, however, that it derailed the whole anti-rape culture message into what essentially amounts to choice-feminism, which I have HUGE problem with. From where I stand, choice-feminism is precisely the phenomenon that caused younger women to eschew the word feminist altogether because people like us were telling them that it’s bullshit. Then we became the baddies for “not getting it” and trying to tell women what they can and can’t do, which completely misses the point. It’s frustrating to put it mildly.
I’ve been in my own very heated conversations about SlutWalk lately and expect it to continue as my own satellite event in Seattle draws closer. I don’t plan to attend since the organizers came out with their statement that it IS about re-appropriating the word “slut” which I am disappointed about. I definitely would have gone otherwise. I really hope at least some of the media attention focuses on the anti-rape message.
Thanks for all the various links. I’ve got my night planned now!
@Nikoel – thanks for your comments. Regarding your point around choice feminism and its connection with young women eschewing the word feminist: Exactly. Choice feminism is, in my opinion a serious danger to the feminist movement. It is almost always used as a derail and as a way not to engage in actual challenges to the root of sexist oppression.
Exactly! Instead of patriarchy being the enemy, they’re rebelling against “us” (feminists who say choice-feminism is bs), which as we know, plays right into the hands of the patriarchy. It does nothing to further the movement to eliminate sexism, it makes sexism “ironic” which is just so obviously ridiculous it truly amazes me that there’s such a debate over it.
Hey, I’m one of the organizers of SlutWalk Seattle and the principle author of the letter sent to Chloe Angyal you mentioned. Just want to point out that while we’re all united under the SW banner, each SW has a great deal of autonomy. As the open letter no doubt made clear, we at SWS firmly believe in reappropriating the word “slut.” Calgary evidently does not feel the same way. We regret the inconsistencies between cities but given how new the movement is, it’s difficult to get all of us on the exact same page sometimes. If SW happens again in the future that’s something we’ll have to work on.
Anyway, I think your criticism (of how we handle criticism) is unfair because you’re misattributing who said what. You quote Elizabeth Schulte as though she’s the mouthpiece of SW. She’s a reporter for Socialist Worker, and to my knowledge, not in any way affiliated with or involved in the movement. This is the same problem that happened with KUOW (which, until an hour before the show, I was slated to speak on), where journalists are selected to speak on our behalf. Rather than take what these reporters have to say as the voice of SlutWalk, wouldn’t it make more sense to get the facts straight from the horse’s mouth? You could’ve emailed myself or any of the other organizers of Walks around the world to get our side of the story. You might find that we, the actual organizers whom neither the mainstream media nor most of our feminist critics are interested in hearing from, take these criticisms quite seriously. While feel the “White Supremacist” article contained assumptions about a few specific Walks, based on very skewed media coverage, widely generalized to the entire movement, as well as a generally hostile tone that targeted us for our (assumed) races and genders (without, yet again, taking the time to talk to us and learn anything about us or make suggestions), we came away from the article with a ton of new insight into how we can make SWS more inclusive for transgender people and people of color. That said, while I won’t dismiss her criticism as “absurd,” I do think we and Gail Dines have irreconcilable ideological differences.
Anyway, thanks for posting this and I’m happy to answer any questions. Maybe next time just realize that every SW is made up of individuals in different cities who don’t always see eye-to-eye with each other, and think about going to the source for the “real story.”
-Samuel Schimmel, on behalf of SlutWalk Seattle
I quoted Elizabeth Schulte because I was writing a post about the coverage of critiques of Slutwalk. Which tend to erase much of the criticism. I think that I make clear, from the get go (for example, the title of this piece is fairly self-explanatory), what it is I’m being critical of. I don’t believe I ever implied that this reporter was the mouthpiece for Slutwalk. This is the ‘real story’ as far as this story goes. Many of those who have been writing about Slutwalk have completely misrepresented criticism.
