the word “ Slut ”

1. the word “Slut” Final Presentation

2. “The time a guy has called me a slut with the most viciousness in his demeanor, I don’t think he knew my sexual history, he just knew I was sleeping with someone and he was angry that I wasn’t interested in sleeping with him.”—Chrissy, 28 • “I am 56 years old and was at my gym swimming laps in the pool. A younger man approached me and complimented me on my fitness and swimming skills. He also said “You’ll have to teach me some time.” I deflected his comment by saying something such as “Oh, it’s easy/just takes practice.” He then called me “Puta” (whore) and left the pool area”.—Anne

3. “When I was in middle school, I was called a whore and a hoe. I had never even kissed someone before. I had never had a boyfriend. I’m not sure I had even hugged a member of the opposite sex that wasn’t like, my dad. But I was called this because I had big boobs, and sometimes a little cleavage would come out of my shirt. I’m not talking about push-up-bra Anna Nicole Smith cleavage, I mean, I wore unpadded bras and if my shirt weren’t up to my neck, it was just what happened. It’s just how it was. I wasn’t inappropriate in any way shape or form. But I was called a slut. Because if you embrace who you are and threaten other girls with the idea that you are more sexually attractive than they are that’s what you’ll be called.”-Sara, 20

4. Slut deconstructed • Slut: an immoral or dissolute woman;prostitute or a dirty, slovenly woman. • Why is someone who has had multiple sex partners dirty? • “The self disgust, feeling dirty, is an outcome of sex often remarked on in literature; being clean means being chaste.” page 230, Andrea Dworkin, Intercourse • Why is the woman immoral? • According to Dworkin, sex is about possession, to be possessed by many men is to be dirty and therefore immoral.

5. How does Patriarchy control women? • The word slut is used to reinforce patriarchy. • Control of a woman’s sexual activities by shaming her • The word is used to justify violence against women • Used by women/girls who dislike or envy other women/girls.

6. What is a woman’s role in Patriarchy? • Women are taught that they must look good for the male gaze • Taught to be submissive, so men could “protect” them • Taught to support men through their goals and journeys

7. Media • Films: 40 year old virgin, Wedding Crashers • Elizabeth Banks in the 40 year old virgin is promiscuous and is looked down upon by the main character in the film • Isla Fishers, in Wedding Crashers, is also promiscuous and is the source of jokes in the films.

8. “There are so many dirty names for her that one rarely learns them all, even in one’s native language. There are dirty names for every female part of her body and for every way of touching her. There are dirty words, dirty laughs, dirty noises, dirty jokes, dirty movies, and dirty things to do to her in the dark. Fucking her is the dirtiest, though it may not be as dirty as she herself is. Her genitals are dirty in the literal meaning: stink and blood and urine and mucous and slime. Her genitals are also dirty in the metaphoric sense: obscene. She is reviles as filthy, obscene, in religion, pornography, philosophy, and in most literature and art and psychology.” • -page 214, Andrea Dworkin, Intercourse

9. The word “FagGot” • “I am called a "faggot" relatively often. Sometimes the insult comes from anonymous Internet users responding to blog posts I write, like this one, and other times it is hurled at me by drunken guys at bars. One night I was walking with my girlfriend through my neighborhood in San Francisco when a couple of men in a truck slowed down next to us, threw a beer bottle at my head, called me a "faggot," and shouted at my girlfriend to "get a real man." So I have a pretty intimate relationship with the word "faggot." When I hear the word, I tense up, my body instinctively preparing to defend itself, and my heart rate quickens” • -Lucas Waldron

10. Faggot vs. Slut • The word faggot reveals how patriarchy sees women. To be a faggot means that you are less than a man—you are feminine, you are like a woman. Therefore, in the system of patriarchy, women are less than men. • “Boys who conform to the masculine role are similarly judged on a phantom sexual scale—the short boy with a slight build who strikes out whenever he’s up to bat is called a fag, even though his ability in sports says nothing about his sexual orientation. Yet a “fag” can overcome his status through bench-pressing;there is little a “slut” can do to erase her stigma. ” –page xv, Leoratanenbaum, Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation

11. What is a man’s role in Patriarchy? • A man’s identity is dependent on a woman • Patriarchy teaches men not to take responsibility for their sexual feelings • Men might often feel uncomfortable when they are unable to provide for a woman because they were taught by patriarchy that women are weaker and need to be protected. • Patriarchy teaches that men should feel entitled to have a woman by their side or to have many women by their side. • Patriarchy teaches men that women are their for their visual pleasure. Excerpt from 5 Ways Modern Men are Trained to Hate Women: “She owes it to us to be pretty. That’s the social contract as we’ve understood it from the time we were toddlers. ” • Taught to see women as objects (through pornography) • Patriarchy makes men feel powerless.

12. Dangers of Patriarchy • Patriarchy assumes that men always want sex and that women are always available for sex.

13. “Current dogma is to teach by rote that sex is “healthy” as if it existed outside social relations, as if it had no ties to anything mean or lowdown, to history, to power, to the dispossession of women from freedom. But for sex not to mean dirt—for sex not to dirty—the status of women would have to change radically; there would have to be equality for all women, not personal exemptions from insult for some women in some circumstances.” • Page 218, Andrea Dworkin, Intercourse

14. Towards a healthy society • In order to have healthy relationships between men and women, and in order for these words to become useless, men and women must be equal. • Feminist masculinity • Integrity • Self love • Emotional awareness • Assertiveness • Relational skill, being empathetic, connected