In Defense of Slut-Shaming

Sandra Fluke, an abortion activist masquerading as a law student, spoke before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee on a very important issue: the right for college students to have endless amounts of sex while someone else pays for their birth control. According to Fluke, female students shell out $3,000 for three years of contraceptives.

Of course, do the math and find that this means Fluke and her fellow law students have sex two or three times daily (since condoms only cost about a dollar). Rush Limbaugh noticed this, and made the apparently grave error of pointing out the obvious, calling Sandra Fluke a slut and a prostitute on air.

The swift, immediate fallout: Scores of Limbaugh’s sponsors dropped him. Rush himself apologized not only once, but twice. Fluke, being the gracious, classy lady that she is, went on The View and refused to accept his apology. President Obama himself even called the poor, maligned, sex-crazed activist to make sure she was doing OK, and to tell her that — shockingly — her parents should be proud.

Yes, I too hope and dream for the day that my child will stand up in front of the nation to announce they’re having so much sex that they can’t afford to pay for it.

But is “slut-shaming,” Limbaugh’s infraction, really such a horrible crime?

Sandra Fluke is just one in a long line of pseudo-feminists celebrating their sluthood.

Jessica Valenti, founder of Feministing, the largest feminist blog, wrote a book on it. She claimed that purity oppressed young women, not the Girls Gone Wild porn chic culture. Monica Shores, who writes for Ms. magazine, the Huffington Post, and Alternet, made a handy little checklist of reasons why girls should have casual sex. It’s empowering! You can learn about your sexuality! Salon writer Tracy Clark-Flory wrote that casual sex is a great way to earn respect. Feminist writer and activist Jaclyn Friedman wrote a piece called “My Sluthood, Myself,” in which she opined that being a slut is “liberating” and “healing.” A blogger at Slate, specifically addressing the Limbaugh controversy, stated that Fluke’s sex positivity recharges feminism.

But the trend goes much deeper than just a handful of feminists. Last year, SlutWalks became a worldwide craze, with feminists urging women to participate in order to revel in their sexuality and proudly reclaim the word slut. SlutWalks took place in cities across the United States, Canada, and Britain.

And then of course, there’s the feminist preoccupation with abortion and birth control, both issues employed solely to enable a woman’s right to have sex without consequences, as much as she wants. This objective is virtually the only thing feminists care about now. Oh, every now and then they’ll throw out something about the non-existent gender wage gap, or whine about how there aren’t enough women in traditionally masculine career fields. But that’s about it. Real feminist issues like, say, stoning and sharia law are rarely, if ever, touched upon.

Abortion, birth control, and promiscuous sex are the cornerstones of the modern feminist movement. Say that women shouldn’t sleep around with wild abandon, and you’re out of the club. Mention that you’re pro-life, and you aren’t allowed to call yourself a feminist. Do the unthinkable and suggest that women should pay for their own abortions and birth control, and you’re castigated as a woman-hating tool of the patriarchy. Feminists throw the word “choice” around and like to pretend that they fight so women can have different choices. The truth is, feminists will decide what kind of lifestyle is best for you, and if you have a problem with it, you better keep your mouth shut and your wallet open. Because not only do you have to approve of their whoredom, you’ve got to subsidize it also.

The worst part of the obsession with sluthood? The harm to women. For starters, one in five women currently have herpes. Rates of chlamydia among women have also skyrocketed, with almost three times as many women infected as men. HPV, a disease which can cause cancer, is so prevalent now that at least half of all sexually active adults have been diagnosed with it at some point. According to the CDC, of the 12,000 women who get cervical cancer each year, almost all of them are HPV-related. The effects are even worse on younger girls. Sixty-three percent of teens who have sex wish they didn’t. The Heritage Foundation did a study and found that 8,000 teenagers are infected with an STD daily.

As a woman, how is it better to close our eyes and bleat “empowerment!” about women being sluts? It’s harmful, degrading, and even the feminists advocating for sluthood admit to feeling used, cheap, and worthless. It may seem harsher to call someone a slut, but far better for us to stop glorifying sluthood as if it’s some kind of acceptable lifestyle than to praise women for it. What’s the better choice in the long run for women? To lie to them about the greatness of being a whore, or to be honest and call sluts what they are? Believe it or not, slut-shaming serves a purpose.

We can lie to women all day long about the excitement of the hook-up culture, but it’s far better to tell women the truth, even though the word “slut” stings.