It is very clear that the various satellites do not ‘see eye-to-eye’ with one another. I think I point this out in all the writing I have done around Slutwalk, being sure to refer specifically to the satellite I am speaking about, as well as providing examples. Your suggestion that I should ‘go to the source for the real story’ is very thoughtful, but I wonder what it is you think I have gotten wrong here? It seems as though this suggestion is a default for many of the Slutwalk organizers, and yet, the ‘real story’ is right there in interviews, in images, in blog posts and articles, in actions. If I have written something that is incorrect here, I am happy to correct, but I tend to think that these kinds of responses are simply an effort not to address or acknowledge criticism, to simply brush it off by saying ‘oh these aren’t the ‘real’ facts’. And yet the places where the ‘real story’ is being clouded over is in the coverage of criticism, as I show here, in this post, wherein reporters and writers simply ignore criticism and paint it as ridiculous, extremist, or unfounded. This obscures the ‘real story’. And this is the purpose of this piece.
Okay, that’s fair. I guess I read it like you were criticizing SlutWalk as a whole for how the media portrays us or responds to criticisms of us.
-Samuel
Posted that before you added your second paragraph… regarding your second paragraph, this is my first visit to your site (we get articles like these through Google Alerts every few hours) so I’ll have to take a look at your own criticism before addressing it. I’d be interested in reading your feedback on SWS if you’d like to take a look at it (slutwalkseattle.com).
The only other thing I have to say has to do with the -purpose- of the criticism… it’s far easier to respond to it rather than brush it aside when it’s a) not derisive and hostile (this post, while not hostile, is a little ridiculing, not that I’m faulting you for it… I guess we’re just kind of used to it at this point) and b) aimed at being constructive, from a perspective of wanting to work with us to end victim blaming and slut shaming, rather than basically telling us to go home and stop doing what we’re doing. When we do get criticisms of the latter variety, from people who aren’t interested in hearing us out, especially because of our gender or race, sometimes the only thing we CAN do is shrug our shoulders, sigh “haters gonna hate!” and brush it away (misrepresenting criticism, if and when that occurs, is another issue entirely, of course). The vast majority of criticism of course comes from folks who don’t see victim blaming or slut shaming as a problem, and responding to that is what we’re all about. Proving these people wrong is exactly why I got involved with SW. As for our feminist critics, we can only say “here are some examples of reappropriated words, we think this will work too, please let us try doing our own thing” so many times.
-Samuel
Sorry about that.
I think you’ll find that much of the criticism has to do with this issue of reappropriating words…Honestly, I think that, while the message to end victim blaming is extremely important, the other messages coming from various satellites have been so convoluted and, at times, contradictory, that it is hard for me to get past that factor. While I am interested in ending sexual assault, rape, victim blaming, I am not interested in supporting an event called ‘Slutwalk’ nor in ‘reappropriating’ the word slut. More on that here: http://www.feminisms.org/2585/were-sluts-not-feminists-wherein-my-relationship-with-slutwalk-gets-rocky/
So I don’t know…I’m happy to hear you out, and have talked with several organizers. I think there are some fundamental issues with Slutwalk that I’m having trouble getting past.
A wonderful round-up – thank you! I was raped and I don’t support SlutWalk. They’re not subverting the word ‘slut’ they’re reinforcing the sexual objectification of women – the slut or ‘temptress’ is a powerful cultural archetype, and always will be, which lawyers in particular use as a well-worn legal tactic that’s about money not human rights. Should they use it? Of course not! But an ideology doesn’t stop having negative social connotations or ramifications overnight just because people say it should. Misogyny is rampant in our culture and the pornification of women dominates popular media. It’s so deeply disappointing that young women have bought into their own objectification to the point whereby they’re willing to reinforce it and promote it because it’s been marketed as cool. I believe they’re naive to allow themselves to be photographed as ‘promiscuous’, too – it may not seem so empowering when their images are taken out of context later. Raising money for rape services or walking against rape would have been much more useful than fighting for their right to be a sex object. I’m pleased the sensationalism has stirred wider debate about victim blaming and I believe feminists can learn from their clever marketing techniques to communicate more valuable messages. But those who walk are not walking, or speaking, for me.
