Instrumental in the development of CatalystCon, ESC Forever, aka the “Evil Sluts,” Lilith and Jezebel expanded their online blog into a media consulting firm that specializes in social media. In this exclusive Q&A, the Evil Sluts divulge what makes their services unique.
Where did the name Evil Slut Clique come from?
We launched Evil Slutopia in 2006. It’s evolved over the years but basically it’s our place to speak out about any issues that are important to us, from sexism in politics to slut-shaming in the media to Cosmo’s awful sex advice to what’s wrong with “Fifty Shades of Grey.”
We coined the name “Evil Slut Clique” shortly after a discussion in which one of us was called a slut by a mutual “friend.” It became a running joke that those of us who thought this friend’s slut-shaming was ridiculous were members of the ESC. But beyond the joke, we didn’t think it was right that women were using that word against each other and we started to think about what the word really meant and how much negative power it can have... I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I was being honest, I was being safe, but that made me a slut? So we decided to reclaim the word and start challenging those who use it to silence or shame women or police their behavior. We’re “taking it back.”
How did it inspire the creation of your online “clique” and blog?
We were both writers working non-writing day jobs at the time, so we decided to launch a blog to share our many strong opinions about pop culture, politics and feminism with the world. We needed a name for the site and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to give the Evil Slut Clique an online home.
Discuss the EvilSlutopia blog — when was it launched?
We launched Evil Slutopia in 2006. It’s evolved over the years but basically it’s our place to speak out about any issues that are important to us, from sexism in politics to slut-shaming in the media to Cosmo’s awful sex advice to what’s wrong with “Fifty Shades of Grey.”
When did you launch ESC Forever Media?
We launched ESC Forever Media in 2009 when we branched out from the blog and started to do consulting and other work. We wanted to keep some separation between the blog and the business. Also, our mothers kept telling us that nobody would ever take us seriously with a name like Evil Slutopia.
How do your non-traditional views serve your media/PR consulting clientele?
It’s our unique experience more than anything else that serves them. We’ve worked “normal” jobs in sales, publishing, marketing and PR, but we’ve also been bloggers ourselves for years and have interacted with a variety of companies from that perspective. We’ve traveled everywhere from a women’s writing retreat in the mountains of upstate New York to a social media expo in Vegas to a blogging conference full of mommy bloggers to XBIZ 360. So when it comes to our clients now, pretty much nothing surprises us. Whatever comes up, chances are we know who to call and how to handle it or how to figure it out.
ESC’s About page notes “feminist” as one of the labels ESC rejects — Is there a negative stereotype of feminism?
We don’t actually reject the label, just the idea of being confined by it. We both strongly identify as feminists, but that’s not all that we are. It’s more about not wanting to be limited by someone else’s definition of that label. There is a lot of infighting and arguing about what makes a good feminist, and also a lot of totally inaccurate negative stereotypes about feminism. Much like the label of “slut,” we approach “feminist” in the way that feels right to us regardless of what others may say or think.