Peyton Hassinger
Features Editor
As Taylor Swift sings in “Slut,” one of the new additions to her album 1989 (Taylor’s Version), “Being this young is art,” and this past Thursday, members of the Sewanee community got to embody exactly what those lyrics mean. On October 26, Sewanee’s Bairnwick Women’s Center, commonly referred to as “the Wick,” held their annual Slut Strut in the Mary Sue Cushman Room. Members of the Wick rolled out the red carpet, and Sewanee students cheered as their peers reclaimed and transformed the previously derogatory label.
The Wick organized this event in order to redefine the term “slut.” As people entered the event, they had the option of entering into a raffle that promised various comically lewd prizes to four winners. The prizes included a Rose Toy, a set of butt plugs, a $20 gift card to a sex toy website, and a witch’s hat full of candy.
Members of the Wick began the event with a short presentation discussing the origins of the word “slut” and how it became a term to ostracize and oppress all feminine societal groups. The presentation discussed the Slut Walk, which originated in 2011 to combat police violence, and then explored the words deep rooted origins.
According to their presentation, the term arose in the 1400s to describe “dirty women.” It has since developed and adapted to modern times, expanding its definition to marginalize all female minority groups based on ignorant stereotypes. Their informative presentation ended with saying, “Anything can be slutty in the eyes of an oppressor,” and then everyone discussed ways feminine people can reclaim the term and remove its negative connotations.
After the presentation, members of the Wick pulled tickets from the raffle and four lucky attendants went home quite happy. Promptly after, boisterous music began playing and groups of people confidently strutted down the red carpet in all types of attire. A total of twenty-one people basked in the lime-light, adorning everything from shockingly realistic shrek costumes to lingerie and corsets.
The air in the room was electric and the confidence was contagious. No one in attendance was spared from the bliss that springs from being surrounded by so many beautiful and kind people. One strutter commented on how it felt to strut down the carpet and reclaim the once derogatory term. Emmi Williams (C ’26) said, “All of my problems went away for the 3 seconds I was strutting. There’s some type of energy when women lift you up and allow you to feel vulnerable and powerful.”
It isn’t just the Sewanee community that is working towards creating a more independent and accepting environment for feminine people. No one deserves to be judged and marginalized for expressing themselves and living freely. Even since the sixties, the sexual revolution has propelled change throughout the entirety of America and the world through public events such as Sewanee’s very own Slut Strut. You can always count on the Wick to provide a safe place where people can find resources and acceptance, judgment free.