Christian, I understand what you’re saying. It has become entirely acceptable within our culture (society) to call women “bitches,” “sluts,” and “whores.” These words have become a part of our everyday vocabulary, so much so that they have, in many ways, become synonymous with the word “woman” itself. The point that infuriates me Christian, is the fact that you have essentially asked all the women on this campus to ignore the fact that we are constantly being degraded because what’s more important is the fact that the men who use these words actually have something “real” to say. We, as women, and as your Wesleyan peers, are constantly expected to ignore the fact that we are being called “bitches” and “sluts.” We are being told to forget about the humiliation associated with those words and to concentrate on the “real” message in the music. Well, I’m sorry Christian. That just doesn’t work for me.
See, I’m kind of sick of being called a whore and a slut and when I listen to music that refers to women as such, it kind of makes me angry. I don’t like being told that my only use is as sexual object. And you know what else Christian? I’m kind of confused. You say that we, as women, should overlook the fact that we are called horrible names, and if we can’t, then we should just not listen. Well, that’s kind of hard Christian, since our culture tells women everyday that they are sluts and bitches. Watch some MTV, look at the lack of respect you gave to Stacie Szmonko and the way in which you addressed her, or even view the way a lot of men treat women on this campus and you’ll see how hard it is for women to just block all the negativity out. I mean you pointed this very fact out yourself by saying that these words have a place in our collective vocabulary.
The thing is, we can’t just accept these words into our vocabulary and ignore the effects that they have on all of us. The more men view women as sluts, whores, and bitches the easier it becomes to abuse women. It’s not about free speech. It’s about challenging the idea that such degrading speech can become a part of popular culture and be used without thinking about the influences and consequences of such powerful words.
But then again, I’m tired. I’m tired of being constantly degraded, I’m tired of my “no’s” being taken for “yes’s,” and I’m tired of men telling me that I shouldn’t care about being called a whore. So you know what, I’m not even going to proofread this, I have way too much stuff to do anyway. And who knows, this Wespeak probably means nothing to you since it comes from some angry bitch-slut-whore. But really, Christian, I think it’s YOU who has missed the point.
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