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By Samantha Thomas, December 3, 2010

Trigger warning. This post uses material from an academic article which discusses the cultural context of rape. It includes the direct quote from a woman about her view of herself after being raped. A list of services and information lines for victims of rape in Australia is available here. I have highlighted the text in blue so you can skip over it if you want to. I will not be publishing any detailed personal accounts of rape in comments on this blog, and all comments posts will be moderated. S

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I have only been called the word ‘slut’ once in my life. I was about 14 and was in high school. A girl who I thought was my mate was sat beside me in class. She was writing a note about me to another girl (girls at an all girls school can be nasty) and used that word to refer to me. I was devastated. At 14 I wasn’t sexually active. And I certainly wasn’t a slut. To be honest, I would probably rather have been be called a million other names under the sun that that one. I was so embarrassed that I never spoke about seeing that note to anyone. But thinking back, it was life changing for me. Because it made me realise how absolutely horrible words can be, and how a simple word can impact so markedly on how you view yourself in the world and how you feel about yourself.

The word ‘slut’ is a noun. It is generally used in a derogatory way to label a woman as sexually promiscuous, or prostitute like. It is generally a word that you would use to refer to someone else. But occasionally women internalise this word, and use it to describe themselves. In 1994, Leslie Lebowitz and Susan Roth wrote an article in the Journal of Traumatic Stress about the cultural context of rape.  They interviewed 15 rape survivors about a variety of things, including how they viewed themselves after rape. The story of one participant in particular caught my attention. She describes a discussion with a friend after she was raped when her father made her hitch hike as a character building exercise:

Julie [my friend] just said, ‘Well that’s what you get because your father should never let you hitch-hike. Mine never would. That’s what happens.’ You can imagine how I felt about that … [I felt] devastated…I wish I had never said it. I felt like I was a slut and I should never have told her and that my father didn’t love me and that now everybody knew it.

Interviewer: What about it made you feel like you were a slut?

Well the fact that, you know, I didn’t mean enough to my father that he would protect me from this kind of behavior. It meant that I wasn’t worth it to him.

Interviewer: [Is that the] same thing as being a slut?

Right. Like I was being farmed out or something.

I use this example, because I want to show how important it is to think about the impact of the words we use on people and their view of themselves.

Recently, a new word has emerged on our cultural landscape. This word is Slutification. It is being used in a popularised way to basically describe how innocent non-sexually active girls can become overtly promiscuous through a social culture of sexualisation. It implies that women have no control or choice over their sexuality and subsequently their sexual behaviour. That in some ways, the sexualised marketing culture that we live in is creating an epidemic of vulnerable innocent girls who are being tempted into sexual promiscuity. The arguments and analysis of this phenomenon are fascinating and important. There have been a number of fantastic articles written about the sexualisation of our children (and in particular our girls), and in 2008 the Australian Senate released a pretty good report on some of the issues associated with the sexualisation of kids.

In my mind there is a difference between ‘slutification’ and ‘sexualisation’, but increasingly these two terms are being used interchangeably. I suspect it is because ‘slutification’ has more shock value, and is more emotive. But for me the word ‘slutification’ also places blame firmly at the feet of the woman. Because it is a word that is intrinsically linked with sexual shame. That in some ways a woman isn’t allowed to express her sexuality or be sexually active without being labelled a ‘slut’.

My friend Kate wrote me an email recently about the word ‘slut’.

“Slut” is used to pardon rape, excuse hate crimes and allow women, ALL women, sexually active or not, to be seen as lesser due to their sexual activity.

She went onto discuss the use of the word slut and slutification in the ‘sexualisation’ debate:

To bring the word slut into this discussion is inappropriate as it is then making a judgement that women who have a lot of sex are some how bad. Sluts are seen as deserving of all negative consequences, because how dare they think they can go have sex all over and not be ‘punished’.

I am fully supportive of discussions about ‘sexualisation’. But there is no need to ‘slut shame’ to make a point. Because in my opinion, this can only end up making women feel bad about themselves.

As Kath said on Twitter:

It’s a ridiculous concept. Only someone judging female sexuality negatively would use it.

So that’s my interpretation. What’s yours?

