Slut: The other 4- letter word

Each year since 2013 scantily-clad women, and some men, take to the streets in what are called “SlutWalks.” This is an effort to protest a culture in which the victim of a sexual assault is blamed, rather than the perpetrator. Hundreds of women in skimpy outfits — plunging necklines and the shortest of shorts — marched down the streets of several major cities around the world. SlutWalks began in April 2012 when a Toronto police officer suggested women should “avoid dressing like sluts in order to not be victimized.”

The previous year Syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh called a Georgetown student a “prostitute” and a “slut” after she testified before a Senate committee and called for federal health care coverage to include the cost of contraception. Limbaugh apologized, but it prompted a re-examination of the term, “slut.”

These are just two incidences that sparked debates about the use of the word ‘slut’. It is usually considered a derogatory term for women. But some say embracing the word helps remove its negative connotations. This week we are listening to an interview that discusses the movements use of the word “slut”. When listening to this interview, ask yourself how it applies to the discussion and research in this chapter. Answer five (5) of the following questions by drawing on the course content.

1. Does the use of the term slut here reinforce or challenge double standards as discussed in the textbook and lectureabout women’s sexuality through the use of the term slut in this movement?
2. Consider the textbook and lecturediscussion about how culture informs the meanings given to the word slut- how does this apply to this interview?
3. Do gender appropriate ideas of signaling interest or agreeing to have sex discussed in the textbook and lectureinform how the term slut is being used in popular culture; explain why or why not?
4. Drawing on the textbook and lectureresearch explain how the use of the term slut in this situation contributes or challenges to the controlling of women’s sexual arguments in the research?
5. How does the textbook and lectureresearch on heterosexual scripts support or refute the interview arguments?
6. Will the movement’s re articulation of the word slut help decrease our usage of sexist language- explain drawing upon the textbook and lectureresearch on sexist talk.
7. Does the re articulation of the term slut here allow women to express female desire from an empowered standpoint or does it just provided a false consciousness- explain using the textbook and lecture