Thanks for your comments, Ruby. I also find the ‘we have reclaimed slut’ statement coming from many satellites to be offensive. It does come across as though these voices are speaking for everyone. For all women. They are not. I find it particularly upsetting, also, to hear a man claim that ‘we’ have reclaimed slut, as though he is in any place to do so. Not all men have done this (i.e. I am not referring to Samuel, who commented above), but I have heard this from men involved in organizing those events who have stated that they have, in fact, reclaimed this word. I’m not sure that is an appropriate statement for a man to make. This term has, as I have written elsewhere, been used to hurt and silence women, primarily. The fact that several satellites have also, not only ignored the way in which the pornification and objectification of women plays into violence, sexual assault, and victim blaming, but even gone so far as to promote and support these images and industries is very disconcerting and only adds to the clouding over of the issues which should be foundational to such an event – i.e. ending rape and sexual assault.
Oh, indeed :) I’ve enjoyed your thoughtful commentary very much. Keep up the good work!
To start off, how do you folks feel about slut shaming? Do you think it’s an issue? How would you go about addressing it? While, as we articulated in our open letter, we don’t -rank- our issues per se, when describing SWS I talk about victim blaming and slut shaming equally, yet I don’t really see it addressed in the post you linked me to, Meghan.
Also, some pretty big news about the future of SW: http://slutwalkseattle.com/post/5821325795/satellite-slutwalk-updated-from-slutwalk-toronto
-Samuel
Did you take the time to look through the site? It doesn’t seem like you did. OF COURSE Meghan thinks it’s an issue – and she has stated it several times on this blog, although you should be able to figure that out without investigating because it’s obvious. The feminist position on slut shaming is very clear – it’s wrong. It is misogyny and the concept and term “slut” was created by men to oppress women.
I’m not certain, but I think all of the fans of this site would like “slut” to be abolished. No woman is a slut. We don’t think reappropriating the word is conducive to that goal or beneficial to women. Just because a few women can successfully pretend that the word is no longer used to degrade them doesn’t mean the intent of the word – when used by men to shame women – has changed. And SW Seattle’s logo? It’s just a woman’s butt and legs, with her panties showing. No face. No head. Just a sexy piece of meat. I don’t even know where to begin on how wrong that is for an event that’s about stopping slut shaming and victim blaming.
Also, you are not a woman. Your opinion on whether “slut” should be reappropriated is completely irrelevant.
“When we do get criticisms of the latter variety, from people who aren’t interested in hearing us out, especially because of our gender or race, sometimes the only thing we CAN do is shrug our shoulders, sigh “haters gonna hate!” and brush it away (misrepresenting criticism, if and when that occurs, is another issue entirely, of course).”
Poor men. Poor white people. It must be devastating to have your opinion brushed aside because you are part of the group that made it an issue in the first place.
Thank you ns. Bang on. Re: ‘haters gonna hate’ – this sounds an awful lot like dismissal and erasure of criticism, rather than addressing and engaging with it.
No Sugarcoating: no, I read the piece Meghan linked me to.
Regarding “haters gonna hate”… maybe I should elaborate. There is literally no way for me to respond to “you are not a woman” in an engaging way. That is not criticism. That is an ad hominem based on assumptions about me stemming from… my name on a screen? Excuse me?
“No Sugarcoating,” you have never met me. You know nothing about me other than my name. You know nothing about my gender identity nor expression, you know nothing about my sexual orientation, you know nothing about my race, you know nothing about my age, you know nothing about my socioeconomic status. You know nothing about my life experiences, nor the experiences of family and friends. And yes, it is absolutely devastating when somebody uses your identity against you as you are doing now.
I don’t label you based on guesses in order to discredit your opinion – I stick to debating the issues. Your ad hominems have no place in a discussion of substance. “Haters gonna hate” indeed, because I can’t change who I am and I’m not about to just give up and become apathetic because of that.
Meghan: my question stands, if you want to stop discussing me and start discussing the issues. If not, just say so, I’ll leave.
-Samuel
Why don’t you respond to the post at hand instead of derailing? I feel that NS responded to your query around ‘slut-shaming’ adequately. I also feel that it’s fairly obvious that I (as well as, I imagine, any feminist) do not think it is acceptable in any way to shame women based on how they have sex, if they have sex, who they have sex with, when they have sex, etc. Does that answer your question?
