Why "fun feminism" should be consigned to the rubbish bin

[LadyHawkAZ]

243. I'm going to try to address both the above posts in this one

so I apologize in advance if this turns into a novel-length post.

One of the things about SlutWalk that everyone needs to remember is this: social change is never an overnight thing. It's going to be awhile before we know if it has worked as intended, but I think that the whole Rush incident is a good demonstration of early success. I know I've seen dozens of articles and postings this past two weeks proudly proclaiming "I'm a slut and I VOTE!" or "Proud to be a slut!" or "30 signs you're a slut". Without the outrage generated by the Toronto PD and the resulting marches, I don't think the Limbaugh comments would have been more than a one-day wonder in the news cycles- if you think about how many times he's made horrifying comments and gotten away with it, and stop to think about what's different this time, I think you'll see what I mean. What the marches did was start to shift the concept of slut away from "dirty cheap lay" to just "woman in charge of her sexuality", and women are starting to pick up the banner.

Re the suicides: any word, with enough hostility behind it, can harm a child or teen. I can remember Brain and Four-Eyes in grade school hurting worse than Slut in high school- any of the three would cause me to laugh in someone's face today, but back then they almost did drive me to suicide. The problem with bullying and insults is that it hits a vulnerable young person with rejection and outcast, at a time of life when fitting in is paramount, and in most cases without a support network of their own to help them cope with it. It's not the individual word that matters- it's the hostile, rejecting attitude behind it. I think the more we accept personal sexuality- gay, straight, celibate, multiple, monogamous, transgendered, whatever- as normal, the less this will be a problem. But again, this is something that will take time, and unfortunately there is no overnight miracle solution.

Which brings me to your second post: implying that there is some standard of normalcy in human sexuality that everyone must live up to is never, ever a good thing. That is where words like "slut" and "ho" get their power. I think I know you well enough to know that's not what you meant by your second post, and I understand what you were trying to say, but you might want to think about the implications of imposing one "healthy" standard of behavior- monogamy- and crafting language around it. Personal freedom, acceptance and sexual diversity- from those embracing celibacy to those practicing polyamory and everyone in between- was the whole point behind the rebranding of the word, and that's a lesson that would be healthy for anyone.