Whore to Culture

The name of this blog is taken from the old joke: “You can lead a whore to culture, but you can’t make her think”, which is a pun on the adage: “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink”.

Like any offensive joke that relies on prejudice against a marginalised group to be funny, it’s belittling, base and outright nasty.

It’s also just plain wrong.

Whores are invariably Othered as a group of people. Part and parcel with this is the perception we do what we do because we’re too stupid, ignorant or desperate to do anything else. Which has a nice healthy dose of sex stigma attached to it too, doesn’t it?

This blog takes its name from that nasty joke to at once acknowledge that we are Othered, and point out that we shouldn’t be. We’ve got as many interests, hobbies, goals and ambitions as any other people. And just like any other people, regardless of what our background is, we are more than adequately capable of absorbing and dissecting the media, culture and pop culture of our societies, whether that’s in the formal jargon of the academic or the colloquial of the lay person.