Oh, come on, Samuel. How stupid do you think we are? Even without paying attention to your name, (since when is Samuel a genderless name? I can understand Alex or Sam, but Samuel?) the way you complained about being judged for your gender/race was a dead giveaway that you are a white male. Are my assumptions wrong? You have not said so.
These “ad hominems” have a very relevant place in a “discussion of substance”, and I’m not sure if you’re being deliberately obtuse or if you really just are that ignorant. You are a man. The word slut is not used to degrade you. No matter the outcome of SlutWalk, your standing remains the same. This issue does not affect you. Women, on the other hand, have a very high stake in this. Our opinions are more important than yours for that reason. It would be completely inappropriate for a white person to expect that their opinion on reappropriating the n-word be given ANY weight among the black community. Likewise, it is inappropriate for a man to expect that his stance on women’s issues be given any weight. It’s very easy to tell us we’re doing it wrong when you don’t have to deal with the fallout of the issue. If it turns out you’re wrong, you can just say “oopsie!” and get on with your life. We do not have that privilege – male privilege.
Meghan: I’m not the one derailing. NS’ ad hominem devaluing of my opinion, which you proceeded to laud in lieu of answering my question until now, was derailing. Now that it has been answered I’ll proceed.
Anyway… I just wanted to establish that we’re on the page about slut shaming before asserting that, in covering SW, whereas the mainstream media focuses on slut shaming while mostly ignoring victim blaming, I feel many feminist critics don’t appreciate how, in taking on victim blaming and slut shaming at the same time, SW adoes not detract from its victim blaming message but instead enhances it. As we saw with Michael Sanguinetti’s remarks, the two issues intersect in that labeling a woman a slut dehumanizes her, thus facilitating victim blaming. Whether or not “slut” is successfully reappropriated is anyone’s guess at this point. Countless words from Methodist to Mormon to dyke to queer have succeeded. Others have failed. Whether or not reappropriating slut succeeds definitely depends largely on how the feminist community responds, so to your credit, the opposition has been fierce, and if y’all really don’t want it to happen, it probably won’t. I think that’s unfortunate because as with all reappropriated words, nobody can call you it without your explicit permission, so if you don’t want to be called a slut regardless of its constantly evolving connotations, that’s up to you. I guess the reaction I’d hoped for and expected from feminist critics would be more along the lines of “I don’t think ‘slut’ should/can be reappropriated, but I recognize the tremendous amount of energy and effort that’s going into this totally grassroots movement that’s managed to take the international mainstream media by storm, bringing victim blaming and slut shaming and countless examples of both to the attention of folks who’d never thought of either and if nothing else, it’s sparking some really important discussions.” I think Ray Filar made a really good point in her Guardian article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/09/slutwalk-feminist-activism) in which she acknowledged that not everyone is going to agree on the methods of SW, but we’re doing our best (and have plenty of room for improvement) and at least we’re trying new things.
On a related note, I don’t agree that SWs are all made up of white women (I think the burden of proof is definitely on anyone who wants to suggest they are, and some evidence beyond widely-circulated photographs from a few cities would be more compelling), but I won’t deny that there’s a certain demographic with which SW holds appeal – liberal (not in the modern political sense but in the emphasis on individual choice sense, or “mychoice (FUCK YEAH) discourse,” which no matter how you paint it I’m a firm believer in) young people. This is especially important to recognize for two reasons – in acknowledging this we can accept that while SW like all movements should be as inclusive as possible, it will appeal to some groups more than others. I don’t think that’s necessarily a problem, especially because outreach and promotion with SW is necessarily difficult because it’s hard to approach people and tell them about it without offending them and turning them off thanks to the name. The other reason it’s important to realize the selective appeal of SW is because we’re not taking away time, money, effort, or other resources from established feminist organizations and movements. Of the SWS organizers, I’m a first-year college student, one of us is just graduating high school, and one is in her earlier twenties. None of us are taking a break from working on existing feminist causes because this is our first time doing anything like this, and I think that’s the same for a lot of folks attending SWS.
