IM SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE BUT IM POWERFUL - YOUNG-WOMEN NEGOTIATING SEXUAL REPUTATION

被引:43
|
作者
KITZINGER, J [1 ]
机构
[1] MRC,MED SOCIOL UNIT,GLASGOW G12 8QQ,LANARK,SCOTLAND
关键词
D O I
10.1016/0277-5395(95)00003-U
中图分类号
C [社会科学总论];
学科分类号
03 ; 0303 ;
摘要
''Slag,'' ''tart,'' ''slut'' - these are all terms in common currency in 1990s Britain. Feminist researchers have identified how such insults are used by men to oppress women and to deny female desire and sexual agency. But how can we interpret women's own persistent use of such sexual insults? Can this simply be dismissed as evidence of patriarchal brain-washing? This article explores young women's understandings of such terms and identifies three overlapping but distinct ways in which ''slag'' is defined: slag as ''other,'' slag as ''Everywoman,'' and slag as ''she who allows herself to be used.'' I argue that power, rather than sexual activity per se, is central to the understanding of a ''real slag'' and that a woman may be ''promiscuous'' and yet not be perceived as a slag because she is ''in control.'' It is this that accounts for the popularity of figures such as Madonna. Madonna is not a slag because she conveys the message: ''I'm sexually attractive but I'm powerful.'' In fact, Madonna and ''slag'' occupy the same conceptual space - the gap between being powerful and being sexually available. Terms such as ''slag'' express that contradiction, whereas Madonna appears to transcend it. Any attempt to challenge young people's concerns about sexual reputation must recognise the multiple levels on which such insults operate, the function of terms such as ''slag'' in naming exploitation, and the conflicts young women experience in exploring heterosexual relations.
引用
收藏
页码:187 / 196
页数:10
相关论文
共 50 条
  • [21] Girl Power or Powerless Girl? Television, Sexual Scripts, and Sexual Agency in Sexually Active Young Women
    Seabrook, Rita C.
    Ward, L. Monique
    Cortina, Lilia M.
    Giaccardi, Soraya
    Lippman, Julia R.
    PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN QUARTERLY, 2017, 41 (02) : 240 - 253
  • [22] The Breasts of Virgins: Sexual Reputation and Young Women's Bodies in Medieval Culture and Society
    Phillips, Kim M.
    CULTURAL & SOCIAL HISTORY, 2018, 15 (01): : 1 - 19
  • [23] THE SOFT-TISSUE PROFILE OF 49 ATTRACTIVE YOUNG-WOMEN SELECTED BY H-PECK AND S-PECK
    LUNDSTROM, A
    MCWILLIAM, J
    SWEDISH DENTAL JOURNAL, 1987, 11 (06) : 285 - 285
  • [24] 'It hurts my heart': Afghan women in London negotiating family relationships and (im)mobility regimes across borders
    Ryan, Louise
    Lopez, Maria
    Rasa, Mursal
    POPULATION SPACE AND PLACE, 2024, 30 (08)
  • [25] Pregnancy (im)possibilities: identifying factors that influence sexual minority women's pregnancy desires
    Carpenter, Emma
    Everett, Bethany G.
    Greene, Madelyne Z.
    Haider, Sadia
    Hendrick, C. Emily
    Higgins, Jenny A.
    SOCIAL WORK IN HEALTH CARE, 2020, 59 (03) : 180 - 198
  • [26] Sexual experience, abortion and sexually transmitted diseases among young women at a contraceptive clinic
    Persson, Elisabeth
    Holtzberg, Madeleine
    Edgardh, Karin
    ACTA OBSTETRICIA ET GYNECOLOGICA SCANDINAVICA, 1991, 70 (01) : 63 - 67
  • [27] Sexual behaviors after universal screening of sexually transmitted infections in healthy young women
    Hwang, Loris Y.
    Shafer, Mary-Ann B.
    Pollack, Lance M.
    Chang, Y. Jason
    Boyer, Cherrie B.
    OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY, 2007, 109 (01): : 105 - 113
  • [28] Relational and Sexual Experiences of Betrayal From the Point of View of Sexually Victimized Young Women
    Guyon, Roxanne
    Fernet, Mylene
    Hebert, Martine
    JOURNAL OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE, 2021, 36 (21-22) : NP11506 - NP11530
  • [29] SEXUAL-BEHAVIOR AND CONTRACEPTIVE USE AMONG SOCIOECONOMIC GROUPS OF YOUNG-WOMEN IN THE UNITED-STATES
    FORD, K
    ZELNIK, M
    KANTNER, JF
    JOURNAL OF BIOSOCIAL SCIENCE, 1981, 13 (01) : 31 - 45
  • [30] LEARNING ABOUT SEX - YOUNG-WOMEN AND THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF SEXUAL IDENTITY - THOMSON,R, SCOTT,S
    CAUTHERY, P
    JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH MEDICINE, 1991, 13 (04): : 363 - 364