I am a black woman that reclaims the word Slut
But my relationship with that reclamation does not come without a price.
Black women do not have the privilege of reclaiming the word slut without validating the historically entrenched idealology and recurring messages about what and who the Black Woman is.
Black women have worked tirelessly since the 19th century colored women’s clubs to rid society of the sexist/racist vernacular of slut,jezebel,hottentot,mammy,mule,sapphire so that may be able to build our sense of selves and redefine what women who look like us represent.
When white women reclaim the world slut, it is considered a revolutionary act. When women of color reclaims the word, the world shoots us a look as if we’ve finally admitted to the truth.
So I beg white feminists to understand that although we support your right to reclaim ‘Slut’ and wear whatever you choose,wherever you choose,and whenever you choose, we as women of color do not have the privilege and if we DO choose to reclaim the word it is not to be romanticized by white feminists or SlutWalk.
Our relationship with the word ‘Slut’ is a bumpy road, a road that is filled with hate,validation by a racist misogynistic society,and a struggle to maintain bodily integrity in a world that has done everything against us. That is a road that we as Black Women must choose to take, and ours alone, and if we choose not to, PLEASE respect that choice, and do not demand that reclamation onto us.
I won’t deny I didn’t even know this. I’ll make sure to remember this in the future.
(via ladyatheist)