Regarding slut as a gendered word… I don’t deny that it has been used historically and is still used today and will still be used for some time primarily to oppress women. I would like to reappropriate slut as a gender-inclusive term not so much because I think men are slut-shamed too (although I have experienced it… a girl from my high school disapproved of me having consensual sex with women outside of relationships so much she told me she hoped I get one of the pregnant so I could “see the consequences of my actions” which is fucked up on so many levels, namely in that it suggests my partners couldn’t make choices for themselves… this incident was a huge part of what inspired me to organize SWS) but because I’m generally not a fan of gender binaries, and I think approaching victim blaming and slut shaming as a humanist issue -as well as- a feminist issue is more inclusive of folks who are transgender, genderqueer, or identify as a gender other than man or woman (and these people are at a TREMENDOUS risk of being victims of sexual violence and victim blaming). Shaping slut to be a gender-inclusive term also, if anything, helps disarm it as a means of oppressing specifically women, and disarming it is what we’re all about.
Regarding your perception of SWs trying to distance themselves from feminism, and the more mainstream new stereotype of feminism some folks are trying to promote… I know Heather identifies as a feminist from her comment on the article you linked me to, and I identify as one too. I will say I strongly object to Sonya’s stereotype of feminists, and the “this is what a feminist looks like” video definitely rubs me the wrong way. There are two ways to look at it… when I was at my school’s Take Back the Night and the women participating were chanting that, it just seemed like a very forceful declaration of their feminism. When I watch that video, I definitely see a kind of “middle-class-washing” (like white-washing), and I don’t like its exclusionary, assimilation message of “don’t worry, we’re normal and palatable!” I’M what a feminist looks like, and YOU’RE what a feminist looks like, but any message of “this is what a feminist DOESN’T look like” is backwards and definitely not a position espoused by SWS.
NS: If you don’t care about what I have to say because of my gender, I suggest you pretend I’m a woman (because there are plenty of women, participating in SWS or not, who feel the same way I do) and actually respond to my arguments or don’t respond at all. If it wasn’t apparent before, I’m done debating my identity with you. Period. It’s not relevant to SWS and moreover, it’s none of your business.
A ‘humanist’ issue? I’m sorry, Samuel, I just can’t. You ‘not being a fan of gender binaries’ does not mean that you don’t have male privilege. You cannot pretend to be a woman. And you cannot decide to ‘reclaim slut’. ‘Slut’ has been used by men to abuse and silence women. No matter how much you don’t like gender binaries, this is true.
In conclusion, DO NOT. DO NOT EVER. Come here and demand that anyone respond YOUR arguments. It is not your right to be here, nor is this a space where you may come to bully people into engaging with you. NO ONE here is obligated to engage with you. You may not come here and force others to answer to you. You may not. Your male privilege, regardless of your efforts to erase it, has become painfully evident at this point.
Samuel, you should just stop. It’s funny really, for all these people that come in here to tell Meghan she hurts her cause….these SW organizers do an incredible job of sucking out any feminist credibility in this movement and have consistently been proving their ignorance – and sometimes apathy – to sexism and racism. I’m kind of in awe. I can only hope to become as skilled in articulating what’s wrong with their arguments as they themselves are.
All I’m hearing is “me me me me meeeeee”.
“I think men are slut-shamed too (although I have experienced it… a girl from my high school disapproved of me having consensual sex with women outside of relationships so much she told me she hoped I get one of the pregnant so I could “see the consequences of my actions” which is fucked up on so many levels, namely in that it suggests my partners couldn’t make choices for themselves…”
Oh Samuel. You are just too much.
…when did I demand that?
I kept a close watch on all of SlutWalk Melbourne’s online presences (their website, multiple Facebook pages, multiple Facebook event pages, multiple Twitter accounts) after reading your article.
The organisers of SlutWalk Melbourne have constantly deleted all comments that didn’t repeat their part lines, or questioned them, from all their online spaces constantly. They even deleted whole SlutWalk Melbourne Facebook pages when they couldn’t contain the many comments from women saying they didn’t want to be called sluts – they simply set up new ones.
Ironically, the organisers of SlutWalk Melbourne have also constantly shamed and denigrated women who said they did not want to be called sluts and silenced them by calling THEM abusive for respectfully saying so.
Journalists have asked SlutWalk Melbourne to hold off on the ‘hate mail’ and the organisers of SlutWalk Melbourne have flooded articles with comments denigrating anyone who dares to question anything about what SlutWalk Melbourne stands for – or even suggests other ways for creating positive change!
