Language is rarely, if ever, neutral. Words come to have meaning through historical and cultural legacies. A word that invokes a strong negative reaction in North America might not mean anything particularly provocative in another country. Words are largely context-dependent.
The word slut has a long history in the United States - a product of chattel slavery and white mens' concerns over black female 'promiscuity'. Instead of delving further into this history and the implications for black women myself, I'm going to direct everyone to an article written by the Black Women's Blueprint. They are an intersectional activist group based in Brooklyn, NY. They say it all. I encourage everyone to read it. And thanks to my friend Apu for sharing the link!
http://www.blackwomensblueprint.org/2011/09/23/an-open-letter-from-black-women-to-the-slutwalk/
Thanks for clearing up the origin of your comments, Larissa. It wasn't something I was aware of, and it's good to have data to work with.
ReplyDeleteI have some thoughts...
PREAMBLE TO THE RAMBLE:
What follows is big, windy, and academic*. It's a response to the BWB's "Open Letter [...] to the SlutWalk", not any sort of rail against you/your intentions/your words. Quite the opposite, actually: I figure discussion is a good thing, and I don't think that it has to be personal or divisive.
So yes, big shit coming, but (to remix that perennial aphorism) "the political isn't personal". ;)
*And yes, I recognize the irony in that last bit, given that I argue at length against academic wankery below.
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I've read through the Black Women's Blueprint "Open Letter from Black Women to the Slutwalk" a few times, and while I'm in agreement with the letter's basic premises (i.e. support of the spirit of SlutWalk, and justifiable reluctance to use the term "slut"), I disagree with several of the premises behind BWB's proposals, and in
ReplyDeleteparticular the request that the SlutWalk rebrand itself. Here's why:
That language within communities of color is deeply intertwined with cultural, racial, and economic struggles is unquestionable, and BWB's
concern is self-evident:
"[W]e are careful not to set a precedent for our young girls by giving them the message that we can self-identify as “sluts” when we’re still
working to annihilate the word “ho”, which [...] was meant to dehumanize."
Furthermore,
"[W]e do not want to encourage our young men [...] to reinforce Black women’s identities as “sluts” by normalizing the term on t-shirts, buttons, flyers and pamphlets."
The BWB continues, "Even if only in name, we cannot afford to label ourselves [with] words that were never ours to begin with, but in fact
heaved upon us in a process of dehumanization and devaluation."
But that's exactly the POINT here: SlutWalk's intent is to influence a radical change in perception of rape through the invocation of words
which have historically been used to trivialize and justify sexual assault against ALL women, and to thereby expose the idiocy of such justifications.
If such a thing can be said to exist, the collective community of American Black women is known and respected for its history of powerful individuals who are deeply invested in issues of justice within their communities, as evidenced by the BWB's references to the Civil Rights, Women’s Suffrage, Black Nationalist, and Black Feminist
ReplyDeletemovements (to say nothing of the list of endorsees for the Open Letter).
The BWB states that "[W]e don’t have the privilege to walk through the streets [...] either half-naked or fully clothed self-identifying as “sluts” and think that this will make women safer in our communities."
True, at least at present, but I also ask if there is no other community, as a result its strength and leadership, in such a position to, appropriate* and repurpose such culturally-loaded (and therefore, powerful) words?
*The difference here between "appropriation" and "re-appropriation" is an important one. By the BWB's admission, the the word "slut" was "never ours to begin with", and for this reason there can never be a re-appropriation.
Furthermore, is there no other community in such a position to reap the benefits from such repurposing of words which are already established and in widespread circulation?
And if both the ability to ENACT and the potential to BENEFIT from that change are so specifically tied to and emerging from the
experiences and resulting strengths of American communities of color — which have historically been separate in action and methods (though
certainly not in spirit) from other communities seeking justice — why then the need for the BWB to call upon SlutWalk to "move forward in true authenticity and solidarity"?
Similarly, why should the BWB call upon SlutWalk to "consider engaging in a re-branding and re-labeling process", when the word "slut" is itself so powerful, and thereby such a potential-laden site from which to enact radical social change, beginning within American communities of color and extending outward into other communities?
There are folks who would discount the above based on my biographical details, so here's the obligatory disclaimer:
ReplyDeleteI'm a white 30-something college-educated working-class male-identified queer man/guy/dude living in a post-industrial urban center of America, itself a Western First World democratic
capitalistic nation build on the ruins of pre-existing aboriginal populations...
I could go on.
And I (and you, and most anyone else) could challenge any of the above signifiers based on the history of these words, their current
connotations, and the politics surrounding their continued use.
But to hell with that. None of us can help where our words come from, nor can we bear responsibility for our individual and collective
histories. The question isn't one of LINGUISTICS, it's one of ACTION.
Academia and analysis can only get us so far, and particularly in the realm of social change (see the BWB reference to "successful movements like the Civil Rights movement, from Women’s Suffrage, the Black Nationalist and Black Feminist movements").
It's what happens on the streets that matters, and in this case SlutWalk has been wildly successful in serving as a generative force for a literally immeasurable number of smaller actions in communities across the world, and that's DESPITE a perhaps poorly-chosen name.
With all that in mind, here's MY proposal: Let's not mince words. Instead, recognize and LIVE the diversity that exists in the world, in your own ways, on your own courses. Be unified in spirit and intent, but not necessarily equivalent in action and method.
ReplyDeleteSlutWalk, keep kicking ass, keep generating social consciousness through radical visibility, even as it generates controversy and discussion within allied communities. ESPECIALLY as it generates controversy and discussion within allied communities.
BWB, keep kicking ass, keep enacting social change by "consistently demand[ing] justice whether under governmental law, at community
levels, or via community strategies for those who have been assaulted; [organizing] to end sexual assaults of persons from all walks of life, all genders, all sexualities, all races, all ethnicity, all histories."
In short, "Do what you can, where you are, with what you have" (Teddy Roosevelt), and support others as they do the same.
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/response ;)
Finally, thanks for your posts! They get me thinking, and sometimes (perhaps top the detriment of the world!) they give rise to big piles of analysis like this. (Hooray for disused muscles coming back to life!)
ReplyDeleteCheers!
--levi