SlutWalk Seattle

Check out our FAQ

You want to “reclaim” the word slut? To mean what? How can you reclaim something you never had in the first place? 

Reappropriating/reclaiming “slut” is not the goal of SlutWalk - ending victim-blaming and slut-shaming is. Reappropriation is one of many viable tactics; a means to an end. We want to reappropriate “slut” as a positive term for a person of any gender who has and enjoys frequent sex, especially with multiple partners. Reappropriating “slut” serves three primary functions: it takes away the word’s power to do harm as a pejorative (one of the best ways to fight hate is to embrace and disarm the words employed by the haters); provides a sex-positive term for women, few of which exist (like “stud” is for men - many women find that reclaiming “slut” gives them a voice that they have lacked in similar movements); and allows “sluts” to identify as part of a cohesive group for political representation. A list of examples of reappropriated words can be found here. Reappropriation is not the only way to fight oppression. It isn’t even the best way. We don’t claim it is. SlutWalk would fail without the invaluable contributions of other protests like Take Back the Night, as well as education and legal reform. Not all women will want to reclaim “slut” for themselves, but we hope they will support their sisters who do. As with any reappropriated word, you should never use “slut” without explicit permission from the subject first, and that permission can be revoked at any time.

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Why are we doing this? Because we’