https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6CCePrJlaU
For the first Poem of the Week feature I thought I’d write about something contemporary. And what’s more contemporary than YouTube?
Savannah Brown is a poet. She’s also a YouTuber who often uploads spoken word videos. Her poem ‘Hi, I’m a Slut’ is a slam poem, and a pretty amazing one at that. Brown interweaves empowering truths and sickening, misogynistic myths about female sexuality with experiences of objectification, making for a reading experience so powerful.
In an attempt to analyse, undermine and reclaim the label of ‘slut’, the title “Hi, I’m a slut” is repeated throughout. It’s clear that this emphasises how flippantly this is used in such a degrading manner to girls, in an attempt to lessen female sexuality. Indeed, “woman equals sexualise” in the second line highlights this. As the poem continues, the contradictory uses of this are emphasised, and questions about how, “I sleep around, sure / But isn’t that what you were begging for?” and “How to make my aura more alluring, but not too alluring / That’s something a skank would do.” make sense are answered with the declaration: “When two opposing forces meet they cancel / So it sounds like you just don’t want me to exist.” This shocking level of objectification is intrinsic to the poem.
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Another powerful point about this poem is how inclusive it is to girls with varying experiences. The speaker takes the persona of different girls facing the label of slut, as Brown highlights the rhetoric that girls who are virgins are “a fetish too / But doesn’t that mean I’m a prude?” Mentioned later on in the poem is the fascination with lesbian porn but the unwillingness to accept homosexuality; the entire fifth stanza is devoted to this. The idea that “my love only starts to matter / and stops being make believe, a fantasy when you’re watching lesbian porn / But they quickly discover that actually / What they’ve been missing the whole time is your cock.” is emphasised; female sexuality is again shown as weakened at the hands of misogyny, which often comes hand-in-hand with homophobia.
This poem highlights the reality of sexism in our society. The idea that women can only be sexual if it is validated by a man is at the core of this poem, but what the speaker does as the poem continues is regain control of the label ‘slut’; in doing this, she maintains control of her sexuality and thus the sexualities of the girls she takes the persona of. This occurs most prominently in the stand-out line of this poem, one of two stanzas which change the direction of this poem completely. “You’re damn right my body is a temple / I am the god it was built for.” Instances of female repression in religious doctrines are married with such potent self-empowerment and for that this poem becomes a triumphant exploration of femininity, in the least traditional sense.
The final stanza thus becomes an attack on sexism when it prevents female sexuality. The reality of harassment, abuse and rape are echoed through this stanza, putting every instance of victim-blaming to shame. The humanity of a woman, one that is often lost beneath sexist slurs and male dominance, is hailed as the speaker declares “Hi, I’m a slut and no, / that doesn’t mean I am nothing.” Since this is a slam poem, I urge you to watch the video and become empowered by one of the many girls who is done with sexism defining her life.
Words by Caitlin O’Connor