About Rocking the Slut Vote...

Divas, let's talk! Last week while I was surfing the Internet, I came across an article in the New York Daily News on the Rock the Slut Vote website. I was intrigued, needless to say, so I decided to do a little research. Well, remember back in February when Rush Limbaugh labeled Sandra Fluke, a law student at Georgetown University, a slut? Why was she deemed a "slut" you ask? Back in February, Sandra Fluke testified before the U.S. House of Representatives' Democratic Steering and Policy Committee in favor of mandating health insurance coverage for contraceptives. A couple of weeks later, the ever-so-eloquent Rush Limbaugh made the following statement on a radio program regarding Sandra Fluke's testimony:

"What does it say about the college co-ed Susan Fluke [sic], who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex, what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She's having so much sex she can't afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex. What does that make us? We're the pimps."

Now I am not going to comment on the ignorance that is Mr. Limbaugh's statement, but I want to bring your attention to a byproduct of this statement: the Rock the Slut Vote website. Fed up with the war against women's rights, Susan McMillan Emry launched the Rock the Slut Vote website. According to RocktheSlutVote.com, the mission of RTSV is "to fight the GOP effort to bully, subjugate and silence women. We will wrest the power from the word slut and help women get informed, get involved, get registered and vote."

Courtesy of RockTheSlutVote.com

The RTSV movement is another attempt to reclaim and redefine the word "slut" (remember the Slut Walk Movement?). In a blog post, Susan McMillan Emry notes that "there's a long, proud history of oppressed peoples who effectively reappropriate the very pejorative terms used to demean and keep them in a lowly, disgraced place. By reclaiming the most hurtful, shaming words, groups rise up, unite and fight against intimidation and injustice. Many examples exist in modern America -- from punks to geeks, from gays to rednecks. And yes, now sluts!" 

In all seriousness, women's rights in the area of health care have been under attack for decades in both the state and federal legislatures and judiciaries. Specifically, issues involving a woman's access to contraceptives and a woman's right to abortion have been the biggest targets as of late. As we can see from Mr. Limbaugh's comments, a woman who chooses to use contraceptives and who advocates for said contraceptives to be covered under insurance is essentially a slut. RTSV takes the position that sluts vote, too. In addition to reclaiming the word "slut," the hope of this movement is that women, and male supporters, use the ballot to vote for those representatives who will protect their rights.

The RTSV website allows individuals to "enlist" to fight in the war against women, register to vote, and shop for RTSV gear (t-shirts, bumper stickers, buttons, and yard signs). The website also has an interactive, humorous quiz which help you to decide whether or not you are a slut. Your degree of slutdom depends on your response to select questions. For example, you might be a slut if you believe that criminalizing contraception is wrong...or if you believe that comprehensive, preventive women's health care is a right...or if you believe that the war on women will be settled at the ballot box. 

  

So, what do you all think about this? Is the RTSV a good way to make women aware of attempts to infringe upon their rights? Will this motivate women to get out and vote? Is there really a war against women? How effective will this movement be at we approach the November elections? What are your thoughts? Please share!

Courtesy of RockTheSlutVote.com

For more information on RTSV, check out RockTheSlutVote.com.