If everything is slop, maybe, it's our fault too Even in female pop

In the beginning it was the AI slop. That indistinct, liquid set of poor quality content generated by Artificial Intelligence that is going to swell the sea magnum of random stuff found on the Internet and on social media, specifically to confuse people with little digital literacy. They are contents that lack meaning, value, a real sense of existence. The grandmothers who celebrate their birthday alone on Facebook, the “like if you care about an abandoned dog” that doesn't exist, the photos of what we would be like if we were part of the animated world of Hayao Miyazaki (who, for the record, detests artificial intelligence). Then, -slop became the suffix of the moment. Everything is slop: there is literatureslop (the written and self-published books that are talked about on BookTok) and, now, also cuntslop.

What is cuntslop

The cuntslop, as it is emerging on social media, is configured as everything that is modeled on the category of 'cunt', but which is only the copy of a thousand summaries. “Cunt”, outside of its literal meaning of a word that - in English - is considered a serious insult, defines a whole category of content highly appreciated by female pop fans. What cunty is also sexy, new, iconic, epic, strong, a source of admiration in a very specific way, typical of Gen Z on social networks and the LGBTQ community, which has always coined idioms destined to enter pop culture. An incarnation of cunty? Charli xxx, the drag queen. An example of a cunty outfit? Those of Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan in the teaser of the new video together. The cuntslop, therefore, is a watered down version, commercialized and emptied of intentionality of all this. A sequel of pop stars in lingerie who try in every way to be “cunty” without succeeding in the full, convincing, empowering, impactful and real way of the original icons — from drag queens onwards — who did it simply because they were. Now that the cunt sells, it is being forced for economic purposes. And that's how it's ruined forever.

What does the -Slop trend tell us

Let's take a step back. Slop, originally, is the feed given to pigs, the semi-liquid bobbing. In this vision of things, we would be the pigs. As we untangle ourselves between this forest of vulgarity, queer subculture and slang, there is an important lesson to learn from this memification of the relationship between content and user. First of all, the birth of a new genre of media: the one made to occupy time, which must cost as little as possible (in economic but also creative and human terms) and make more and more profit in terms of engagement and buzz on social networks. Quality, in the slop, doesn't count. Quantity wins, crushes us, bombs us. Pop stars in bras spring up like mushrooms, they are accused of being industry plants, they vanish and multiply relentlessly; and we see them all, discuss them all, listen to them all. Bad.

A usage problem?

Perhaps, in fact, the problem is also a bit us: we enjoy everything in a hurry, we judge superficially, we focus only on numbers and earnings, building feuds between artists, celebrities and actresses based on online fandom (if not on nothing). The use of slop is by its nature partial, fast and superficial. It is a dog that bites its tail: if we no longer have an attention threshold, the things we look at will require less and less to survive. It doesn't matter that we understand them, it doesn't matter if they have a meaning, layers, or something to interpret. They only have to exist next to us, to passively slip into that square centimeter of our brain that has remained free. We don't have to understand them, we have to suffer them. In this game, however, we must not make the mistake of giving up. Active fruition and critical thinking remain fundamental skills to cultivate. Our consumer choices have a real weight on what is produced and offered. Focusing attention on valuable content and cultivating a balanced media diet is our right but also our duty. The slop generates only more slop, lowering our expectations in an endless enshittification that will make everything more stupid. Including us.