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By Samantha Thomas, November 28, 2010

I’ve had AMAZING bloggers block this week. It might be due to the fact that I’ve started a new job (SQUEEE!!) and have been a bit busy settling in and getting to know everyone.

But this morning the drought is over. All because of one little made up word.

Someone had linked me to an article about the sexualisation of women, which had misused the word “slutty” (in her opinion and in mine). But there in the middle of the article was this word which really caught my attention.

VA-JAY-JAY.

Until yesterday I had never heard of this word (yes I live in a total culture isolation cave!!). Here is how the word was used:

“The display included one squatting store mannequin who was flashing rather a lot of va-jay-jay. Not literally, as she was wearing a pair of micro utility shorts and of course, most store dummies aren’t that anatomically accurate. But anyone walking past the boutique was confronted by the mannequin’s crotch and it did seem a little in-your-face. Not to mention vulgar.” (Frockwriter, 26th November 2010)

Now firstly, I had to read and re-read the sentence a few times. I couldn’t work out whether she meant Vulva or Vagina. And then, given that this was a blog that was meant to be pro-women, I was totally stumped about why she wouldn’t use either of those correct terms.

So, after a desperate call on Twitter for some edumacation about this word, this is what I learned:

1. Apparently it is an Oprah ‘ism’ – A word that Oprah made up to describe her own genetalia.

2. Then it was used in Grays Anatomy as a way of getting round US censors who wouldn’t let the word Vagina be used more than once in an episode.

So even in a medical telly show we are not allowed to use the correct words to describe female genitals? Can someone tell me how the word Vagina (or Vulva) is different from Arm, Leg, Liver, Spleen etc etc etc.

The word Va-jay-jay now seems to be used pretty widely as a cutesy descriptor. And we now have spin-offs, such as Vajazzle! Jennifer Love Hewitt recently spoke about decorating her bits (I use bits because I’m not sure which bits she is actually referring to):

“It’s called vajazzling,” she said. ‘After a break-up, a friend of mine Swarovski-crystalled my precious lady and it shined like a disco ball… Women should ‘vajazzle’ their vajay-jays, I am currently vajazzled… It’s cute.”

You can even buy tee shirts with the slogan ‘I heart Va-jay-jay’ on them.

And now Va-jay-jay seems to be a new favourite word for magazines like Cosmo, which they emblazon all over their covers (generally hovering somewhere over the celebs crotch).

So, I guess my question is, why do we find it so hard to use the word Vagina? Men and women have always had nick names for their genitalia, but why do we find the ‘correct’ words so difficult to use in public? Studies have consistently shown that well over half of women feel awkward, uncomfortable and embarrassed when the use the word ‘Vagina’. And other studies suggest that even in gynaecological appointments, doctors and patients very rarely utter the ‘V’ words.

So is the popular use of words like Va-jay-jay merely reinforcing that words like Vagina and Vulva are still socially unacceptable, and taboo topics for discussion? Or are they merely just a bit of fun?

On the flip side, do slang words actually allow us to talk more freely about sexuality, and sexual health without embarrassment?

What do you think?

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By Samantha Thomas, August 14, 2010

Last week I was lucky enough to be in Washington at a conference.

One of the speakers at the conference was Professor Kelly Brownell from the Rudd Centre for Obesity and Food Policy.  The talk was extremely interesting. I think actually really resonates with a lot of the work the Fat community is trying to do. Different language, but very similar ideas. Which was a wonderfully nice surprise!

Kelly spoke about a range of different things, but one of the things that really caught my attention was whether or not we are seeing the death of science as we know it.

He described in detail how academic processes – like it taking SOOOOO long to get grant income, conflicts of interest, the narrow readership of academic papers (which are of course our key outcome measurement in Academia), the funding of the same old stuff time and time again, with limited space for the funding of novel ideas – means that the slow and monolithic process of Academic research is actually becoming more and more disconnected from what is actually happening in the real world (my words not his).

As an academic who specializes in doing research that engages with, and works with the community, I am really interested in your thoughts about Academic research.

Is Academic Research important? Do you think it changes anything? And how do we make it more relevant for the average person on the street?

What do you think we do well (if anything?)! And what do we do badly?

This is a discussion for everyone – not just academics – so please feel free to contribute!