Megan Murphy’s Article Really Bugged Me

Ever since I read Meghan Murphy’s article “We're sluts, not feminists. Wherein My Relationship With Slutwalk Gets Rocky,” I’ve been trying to determine what exactly about the article I didn’t like. I think I’ve finally come to the conclusion that I personally felt as if she was saying that there is no place in feminist movements for women who conform to the “palatable, "attractive,"[and] easy-to-digest,” (Murphy) image. This concept bothers me because it seems as if Murphy’s rocky relationship isn’t with the intent of Slutwalk itself, but with how participants choose to portray themselves. I find it very hypocritical  that feminism, the movement supposedly standing up against the judgements women face about their appearances, then proceeds to judge women based on their appearances.

Murphy's focus on appearances to support her anti-Slutwalk argument can be seen in her statement that the conventionally attractive feminists (whatever “conventionally attractive” means anyways) “simply repackages sexist imagery in "empowering" wrapping paper” (Murphy) and these women that focus on their own “attractive” image risk the whole movement of feminism. That “heels and breast implants” automatically justify the exclusion of some women from the feminists movement, because they are “the kind that reassures the public that feminists are just attractive, heterosexual, women who love penises and shaving their legs”, (Murphy) that they are “women who don't threaten the status quo.”  (Murphy) Oftentimes, the case is very much the opposite. These women who feel like they have to conform to the standards recognize exactly why we need feminism, and they want to promote feminist values in a society so that eventually maybe they won’t have to feel this pressure to fit into the norms of beauty.

Having been raised in a culture where there is so much focus on and critique of women’s appearance and fitting into a certain beauty ideal, the feminist in me constantly struggles over my own decision to wear make-up, short skirts, etc. And regardless of all my over analyzing, I still feel like I can’t win, I’m either called a slut but mainstream society, or as against the feminist movement by feminists like Murphy. Maybe participants of Slutwalk feels the same way too, and the movement is really a big “fuck you” to our patriarchal society for using clothing as an excuse to call someone a slut or to justify rape due to our appearance, as well as standing up against the feminists that judges them for that same "slutty" appearances, for not expressing themselves the way feminists would want them to. Maybe Slutwalk is a place where women feel safe to speak out about sexual violence and discuss feminist ideologies without being judged by fellow participants about their appearances. If this is the case, then it goes to show that it is very important for those within the feminist movement to be inclusive of how people choose to express themselves, as we are all against mainstream, patriarchal society enforcing beauty norms on us, we don’t need feminism also to enforce standards of self-expression too.

That being said, I do support a lot of Murphy's statements, such as: not all women can or want to identify with the word slut, that it is mainly privileged women who can reclaim the word slut; or the fact that the Slutwalk event moving away from recognizing the gendered context of sexual assault. However, I reject her focus on women’s appearances to justify being anti-Slutwalk, identifiable in her critique of the "sexy" feminists, where she asks “why, exactly, does feminism have to be "sexy" in order for it to be supported?” (Murphy) The answer is, it doesn’t. But my question would be why would you focus on women’s "sexy" appearances when critiquing the motives of the movement? Criticizing a movement through shaming other womens’ self-expression strengthens patriarchy, hurting all women.And as Harsha Walia discussed in one of the articles we were required to read this week, aren’t you “tired of the Left ruthlessly eating itself alive”? The idea of Slutwalk is to stop sexual violence, so stop the girl hate, join together and unite the left to stop sexual violence. 

Works Cited

Meghan , Murphy. "We're Sluts, Not Feminists. Wherein My Relationship with Slutwalk Gets Rocky." Rabble.ca (2011). Web. http://rabble.ca/news/2011/05/we%E2%80%99re-sluts-not-feminists-wherein-my-relationship-slutwalk-gets-rocky 

Walia, Harsha. "Slutwalk: To March or Not to March." Rabble.ca (2011). http://rabble.ca/news/2011/05/slutwalk-march-or-not-march