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I don't think you can 'own' that word
This morning in my Twitter feed, I saw the headline from Time: "Will SlutWalks change the Meaning of the Word Slut?"
If you're not familiar with the term, protesters started this movement in April in Canada in reaction to a man's comment that women should avoid dressing like sluts to avoid becoming victims of sexual harassment and rape. Since then, more than four dozen SlutWalks have taken place around the world.
The message of fighting sexual violence and sterotypes is a good one but may be getting lost in the uproar over how women are dressing at the walks and the debate whether women can devalue the word "slut" by using it themselves.
I don't think the word's meaning can change. The quote from Anne Ream, founder of the Voices and Faces Project, a nonprofit for sexual-assault victims, and an assault survivor herself, says it well: "It's a word that's been used to demean women historically, and it's a word that's been used to demean women currently. Even when we try, we can never really separate [words] from their original, precise meaning."
Note: Bloggers Kris Kieper and Shauna Ubersox have written about this issue already, in case you haven't seen their takes.
Jennie Broecker is the editor in chief of Rockford Woman.
