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Slut-Shaming’ in Contemporary Youth Culture

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Slut-Shaming’ in Contemporary Youth Culture THE POWER OF SLUT The Power of ‘Slut’: The Construction of ‘Slut’ and ‘Slut-Shaming’ in Contemporary Youth Culture Cecilia Turnbull, BA Child and Youth Studies Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Faculty of Social Sciences, Brock University St. Catharines, Ontario © THE POWER OF SLUT Table of Contents Acknowledgements......................................................................................................................... Abstract........................................................................................................................................... CHAPTER ONE: Hi I’m a Slut...................................................................................................... 1 Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 Purpose of the study and research questions........................................................... 8 Theoretical Perspective..................................................................................................... 10 Language and Power............................................................................................. 10 Panopticism and Internalized-Shame.................................................................... 12 Discourse and Sexuality........................................................................................ 14 The Construction of Slut ...................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER TWO: “What’s Love Got to do with it?”................................................................... 24 Literature Review.............................................................................................................. 24 Defining Slut......................................................................................................... 24 Status and Class.................................................................................................... 29 Race and Internalized-Shame............................................................................... 32 The Ramifications of Race and Class in relation to Body Image......................... 36 Power and Resignification.................................................................................... 39 And so what?......................................................................................................... 42 CHAPTER THREE: Methodology............................................................................................... 44 Research Method and Paradigm....................................................................................... 44 Method of Interviewing.................................................................................................... 46 THE POWER OF SLUT Sample and Recruitment................................................................................................... 48 Interview Questions and Questionnaire............................................................................ 49 Table 1: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS................................................................... 50 Table 2: DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONNAIRE.................................................. 51 Data Analysis.................................................................................................................... 51 Consent, Ethics, and Other Possible Concerns................................................................. 53 Ethics Process................................................................................................................... 55 CHAPTER FOUR: Discussion..................................................................................................... 57 So what is Slut?................................................................................................................. 57 But what does it all mean?................................................................................................ 61 Gender and Slut................................................................................................................ 70 Race and Slut.................................................................................................................... 76 Class and Slut................................................................................................................... 81 Age and Slut..................................................................................................................... 85 Slut-Shaming and Self-Respect........................................................................................ 87 Respect and Self-esteem................................................................................................... 91 Resignification vs. Normalization.................................................................................... 96 CHAPTER FIVE: Concluding Thoughts................................................................................... 100 Limitations and Future Research.................................................................................... 100 Gender Fluidity and LGBTQ.......................................................................................... 101 Religion........................................................................................................................... 102 ‘Fuckboy’ and Male Culture........................................................................................... 103 THE POWER OF SLUT The People vs. Brock Turner.......................................................................................... 107 References................................................................................................................................... 111 THE POWER OF SLUT Acknowledgements There are many people to thank for finishing this thesis in one piece…well mostly. I would like to thank my family for nodding and smiling every time I brought up feminist poststructuralism; I thank my friends for their skeptical support; I would like to thank my wonderful committee members, Dr. Rebecca Raby and Dr. Jenny Janke, who were exceptional in their constructive feedback, readings, and advice, and most importantly I have to thank my primary adviser Dr. Shauna Pomerantz for her patience and compassion over the countless hours of edits, frustrations, and successes. This experience has been overwhelmingly amazing, and I feel fortunate to have worked with so many talented people. This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. THE POWER OF SLUT Abstract My thesis employs a feminist poststructural framework to understand the meaning and use of the term ‘slut’ and its connection to ‘slut-shaming’ in contemporary youth culture, specifically in relation to the Niagara region. I argue that the term slut is used as a way to police women’s1 sexuality, and its use and meaning vary depending on gender, ‘race’ and class. The importance of this study is in connection to sexual violence against women, and the complex ways that derogatory language shapes how people view women in relation to sexual violence. Women and men help maintain and perpetuate the term’s harmful meaning, however, the literature suggests the term may have empowering aspects for women and it may be resignified or changed to have more positive meaning. This resignification differs based on a person’s gender, ‘race’, class, etc. and the intersections between them, with women from different cultures noting that the term cannot always be reclaimed based on historical and cultural associations (Armstrong et al., 2014; Mowatt et al., 2013). Findings from my interviews suggest conflicting notions over what the definition of a slut is and its connection to ‘shame’. Most participants felt it was primarily young, white women who used the term against each other, and while some used the term in a playful manner, they did not believe it could be reclaimed as something empowering. 1 ‘Women’ is being used as a more broad scope rather than to say girls, young women and then women, as adults and youth may, at times, refer to youth as young adults or young women and men. THE POWER OF SLUT Slut (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary Online) 1 chiefly British: a slovenly woman 2 a: a promiscuous woman; especially: PROSTITUTE b: a saucy girl: MINX -sluttish \adjective\ -sluttishly \adverb\ -sluttishness \noun\ -slutty \adjective\ THE POWER OF SLUT 1 CHAPTER ONE: Hi I’m a Slut… Introduction “Now I know I’m going off, but [slut-shaming] is a form of black magic, because they’re sending curses at [girls]. The curse word is slut… ‘slut, slut, slut, whore, whore, whore’ over and over and over again…it is a psychological attack.” Dani, one of the male participants in my study, caused the words to ring in my mind. While not all people see the term slut as an insult or think of it as a destructive tool or practice, the repetition of the words in Dani’s quote suggest that ‘slut’ is a term that calls for action. The term slut stands out to me, because it is used frequently, yet has no definitive meaning and is shrouded in ambiguity. Dani’s words remind me of the consequence of language, and what makes this research hard for me is that I have witnessed its destructive nature as a punishment for expressing female sexuality. Women close to me have felt its painful effects: friends, family, myself. In doing this research, I was reminded of the
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