True fact: The first sluts were men. And 4 other surprising things about sluts.
So, when someone points out that my house is a total mess, I should interpret that as slut-shaming?
There's lots of talk about sluts, slut-shaming, sluttiness, and other slut-related topics these days.
But did you ever stop and think, "What even is this word?" Like, what does it really mean? Where did it come from? What's so bad about it? In this Stuff Mom Never Told You, Cristen Conger gives us five points that will forever change how you hear that word.
1. The first sluts were men.
The very first man-sluts didn't sleep around. They just were sloppy dressers.
2. "Slut" became a word for a woman fairly quickly.
By the 15th century, a slut was a woman who didn't do a great job keeping her house clean.
3. Slut has almost always had racist and classist undertones.
Slut has long implied low class. Poor women were thought to do a bad job keeping their homes clean. But for a long time, only white women were called sluts.
Because of the way our racist society sexualizes black women, they were sort of assumed to be slutty to begin with. No need to say it.
4. During times when women have stood up for themselves, the word "slut" gets used a ton.
Usage of "slut" spiked in the 1920s (right after women got the right to vote) and the 1980s (when more women joined the work force than ever before).
5. In the present, "slut" is used largely by girls to slut-shame other girls.
That's right. It's used more by girls than guys. And that's not OK.
Every time you use that word to tear someone down, you're bringing back a history of racism, classism, and sexism.
This fantastic video has even more information about historical sluts. I highly recommend it (along with the rest of Cristen's work; she's amazing).