Today SlutWalk Melbourne took place and already they’ve attempted to rewrite history by saying that thousands of people turned up when they did not.
There is definitely a need in Australia for a space in which women who are genuinely interested in engaging in respectful, two-way debate about women’s issues can speak freely without fearing that they will be insulted or their voice will be erased.
By constantly censoring anyone who disagreed with them, it almost looked as if SlutWalk Melbourne were more interested in raising their media profile than anything else.
The only good thing to come out of SlutWalk Melbourne is that the media have run stories stating that no one ever asks to be raped and victims of rape should never be blamed.
I was at Melbourne SlutWalk and there WERE thousands of people there. I only realised because at one point I stepped out of the march to wait with my partner, who needed a moment, and we were astounded by how long the line was – we’d started at the beginning and couldn’t imagine how far the march stretched, a seeming endless line of people.
As for SlutWalk Melbourne organisers silencing people – you’re severely distorting the facts. A group of people troll-bombed the page with insulting messages towards women who are happy to participate in SlutWalks. As for creating new pages constantly – bullshit. I’ve been on the page since it began and it has not ever been made over. You’re a liar.
My organization was contacted by “slutwalk” organizers to become involved in the march (logistically) here in Toronto, back in April. With reservations we agreed to partisipate w/ the stipulation that we retain our own politics and atonomy — bringing our own messaging and analysis, one that was feminist and anti-police. A take that was definately missing from the broader messaging. During and post-march I didn’t like what I saw; organizers sold merchandise, listed so-called “allies” on their site that excluded many (if not all) commmunity organizations involved in daily struggles re: violence against women, and even asked some local radical groups not to attend. When I later contacted organizers asking for clarification and transparency re: these issues (i.e. if they sided w/ police against the radical left, if their allies where in fact sponsers, and if they were putting funds raised from using their event to sell stuff back into the community) I receieved no response. Though some of the speakers spoke to the issue, the overall event missed the mark; not once did I hear from organizers the words misogyny, patriarchy, or a call to feminism. In my opinion, “slutwalk” is in no way a challenge to the status-quo; it doesn’t ask questions, it ignores the issue of gender in violence against women, and it’s complicit in an objectification of women’s bodies while claiming otherwise. Before others decide to take up the mantle of “slutwalk” seek community consultation, and I seriously hope you’ll re-brand too — drop the “slut” from slutwalk it’s not doing you, or me, any good.
That is really disappointing, Katelyn. But really points to all that is missing from and flawed within this event. Thanks for sharing.
I’m friends with some of the volunteers who helped in SWTO and have heard many accounts from them and from some organizers. There was some tough stuff with positioning around police. Some groups contacted SWTO who labeled themselves as “anti-police” and actively supporting property damage and assault tactics. SWTO invited anyone and everyone to come but asked that others respect their wishes for a non-violent day because a lot of survivors would be there and a lot could be triggering, including police. This was something they struggled with figuring out a lot. They were selling merch because they needed to cover the costs of the event and then any extra was donated to rape support centres – they made all this pretty clear before, during and after the event. There were several organizations represented there that day in Toronto including several rape crisis centres, gender violence supports, dyke groups, first nations groups, sex worker support groups and anti-police groups. I don’t know how you didn’t see all that. Several speakers also identified themselves as feminists, spoke about patriarchy and systems of oppression, marginalized experience and those that could not be there that day.
Where were you that you missed all this when so many others didn’t?
In reading the experiences of participants, it’s been really fascinating to see a totally decentralized movement spring up in real-time. Even more interesting has been to watch it publicly attempt (via blogs/social media, etc.) to grapple with a lot of the philosophical and organizational issues that challenge all movements and activists from time to time.
In an effort to better understand these dynamics here in my hometown of Hamilton, I got in contact with the local SlutWalk satellite group and asked them some of the questions that had been floating around in my brain for the past month, some of which were inspired by your blog, Meghan.
