“Only white women have the privilege of reclaiming the word ‘slut’ without facing any real social…

“Only white women have the privilege of reclaiming the word ‘slut’ without facing any real social penalty”

Here’s a concise, great, neatly reasoned piece at Salon from earlier this week from Lutze B. on why she, “as a black woman, [has] no desire to reclaim the term ‘slut.’”

I am all for marginalized groups reclaiming words that were once used to shame and dehumanize them…. [But] if we are going to advocate against “slut-shaming,” and for owning the word “slut,” we cannot do so without paying attention to the facts. We must ask, who are the women being defended against “slut-shaming,” and who are the women being left to defend themselves?

I totally disagree with the piece’s celebrity compare-and-contrast scenario (“Miley Cyrus is being hailed as a woman who is in control and liberated, unlike her black counterpart Rihanna” — my perception, admittedly flawed by the fact that I’m thinking about this in these terms at all, has always been the opposite), but writers will need to state this over and over until it is axiomatic: “Whiteness affords white women the ability to try on different identities while their racial privilege remains intact.”

The bodies of black women are highly politicized and critiqued no matter who they belong to, from the first lady to “the help.” The physical movements and choices of black women are always viewed through a filter of suspicion. In order for me to claim my right to be a “slut,” I first must win the battle to be able to fully claim my humanity.

Black women have always been labeled as hypersexual beings unworthy of respect, love and justice. “Slut” is the default position of black women, so attempting to subvert the word or own it would only further root the false stereotype in place. “Slut-shaming” black women has not just been common practice — it’s been entrenched in public policy. Members of the Tea Party are still looking for the nefarious “welfare queen” that President Reagan created 30-plus years ago. Compulsory state sterilizations of black women, unequal incarceration rates and even the way we decide who receives welfare benefits are all rooted in “slut-shaming.”

Sandra Fluke would have been a tougher feminist rallying point if she’d looked like Rachel Jeantel; the privilege to “reclaim your inner ‘slut’” requires privilege in the first place.

[Salon]