On October 28th, I went to the library and watch the film UnSlut: A Documentary Film. This film was created by Emily Lindin. This film is about the sexual shaming and assault of girls and women in the United States and Canada. This film mainly focuses on a young woman named Rehtaeh Parsons, who unfortunately took her own life in 2013 due to the shamming and abuse.
The film itself is around forty minutes long. So, myself and others watched the film, and then proceeded to talk about it and its relevance to our society today. Many women in the room actually talked about them being slut shamed. However, us students used those examples to apply it to events that happen today. We basically talked about how to see and stop shaming and assault from happening. It was very interesting to hear other peoples’ opinions on this delicate subject.
This definitely connects to an article and theme that we have discussed in class; them being: Frye’s, Oppression, and the theme of oppression. I feel as though Lindin’s film, UnSlut, connects to those two because of these examples.
In Frye’s article she discusses that women a fundamental claim in feminism is that women are oppressed. In Frye’s seventh paragraph she states: “It is common in the United States that…younger women, are in a bind where neither sexual activity nor sexual inactivity is all right. If she is heterosexually active, a women is open to censure and punishment for being loose, unprincipled or a whore.” Frye is basically saying that either sexual activity or sexual inactivity may potentially classify a younger woman as a whore or slut. Frye goes on to say that the younger woman may have to lie to her parents about what is going on.
To tie into UnSlut, the example of lying or hiding from parents ultimately led to Rehtaeh Parsons's suicide.
Also, I would stay that the film connects to the theme of oppression. The theme of oppression is this: “oppression is against the ideals of humanity because it prevents people within the oppressed group from being fully human.” I can definitely see how that theme applies to many women. Every day women are oppressed and unable to be themselves. In the film, many of the women were crying because they felt that they couldn't be who they truly were inside. They felt as though they did not belong.
This film was incredible. It shows that things are all what they seem, and it shows us how to fix these problems.
I think shaming is horrible, and we live in a shame based society. Deep down we all need to deal with the shame we feel and realize it is OK to not be perfect. Schools are a great place to take this message to, so I agree!
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