The Slut Talk

"You are acting like such a slut" "Don't you dare call me a slut" "She is such a slut".

Sound familiar? Well that's probably because at one point or another, we have all heard or used the word "slut" to describe some unfortunate woman whose actions we do not approve of. In fact, a woman is called a slut by people who consider her to be very immoral in her sexual behaviour, a woman that is 'loose' in her sexual escapades - certainly not the proverbial Virgin Mary and as we all know, for a woman, too much sex with too many people is absolutely unacceptable by our societies high moral standards. A society where women fear the sight of their own shadow as they walk through dark lonely streets. Where women are advised to cross the road when they see a strange man approaching - the only problem with this of course, being that every man you don't know, is a strange man. A society where women can be beaten up outside a club, as the patrons look on and where a short skirt is an invitation to violate a person's every right, because "she asked for it". This same society which happily parades scantily dressed women on the cover of every men’s' "soft porn" magazine and on the pages of every Sports Illustrated - because as we all know, a woman frolicking on the beach, in a tiny bikini or skimpy black lingerie, with that "come hither" stare, has a lot to with Rugby and body building. Still though, the objectification of women around the world, has a long history and the fact that women, constantly play into this role in their itty bitty bikini's, is another story for another day but I dare say, if your immediate response to that previous statement is "there's nothing wrong with a woman wearing a bikini", then you are completely missing the point, but I digress.

A few months ago, the Slut Walk finally made its way onto South African shores, a campaign supported by thousands of women around the world as “Slut-walkers” professed that the purpose of their action is to "reclaim the word". The intention of this campaign is obvious and in many ways must be commended, because it is yet another way in which women attempt to take back the power that is so often torn from them during the act of these heinous crimes. To give this campaign the title "The Slut walk", is to stick it in the faces of those rapists who would argue that a woman "asked for it" because of the short dress she was wearing or the way she moved her hips from side to side, enticing him as she walked passed. It is meant to scream at the world that no matter what I am wearing, no matter how revealing an outfit it may be, or how outrageous my demeanour, "no person has the right to take from me what I am unwilling to give". In this campaign, women take back the power in the word "slut", that derogatory word, which has mainly been used to describe women, whose sexual relations do not meet the moral standards of our society. And yet despite all these good intentions, the Slut Walk is a campaign I cannot support. As hard as I have tried, the idea that any woman's actions should equate her to being called a "slut", I find completely unacceptable. One cannot take back the power in the word "slut" or in any statements that a rapist makes about women, because the word and its meaning simply cannot be used in the context of women who are raped because they chose to live out their daily lives. The idea that a rapist can call any woman a "slut" because she supposedly "asked" for it by the look in her eye, cannot warrant a group of women marching up and down streets and willingly call themselves "sluts" for the world to see. Rape is a crime of violence and power and for women then to use this term in describing themselves, then we are simply sending out the wrong message. No woman, especially a woman who is raped, should ever refer to herself as a "slut", because there is no power in this unfortunate title. "Slut" is a derogatory term used to describe a woman whose sexual lifestyle, the rest of society frowns upon and wearing a tight short skirt or a shirt revealing the trimmings of a lace push-up bra does not mean a woman deserves such a title or that she deserves to be violated, but neither does the number of people she chooses to take home with her. Perhaps here the most obvious word is "chooses", because when a woman is called out for her sexual lifestyle, it is a choice she had the power to make, whereas women, who are raped for whatever reason, aren't given this choice and in those moments, their power is taken from them. So I cannot support the "Slut walk" because no woman in any circumstance should find the use of this word acceptable, not even for a campaign paved with good intentions.