The word slut has been with us for centuries. It dates back at least to the late 1300s when Geoffrey Chaucer used the adjective ‘sluttish’ to describe a slovenly dressed man. Since then, the word became more commonly associated with dirty, unkempt women and, as time went on, it became a way to describe women who weren’t simply slovenly in appearance, but also slovenly in their morals.
Slut became a euphemism for promiscuity in the late 20th century, achieving widespread use with the publication of articles in the 1960s in which women began writing about “sluttish behaviors”. The most well-known of these came in 1963 from writer Katharine Whitehorn, which was published in The Observer. In the article, she asked readers, “Have you ever taken anything out of the dirty-clothes basket because it had become, relatively, the cleaner thing? Changed stockings in a taxi? Could you try on clothes in any shop, any time, without worrying about your underclothes? How many things are in the wrong room—cups in the study, boots in the kitchen? … [this makes] you one of us: the miserable, optimistic, misunderstood race of sluts.”
Whitehorn’s article cemented the use of the word slut in the modern vocabulary and also kickstarted the movement to apply the word with a sense of pride. After all, her article posited, what’s wrong with a bit of sluttish behavior? Women from all over the world wrote in after the article was published, offering up their own examples of personal sluttish behavior and endorsing the use of the word in a positive way.
Two years after The Observer article, Helen Gurley Brown revamped the historic Cosmopolitan magazine. The magazine, which had been a literary magazine since 1886, was suddenly transformed into a magazine aimed at single, working women. It featured frank discussions about sex and love – issues which the magazine claimed didn’t always go together. Their frank articles and in-your-face approach to female sexuality made it the poster child for the new sexual revolution and further advanced the idea that being a slut was nothing to be ashamed about.
Over the next several years, this quiet movement of slut empowerment cropped up again and again, though in no truly organized way. In 1997 writers Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy published The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities. The book offered advice on polyamorous relationships and played on the word slut as it was, by then, a commonly used word within the BDSM and poly community. The book became an instant classic both among those interested in polyamory as well as those outside the community who wanted to better understand the thinking, emotions, and real-world effects of such a relationship. It also marked the beginning of a widespread use of the word ‘slut’ in a positive sense.
For the next decade or so the word was trotted out to both empower and degrade women who embraced overt sexuality. As the women’s movement became increasingly organized, more and more women used it in an effort to reclaim the word – and the perception. The 2011 inaugural SlutWalk is one of the most well-publicized examples of this.
The SlutWalk was originally launched in response to Toronto police advising women to “avoid dressing like sluts” in order to prevent sexual assault. The local community immediately rallied to create the SlutWalk: a demonstration meant not only to spread awareness of rape culture but also to give women a voice when it comes to dressing how they want without fear of being assaulted. Since the original SlutWalk, other cities have joined the bandwagon and the movement has been compared to the Take Back the Night movement which began in the 1970s and continues to be active today.
Still, all this protest begs the question – is it actually working? The fact of the matter is that while the word slut may be an empowering image of a sexual assault to some, it remains almost universally accepted in its original, derogatory meaning. When women incorporate the word into protests and demonstrations, it’s applauded, but when the word was used by a group of Yale students who declared “We love Yale sluts” it became a moment of outcry and disgust.
More to the point, women who have embraced the word often go out of their way on protests and demonstrations to dress and behave in a hypersexualized way. Part of that is about proving that a woman – no matter how she is dressed or how she behaves – is never asking to be assaulted. While the point is valid, it gets lost in the fact that she is presenting herself in the traditional – and pejorative – manner. Instead, women might be better off proudly declaring they’re a slut while wearing a business suit or showing off their MBA degree. The point, after all, is to show that being a slut doesn’t mean your sexuality defines you.
Female sexuality has always been a bone of contention in our culture – and in most cultures. The long struggle to reclaim the word slut and be comfortable embracing, and even celebrating, female sexuality hasn’t been easy, and it’s far from over. But if we want to change the world’s view of the word slut, we have to start at home. That means moving beyond hurling the word at women we don’t like and embrace the word in our own lives without feeling obligated to hypersexualize ourselves. I can be a slut in a three-piece suit just as much as I can in a dress that requires a bikini wax. Once we accept that, we’ll be a lot further forward in reclaiming the word, advancing a healthy sexuality and furthering the goals of women everywhere.