For those who may be interested in seeing what they had to say, an edited version of the interview is now published online here: http://raisethehammer.org/article/1380/interview_with_slutwalk_hamilton_organizers
To see the whole, unedited transcript (which includes a bunch of extra questions), check it out here: http://www.myboytheriotgirl.com/other-riots/
Thanks Mike. Good questions. I still see a lot of confusions and contradiction in some of these answers. There seems to be a pretty widespread lack of understanding around the difference between sexuality and sexualization…Also, while they there is no pressure to ‘reclaim slut’, they also argue that it is an act of solidarity to take on the label. To me that constitutes ‘pressure’ of sorts. Also, if it is ok for men to call us sluts, do we really get to ‘choose’ the label? I mean, how on earth is ‘reclaiming slut’ supposed to “unite everyone across lines of gender/sex/sexuality”?? This is a word used to silence, it is alienating people, it is a gendered word that men use to hurt women. To me it sounds like organizers continue to not really hear or understand the critiques or, really, to understand what it is they are arguing…
In any case, thanks for sharing this.
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Could I link to you from my blog? The F Word hits the target every time for me. I’ve got a new post up, by the way.
Of course! And thanks for letting me know. Will check it out.
“We just can’t win, friends.”
Would it shock you to think that’s what most of the SlutWalk people are going through? Most of the controversy around SlutWalk appears to be “damned if you do, damned if you don’t”. People say we need to pay attention to issues around sexual violence, so SlutWalk got people’s attention and they’re slammed for it. SlutWalk says they’re feminist and they get criticized for not discussing issues that other people can connect to outside self-identified feminists or not being the right kind of feminist. They don’t talk enough about feminism so that they can include more people who still do see feminism in extreme and exclusive ways and they get told they’re just stupid “look at me” women who don’t understand the way things really are. I’ve seen SlutWalks with primarily white women organizing teams so the entire cause is outlined as white supremacist and racist, and then there have been SlutWalks, including the original Toronto one, with women of colour organizers, allies and supporters and then they’re called “tokenizing” of women of colour experiences. As a woman of colour, I do support SlutWalk and I find it f-ing frustrating when other women of colour tell me that I should feel oppressed and what my experience is or isn’t and when they ignore my experience, which has happened a lot with the racial criticisms. It’s even worse when white women tell me this. From where I sit, it looks like you jumped on the racial criticisms after they gained ground so they could add weight to yours, which makes me question where you stand in the first place. You didn’t talk about race in your first big breakdown of where SlutWalk fell short.
Some of the criticisms have been troubling. Why can’t that be called out? People like Dines and Blogdano don’t allow real space for the women, of any colour and class and especially younger women, who don’t agree with their views of what’s harmful and what’s not. Me and many other women of colour have spoken about our experiences and they haven’t been acknowledged. And you’ve made some pretty bad assertions about others like who’s deemed “feminist” in apparently your eyes and who isn’t, and you don’t acknowledge the other sides of experience of porn and sex work outside of exploitation. I’m glad you’re outspoken and critical of them but you seem to shame a lot of women who enjoy things that you don’t. A lot of fights for human rights, for women of colour like me and for women’s rights to their own bodies in reproduction, have talked about choice and the power and importance to recognize individual choice and that someone else shouldn’t decide what’s best for you. This is a huge part of feminist history and work, yet many people sum it up as effectively stupid and belittle it. I find the way you speak about individual women speaking out about their experiences really demeaning. Because someone speaks out about how they get strength and power in their life, their identity, their language and their experiences they’re simply self-absorbed and their expression should be demeaned?
We need to debate about these things and to figure out where causes fall short and can be improved. I support those conversations. But most of the criticisms (not all), including many of yours, ARE bringing it all back to the word “slut” and who’s wrong to use it or be it. Some SlutWalks talk about why they picked their name or why they want to handle the word the way they do but they push to talk about a lot more than the name of the event. I’m sick of being told when I’m wrong as a woman of colour, as a feminist, as someone who survived rape and in what I choose to do. I grew up and fought to be where I am and who I am. You need to have more respect for that.
Great blog entry, Meghan.
The SlutWalk comes to Winnipeg, MB tomorrow, and i’ve been keen to read up on some of the criticisms for the movement for a while now.
Thanks for creating the concise entry on the topic :)
Owen