Supplied – MezoenPerverts and protestors! Harlots and home-owners! Gather and gawk at the most politically arousing statement we have seen thus far.
“Sluts Against Harper,” also known as the Instagram account VOTES4NUDES, is a Canada-wide initiative fuelled by the sheer disdain toward the Harper administration. The premise of the movement is basically anyone who direct messages a photo of themselves voting for anyone except Harper, receives their own personalized nude. Now, if that doesn’t give you enough incentive to get off your ass, vote, and then proceed to jerk off as part of a symbolic political protest, you are seriously lost, and I’m going to pray for you.
The head of the campaign, going by the alias “Jessica Simps,” is a 24-year old university student living in Montreal. According to VICE, Simps referenced her name to Jessica Simpson, who embodies the three core values of her initiative: “being fun, flirty, and getting away with shit.” I admire this immensely, mainly because “Public affair” will forever be incorporated in my pre-party rituals, and if that doesn’t appeal to you, you are lying to yourself.
Despite the campaign only being launched last Tuesday, the account already had over 5000 followers within the first 24 hours, and doubled over the weekend. Simps has been working non-stop with her all-female team of nudists, scrambling to address thousands of submissions. The account had experienced some drawbacks when first created, however, and was both banned and reinstated overnight. Now focusing on a direct message basis, the public posts are seldom and censored to take extra precaution. Featuring all genders, races, and body types, the movement advocates a body-posi perversion, all united by the tag #FuckHarper.
In her recent interview with VICE, Simps remarks on why using nudes as a means of empowerment rather than exploitation, can encourage people to see the term “slut,” in a less critical lens.
“In the sex-positive and queer community, “slut” is a really empowered word. It’s also fun. We want to keep it equally light-hearted and flirty, and engage people in a way that is engaging, while making “sluts” a powerful thing. If there’s anything that Stephen Harper doesn’t care about, it’s women and women’s bodies, that’s for sure.”
Simps had initially promised free blowjobs, but due to — what I can only assume — as too much time consumption, a deficit of able and willing mouths, and general health reasons, Simps decided the public would just have to settle for nudes. “The first thing I did was post a status on Facebook promising BJs for votes, but I think that scared too many people away because it’s not realistic,” she tells VICE.
Growing exponentially each day, Simps’ initiative has demonstrated voter apathy can be solved the same way most other issues can be solved: via vagina. The vagina vote, as I am now declaring it, is a step towards women’s rights and issues that Harper has proved to neglect time and time again. And with voter turn-out being notoriously low in recent polls, Simps’ initiative luckily provides a real opportunity for change by targeting emerging adults.
So to all you silly sluts out there, wipe that dust off your shoulders, because you are now part of a revolutionary community — tossing all clothing and inhibitions to the wind, to give a solid FU to Harper. Raise you erections in protest and take part in the vagina vote today.
I find this extremely troubling. You can’t reclaim “slut” as something empowering. It’s not “fun”. It doesn’t work that way. We need to stop finding excuses to objectify and subordinate women!
In the pursuit of getting rid of one of the most sexist political leaders in human history, we are resorting to calling women sluts? Sending nude photos of women to men as some sort of “female liberation”? I’m sure there is a better way, in the name of women’s rights, to get people to not vote conservative.
did you just call stephen harper sexy
Reclamation of a term that has previously been used in a derogatory manner, and using it in a positive one, is actually a potent way for those who it may have been used to describe negatively to feel empowered and in control of their identities. For example, “queer” is a term that had previously been used to degrade members of the LGBT community, and in recent years, has been reclaimed as an inclusive term that individuals/groups use for identification as members of the LGBT community or possessing any type of non-binary gender identity or sexual orientation. That said, what empowers or motivates one person certainly may not do the same for another, and nobody is under any obligation to associate themselves with a term like “slut” if it makes them feel uncomfortable. Essentially, what I’m getting at is that we cannot generalize or blanket what empowers or liberates others, and especially not in a country as diverse as Canada.