Maybe it was a guy cruelly passing judgement on the way you choose to conduct yourself sexually, or perhaps it was another woman passing a *Mean Girls-*style comment on the way you were dressed – but, the truth is, few women will make it through their teens and 20s without either being called a slut themselves or, shamefully, dishing the insult out to somebody else. Unlike 'fat’ or ‘ugly’, being labelled a ‘slut’ is painful because it skims over all the superficial stuff (the stuff you can change) and hits you right in the centre of what makes you you. It’s a word that can, depending on how it’s administered, insult the way you look, your basic moral fibre or every single romantic decision you’ve ever made – including the ones that left you heartbroken. Anyone who’s been on the receiving end of a slut bomb will know the word’s unique power to hurt.
Which is maybe why, according to a new study, women tend to be the gatekeepers of the word slut. We're most likely to be slut-shamed in the first place, and we're most likely to be slut-shaming other women. The research, which was published today in *Social Psychology Quarterly, *looked at 53 women from the same university dorm at an American University and discovered that for some uni-aged women, slut-shaming others was a way of maintaining their social status. Degrading Sexual Language, the study by Elizabeth Armstrong, a sociology professor at the University of Michigan, and Laura Hamilton, a sociology professor at the university, found it's a way for women to exert their power because, as Armstrong puts it: ‘If you want to make a young woman feel bad, pulling out the term “slut” is a sure fire way to do it. It’s “she isn’t one of us, we don't like her and she's different.”’
Interestingly, the research team found that using the word has nothing to do with sex. The high-status women in the group – who tended to be from upper-middle class backgrounds – were far less likely to be slut-shamed than their lower-status peers, despite engaging in more sexual behaviour. Rather than a direct comment on a women’s promiscuity, Armstrong believes that women – knowing the words power to injure – use the word as a way of policing the social hierarchy, explaining: ‘We realised that college women also used the term [slut] as a way to police class boundaries. One of the ways that high-status women signalled to those trying to break into their social groups that they did not fit into was by engaging in public slut-shaming.'
But what do women actually mean when the word is used? Well, weirdly, it looks like most of us don't really know. The researchers found that despite the pervasiveness of slut shaming, there is no cogent definition of what ‘slut’ actually means. They found that what might be considered slutty for one woman is often seen as status-enhancing behaviour for another. As Armstrong puts it, the ‘women were convinced that sluts exist’ and tried hard not the be called one, but most of them didn’t know how to avoid it. It’s like they’re fearful of becoming ‘a mythical slut’. ‘The term is so vague and slippery that no one knows what a slut was or no one knows what you have to do to be that,’ Armstrong tells The Atlantic. ‘It circulated around, though, so everyone could worry about it being attached to them.
But today – and especially considering how the word doesn’t really seem to mean anything – why on earth are we still doing this to each other? We know how hurtful the word can be, so why is it even in our lexicon? It’s useful to remind ourselves that there is no male alternative to the word slut – ‘cad’, ‘bachelor’ or even ‘man-slag’ don’t have the same negative connotations or anywhere near the ability to wound. ‘Slut’ is a word that uniquely and unfairly attacks women as a gender, which seems like as good a reason as any to abandon it at the earliest possible opportunity.
In terms of ‘reclaiming’ the word and embracing it, that’s riddled with potential dangers as well. For example, you might call a dress you’re wearing ‘slutty’, meaning to convey something positive, but you’re actually perpetuating some very dangerous attitudes. What does it mean to call a dress slutty? It means you can tell by what a woman is wearing whether or not she is ‘up for it’ or ‘down to fuck’ – which, we need not remind you, is a defence used by date-rapists. Do you really want to toe that line?
Sadly, what it boils down to is that when we call each other and ourselves ‘sluts’, what we really end up doing is empowering men. In times like this, we often find it helpful to turn to Mean Girls. As Tina Fey's character Ms Norbury puts it: ‘You’ve got to stop calling each other sluts and whores. It just makes it OK for guys to call you sluts and whores.’
That's as good an argument as any for getting rid of the word forever, isn't it?
We still have a long way to go to stop slut-shaming - here are the issues we have covered so far
'Amber Rose Explains Consent As Simply As Possible Because Apparently People Still Don't Get It'
Check out Amber Rose's amazing response to a victim-blaming comment said on American Tv chat show 'It's Not You, It's Men'.
How Gossip Girl Style Social Media Accounts Are Being Used To Slut Shame Girls Across The Country
Young women are being slut-shamed by their contemporaries on 'Gossip Girl' style Instagram pages and it's actually illegal.
Why Game of Thornes Slut-Shaming of Cersei Had To Happen
We discuss the controversial slut-shaming of Cersei Lannister and how it occurs on a spectrum
This Sex Calculator Will Make You Feel Pretty Ashamed Of Yourself
Slate.com’s calculator will judge you against data taken from nuns(it would seem) and is another thing that promotes slut-shaming in society.
The Slut Shaming Of Rita Ora Says More About A$AP Rocky Than Her
How Rita Ora was slut-shamed on A$AP Rocky's new album and it definitely isn't okay.
New Research Shows That Women Who Earn More Get Slut Shamed Less
The author of the study tells us why, but we want to know why women are still vilified for promiscuity whilst men are applauded for it.
Have You Been Slut-shamed For Asking For The Morning-After Pill? These Women Have
No really, this is happening. These women tell us their stories.
Why Did We All Start Lying About The Number Of People We Have Had Sex With?
Why is there still a stigma attached to a having a high number of sexual partners?
The Justification of Setting up a Female-shaming Site 'Shesahomewrecker.com' Is All Wrong
Founder of the website says that she has found it hard to trust other women since her dad cheated on her mum.... Why do we seem to always blame the 'other woman' and never the man who was actually in a commitment?
'That's A Lot Of Skin' The Complications Of Being A Tall Girl In A Short Skirt
A girl was banned from her prom for wearing a skirt because its length might cause 'impure thoughts'. In reality it was because she was tall. Zoe Beaty tells us of the struggles of being slut-shamed for her height.
What Do Sex Lists Tell Us About Our Attitude To Slut Shaming?
Do modern singletons consider the amount of lovers a potential partner has had? Er...why does it even matter?
Slut-shaming Taylor Swift Just Undoes All Our Hard Work For Sexual Equality
Shock - twenty-something woman has a new boyfriend... s0 why are people slut-shaming her on social media.
This 'Funny' Tweet About Taylor Swift Is Actually The Grossest Example Of Slut-shaming
It's completely horrifying and ridiculous all at the same time.
De-crowning Miss Great Britain Is To Punish Her Right To Make Sexual Choices
Love Island contestant Zara Holland was punished for her sexual choices, which begs the question - why can't women do what they want and explore their sexuality freely without suffering the consequences?
**Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophiecullinane **
**Picture: Beth Hoeckel **
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.