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Volume CXXXIII, Number 4 |
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"Slut": How we throw around this four-letter word
KARA OPPENHEIM
Recently overheard: "This weekend was ok. But the party
at ______ blew because there were just all these freshmen sluts."
Let's take a step back now and examine this statement. Clearly the speaker
was not happy with some of the first-year students (let's assume they
were female) who chose to attend the same party that she herself attended.
She was so unimpressed by them that she called them "sluts".
Now, what, exactly, is a slut? We have all heard the word used many times
in many contexts. "I hate her-what a slut". "Dude, she
was so all over me I had to push her away. She was such a slut".
"I don't want all those little sluts taking away our guys!"
And most commonly, "Dumb slut!" Without getting all worked up,
as this question can tend to make people, I really would like to figure
this out once and for all. WHAT IS A SLUT? WHAT MAKES SOMEONE A SLUT?
Random House Webster's College Dictionary: slut (slut),
n. 1. a dirty, slovenly woman. 2. a. a sexually immoral woman. b. a prostitute.
Now, let us give the freshmen girls at said party the benefit of the doubt:
while they may not have been impeccably attired, they were probably not
dirty and/or too slovenly. And they are probably not "hired"
women. So why did this upperclassmen think that they were all sexually
promiscuous? Or did she?
Perhaps she just wanted to insult them. Beth was recently
telling me about one of her classes in which they discussed this very
issue of 'slut'. "What we learned was that a long time ago female
slaves were used for sex so that was the very lowest a woman could get.
When people use that phrase now, they just want to demean someone to the
very lowest level possible. At this point, girls use it as a non-specific
insult all the time." True, in that I have heard many girls be called
sluts who have probably had one boyfriend their whole life, been extremely
faithful to him and have never even hit on another male. But if one of
these girls steals someone's spot on a team, she may risk being called
a slut. "I know I'm guilty of it," Beth admitted, "if I
don't like someone there's a very good chance I will call her a slut."
I interjected, "My friends call each other sluts all the time and
they're just kidding." Beth pointed out that we must, in understanding
this usage of the word, understand that all insults will inevitably be
used jokingly among friends even if they also employ them without jest
in other instances.
"Slut" is most often used in reference to sexual
promiscuity though. It may be used to describe a girl who hooks up with
too many guys or goes too far with them This is generally a bad thing,
although there is a school of post-feminist thought that tells women that
it is important to 'use men's bodies as they use women's'. For subscribers
to this belief, "slut" may imply a wide range of sexual experience
with positive connotations. It can lend an air of wildness and liberty
to a girl and make her seem very fun and carefree, indicating that she's
just out to have a good time, not on the prowl for a boyfriend. This instance
tends to use the phrase "a little slutty" which is not as harsh
as the flat out "slut".
Another common usage is the term "freshmen slut"
(or sophomore slut, eighth grade slut, what have you). This clearly belies
insecurity on the part of the insult-er. Many times, the employer of the
term is worried that the new, younger girls will be prettier, skinnier,
more desirable and have more novelty that she and her friends and cause
them to fall out of favor with "the guys". This is applied to
romantic scenarios. However, it may be applied as well as in the case
of Shannon confiding in me her fear that all of her good-looking, lacrosse-
and hockey-playing male friends will stop hanging out with her because
they will be so enchanted by the new girls (who clearly have no goal other
then to do anything and everything necessary to snag the coolest, hottest
guy there is and then use him for his social status). Moreover, any freshmen
or sophomore girl who is good friends with upper-class men risks this
stereotype. Also found: "social-climbing slut".
"Sluttiness" is very often applied to something
as petty as outward appearances. Our kindergarten teachers told us never
to judge a book by its cover; nonetheless, prejudices are formed and labels
are applied, albeit removable, based on first impressions. A girl in a
tight, bright, cropped top and tight, low-cut pants dancing provocatively
("grinding") on the dance floor at a social house with multiple
guys risks being called a "slut". She may have absolutely no
intention of doing any more than dancing that night, or any night for
that matter. Unfortunately for her, her looks and her actions imply that
she may, hence the application of the label. Even more unfortunate is
that she may be the closest thing on earth to the Virgin Mary but will
be called a slut, based on her appearance, before the most promiscuous
girl in the school who attends a party in khakis and a button-down.
In its latest incarnation, "slut" has been brought
to the other sex. A "male slut" or "guy slut" is not
quite a pimp or a player. He doesn't have "game" but somehow
manages to hook up with lots of girls. This does not pack nearly the same
punch as when it is used in reference to women.
"Slut" is clearly an insult in its most common
applications. It is meant to encompass all of the worst qualities a woman
can posses: lack of morals, lack of self-respect, lack of social-consciousness,
and inability to dress appropriately. It can be used to mean any one of
these, but the general intended effect is the whole combination. It may
be applied at random to anyone who rubs the speaker the wrong way. Unfortunately,
this makes the tern slightly indefinable and therefore unavoidable. So
that if you try your whole life to be pure and good, one action can deem
you a "slut". So I say to Bowdoin College students, Be not so
liberal in your employment of this insult! It may very well be unfounded
and incur irreparable damage to some poor girl! And to those who have
been branded, Be proud! Embrace your sluttiness if need be! Do not stop
dancing or stop dressing as you like to cater to the whims of some jealous
senior girl! I say, as long as you are well aware of the image you project
and you don't mind, then go for it! Be a slut!
Just don't ever call me one.