When 'Slut' Isn't a Dirty Word

Ever since a police representative told a group of Toronto women that they should stop dressing like “sluts” in order to avoid assault, SlutWalks have been taking place across North America, and Boston’s was one of the first. At these protests, most attendees dress in classically “slutty” attire — think booty shorts, sky-high heels, and hot pants — in order to reclaim the term and its stereotype in a way that’s not meant to degrade or victim-blame.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, we’re seeing intellectual snobbery against the SlutWalkers, most recently in this weekend’s edition of the New York Times Magazine, where Rebecca Traister writes, “Scantily clad marching seems weirdly blind to the race, class and body-image issues that usually (rightly) obsess young feminists.”

Traister goes on to say that the walks exclude many women who wouldn’t find it “logical or comfortable to express their revulsion at victim-blaming by donning bustiers.”

But to state that SlutWalkers are merely “donning bustiers” is missing the point. Those who protest wearing such clothing are defending the wearing of this very type of attire — attire that’s is too often viewed as “asking for it.” As for the race and body-image issues Traister mentions, she doesn’t specify or evidence these, and people of many different body shapes and racial backgrounds attended the Boston SlutWalk, including men and transgender supporters.

Taking the slut-shaming even further is Gail Dines, an anti-pornography activist and professor at Wheelock College, who claims in a Guardian article that the word “slut” is ” … so deeply rooted in the patriarchal ‘madonna/whore’ view of women’s sexuality that it is beyond redemption.” But this is merely an opinion. Just look to the word “bitch,” which has held similarly sexist connotations, yet is being so successfully reclaimed in common language and pop culture that even gift books targeted at women sport the phrase with ironic delight.

Though these intellectual debates against “slut” are certainly important, they’re not the only valid response. For many, a fight to take back the “slut” stereotype via dress as well as discussion, feels more effective. And it’s certainly getting our attention.