Slut shaming attacks women for their sexual behavior, behavior or clothing, or makes them feel ashamed about it. Slutshaming is an instrument and part of the so-called rape culture .
“Slut-shaming ,” also known as “slut-bashing ,” is attacking or making women or girls feel ashamed for their sexual behavior if they have one or more sexual partners or sexual feelings that they are acting on.
There is also “the implication that if a woman has sex in a way that traditional society disapproves of, she is made to feel guilty and inferior” (Alon Levy, Slut Shaming). This not only hurts the women and girls who are attacked, but also women as a whole in society.
In simple terms, slut-shaming occurs when a person “publicly or privately insults a woman for expressing her sexuality in a way that does not conform to patriarchal expectations of women” (Kat, Slut-Shaming vs. Rape Jokes). This is made possible by the idea that a woman with a reputation as a slut—e.g., an “out-of-control, slutty woman” —is “not worth knowing or caring about” (Tanenbaum, p. 240).
This term and its application clearly express a sexual double standard, some of which is deeply culturally rooted. While this phenomenon is not new, the extent of its application is.
For a more in-depth treatment of this term, see an article from Feminism 101 .
