Politics

Fluke-associated ‘reproductive justice’ group hosts ‘Slut-Pride’ event at Harvard

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Lesson of the day: The word “slut” is acceptable… sometimes.

Radio talk show giant Rush Limbaugh has been condemned by nearly every sector of the feminist and left-wing movements for using the term “slut” to refer to 30-year-old contraception activist and Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke — but at Harvard’s “Sex Week” Monday the Harvard affiliate of Law Students for Reproductive Justice championed the term with its own “Slut-Pride” seminar.

Law Students for Reproductive Justice, the national body of the Georgetown affiliate for which Sandra Fluke was once president, condemned Limbaugh for such language in early March.

“Fluke is the Georgetown law student whose contraceptive access advocacy has been called into question with language that falls, as Fluke said in her press statement, ‘far beyond the acceptable bounds of civil discourse,'” LSRJ said in a statement. “Such personal attacks are intended to shame women out of advocacy and into silence.”

Despite the condemnation, the Harvard affiliate of LSRJ is one of the sponsors of “Sex Week” and was the leader of the “Sex-Positivity and Slut-Pride: Sex Tips for a Modern World from Good Vibrations” seminar.

The group billed the seminar, which took place Monday, as a forum to discuss sex in a constructive manner.

“Join HLSRJ and Good Vibrations for a short discussion of sex-positivity, a demo of lube and some popular sex toys, then Q&A. Free Food!” the event summary reads.

According to HLSRJ President Kandis Wood, the group is being consistent with their use of the word “slut,” standing with Fluke to take back the word from those who would use it to denigrate women and working to redefine it to mean a woman who is in charge of her reproductive decisions.

“Obviously we are not using the word to insult or to contradict or to seem inconsistent, in fact I think it is more consistent with the LSRJ national stance on Sandra Fluke — the idea that a woman can either take [the word ‘slut’] back or even not want to use the word ‘slut,'” she told TheDC. “But the bottom line is a woman has the right and all humans have the right to be in charge of their sexuality and reproductive health, and taking advantage of that right does not make somebody a slut.”

Ron Meyer, spokesman for the conservative Young America’s Foundation, completely disagrees.

Meyer told TheDC that HLSRJ’s use of the word “slut” is “totally hypocritical.”

“If words matter how about you start by setting an example, and the best place to start is by convincing your own side first to follow the rules you expect others to live by — especially when your group is affiliated with Sandra Fluke — it is just silly,” Meyer said.

HLSRJ reiterated, however, that the goal is largely about reclaiming and taking the hurt out of the word.

“Our feeling is, how dare a man like Rush Limbaugh be able to label a contentious, politically active, modern woman like Sandra Fluke with a term that he believed, based on his extensive surrounding commentary, to be derogatory?” HLSRJ added in prepared comments emailed to TheDC. “If we can use the word ‘slut’ in a way that, as Gloria Steinem said, ‘take[s] the sting out,’ and creates a space where some woman [sic] feel more able to make their own choices about sexual and reproductive preferences, then we feel it is an appropriate use of the word, especially in the context of a sex-positive event.”

Either way, the week itself continues on campus.

Wood explained that HLSRJ has been doing its own “Sex Week” for the past two years but that this year the event has been expanded to incorporate undergrads via the organizational efforts of the Sexual Health Education & Advocacy throughout Harvard College (SHEATH) group.

“Sex Week at Harvard intends to promote a week of programming that is interdisciplinary, thought-provoking, scholastic, innovative, and applicable to student experiences in order to promote a holistic understanding of sex and sexuality,” SHEATH explained on the “Sex Week” event website. “Our goal is to connect diverse individuals and communities both within and beyond Harvard through common human experiences with love, sex, sexuality, and relationships. Sex Week 2012 will be held the last week of March, March 25-31.”

Other events on the “Sex Week” schedule include:

-Spring Fever: Exploring Your Sexuality
-Guilty Pleasure, Sacred Delight: Diverse Jewish Perspectives on Sex
-Sex, Faith, & Reason: The Real Hook-up
-What What (In the Butt): Anal Pleasure 101
-Dirty Talk
-Affirmative Consent and Criminal Law
-Sex Machines vs. Sex Objects: How Stereotypes Subvert Sexual Pleasure
-God Says Sex is Good

Yale had a similar event last month.

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