Activist hopes 'sluts' rock the vote

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., June 5 (UPI) -- Hell hath no fury like the California woman behind the "Rock the Slut Vote" online effort to register women to vote against Republicans in November.

Acting on the national backlash when conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh called law student Sandra Fluke a "slut" for testifying at a Democratic hearing on medical reasons for making contraception available, Susan McMillan Emry said her "Rock the Slut Vote" Web site, www.waronwomen.com/RockTheSlutVote/, is meant to take the bite out of the offensive term, ABC News reported Tuesday.

"If the GOP thinks that throwing the word 'slut' at us at this point is going to silence women, they have another thing coming," said Emry, who admits she sat on the political sidelines until Limbaugh's diatribe against Fluke, coupled with several states enacting restrictive laws on reproductive rights and the Susan G. Komen Foundation's decision to cut Planned Parenthood funding.

Riffing comedian Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a Redneck if …" jokes, Emry's Web site lists 22 reasons why "You might be a slut," including "if you've ever used contraception" or "if you're still downloading Dixie Chicks music."

The site also encourages visitors to "Go forth, raise hell and rock the slut vote."

Emry, of San Luis Obispo, Calif., said the goal is to "re-appropriate" the word "slut" so Limbaugh and other Republicans cannot use it to "bully and silence women."

"It's really about taking the power away from that word more than it is about Rush Limbaugh," she told ABC News. "He gave the word the notoriety but we are trying to take it back."