tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512870689197311087.post8192891801911884295..comments2023-05-09T02:31:07.268-07:00Comments on CTCS 587: TV Theory 2017: Core Post 4: Amber Rose's Slut WalkTara McPhersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09874394027026185133noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5512870689197311087.post-30435764793967990752017-03-20T18:03:50.861-07:002017-03-20T18:03:50.861-07:00Though there have been SlutWalks organized in Buda...Though there have been SlutWalks organized in Budapest, Hungary, I have not been familiar with the Amber Rose version of it. Thank you for raising a lot of intriguing issues related to the feminism vs post-feminism tension through this very relevant example! <br /><br />As for its individualism, I would say that to me it was the constant balancing between emphasizing individuality and community that seems prominent in the mission statement, rather than pressing individuality and pushing the collective and the (explicitly) political into background. For instance, while the "event” is "about self-expression”, it is also about "unity” and mutual support. In relation to this very interesting quote that you pulled: "There is no recipe for what someone involved in the Amber Rose SlutWalk needs to look like, you DO NOT need to come from an activist background or know anything about these issues. The only requirement is that you be inspired by your own passion to do something about the issues that plague our generation." I agree that it may be (intended to be) read as a sort of depoliticizing gesture, or, similarly, that "doing something about the issues that plague our generation” might be way too vague as part of a politically/ethically committed statement, a more generous reading would interpret it as emphasizing the openness toward anyone who sympathizes with the main cause (i.e. is against rape culture and victim blaming, and for women’s sexual freedom—whatever that may or may not entail), that is highlights he fact that there is no gatekeeping and elitism going on in terms of who is welcome at this "festival”. <br /><br />Surely the choice of words (event, festival), and the emphasis on pleasure, fun, and entertainment point towards a kind of politics that may not be radical enough or real politics to many, and which may be, indeed, directly and indirectly connected to the event’s commercial nature. [Though my subjective perception has been that it is just way too common a practice to discredit certain projects because they are not enough or not radical enough, which discrediting often works for the benefit of the speaker and their supposedly (more) true activist identity than it would helps faciliate the desired social change.] So I must admit that based only on the mission statement at least, I would imagine the Amber Rose Slutwalk to be quite promising, and while it manifests some of the feminist vs post-feminist tensions, I would actually read it, or, well, "grant” it the valuable adjective "feminist”, rather than flagging it as "post-feminist”. <br /><br />(And the complex problem you raised in relation to the reclaiming of the term "slut" made me think of the related example of using the term "bitch" in ways that are supposed to resignify it...)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05176370085096625626noreply@blogger.com