There's Nothing Dirty About Being a Slut

Why do sluts talk so much? Just admit you’re a whore. No one cares what you’re thinking. You're a slut. Thats enough. – random Fetlifian

Oxford Dictionary once defined “slut” as “a woman of dirty, slovenly, or untidy habits or appearance.” That was back in 1402. Three centuries later, Samuel Pepys discovered that maybe sluts were more valuable than society thought. He wrote, “Susan is a most admirable slut, and pleases us mightily.” I don’t know what Susan did to alter the very definition of the word, but I’m sure it was fun.

In the 20th century, we got right back to calling sluts walking moral quandaries.

Yes, sex and morality are inherently connected. When you put one body part into another body part, you’re immediately implicated in a moral crime, but only if genitals are involved, and only if you’re a woman. Fingers, toes, and appendixes are moral. Only vaginas and penises are immoral. It says so right on this sign from The Garden of Eden.

Murder and sex belong in the same sentence. That’s why honour killings exist. That’s why STIs are considered unclean. It’s why some cultures still perform female genital mutilation. It’s why yesterday’s women used to repress their sexuality and why today’s women are dehumanised for holding onto their sexual freedom.

It’s all about body parts. Righteous women should be heard and not seen. Unrighteous women should be seen and not heard. There is nothing in between because enjoying freaky sex is a moral crime.

After the noughties, women started reclaiming the word “slut.” We insisted that sex was a biological imperative, and not an areligious act. There are still men roaming the earth who define sluts according to the women they see in their porn clips, though. Sluts should be silent. Sluts should keep their opinions to themselves. Sluts should give up their bodies while ignoring their minds.

Porn isn’t real, Frank.

Porn stars wash dishes. They read books. They have families. They get doctorates. They suffer from trauma. They often have incisive minds that would cut Frank into ribbons given the opportunity. It takes mettle and might to take hold of your sexual freedom in a society that’s patently disgusted by it, so there is more to The Modern Slut than meets the eye.

A woman’s brain doesn’t fall out the moment she embraces her kinks. Our lives keep hopping along as they always have. We are whole people who like a particular kind of sex. The things we do to our body parts do not define us. They are just body parts, Frank. There is nothing corrupt about them.