first of all, sluttish is a loaded word. It is only ever used of females
It is a loaded word. But is it loaded with truth or falsehood? Well, what does it mean? We can argue that question for a long time, so let me suggest that it means dressing and acting as though one is sexually available. It is applied to women because of the asymmetry we find in the way and degree men and women express sexual desire to each other. In large measure, men seek and women advertise. Not all advertisement is an invitation to sexual encounter; a woman can be pretty or even sexy without appearing available.
If a man blatently attempts to advertise himself as available, he is more likely to be the butt of a joke than to be successful. Men have to use other strategies, and we have words to describe them. If they do not carry the emotional weight, we should ask why.
You can argue all you like about whether this situation is good or bad, but it’s what we have at the moment. And it’s reflected in our language: we have words for what we need to express.
“Thuggish” or “boorish” are not nice words, true, but they do not refer to promiscuity – a promiscuity which for Mac Donald turns rape into non-rape. And men’s “boorishness” is testosterone-fuelled – ie they can’t help themselves.
They describe the character of people who are also drugging themselves with alcohol, which reduces the capacity to judge the difference between “attractive” and “available.”
This loss of judgement applies to women as well as to men. If two women both see themselves as “attractive, not available” (or “not available to Joe, not available to Ed, not available to …”) and both get equally drunk, and if only one of them, when drunk, decides that she is available, what does this say about (a) her commitment to “attractive, not available” and (b) her willingness to get drunk and compromise her own judgement?
