Power in the Powerless: Discursive Agency in Slut Culture Online

Abstract

This study looks at the reasoning slut-shaming occurs and how empowered women reclaim their sexual identity. I considered how derogatory insults are transformed into empowerment and how the insult slut becomes a source of empowerment for women and girls. I use Judith Butler's ideas of discursive agency to understand this process of reclaiming. I conducted content analysis of online blog posts from a series of anecdotal websites. Each blogger revealed insight into the experience of being slut-shamed and the process of taking ownership of their sexuality. I found that there is a new spectrum of understanding female empowerment, the individuated vs. the un-individuated. The individuated are able to understand shame brought on by the un-individuated once they become empowered and understand that learned norms on female sexuality are the culprit of shame. The bloggers each experience their own understandings of unlearning these behaviors and creating new narratives through the voicing of their experiences.