I love profane language. I really do. I love the way “bad words” fall out of my mouth. I also believe that there are some situations/people that can only be described with profanity. There are some things, people and feelings that “regular words” just cannot describe. So, I use profanity to get my feelings across.
There is one word however, that I have recently renounced. And it’s used more regularly than the C word or any of the F words. It’s the S word. It’s the Sl*t Word.
I used to be an avid user of The Sl*t Word. I used it to describe my peers, situations, myself, and a slue of other things. I used to think that people who were offended by The Sl*t Word were too sensitive. That they needed to relax. There are so many other terrible words out there! I mean, there’s The C Word. The Wh*re Word. The Sk*nk Word. The B*tch Word. Etc. Etc. Etc.
So why did all of these tight women find The Sl*t Word to be so freakin’ offensive?! There are comediennes left and right using The Sl*t Word in their routines. There are women I know who have embraced The Sl*t Word. Hell, I’ve even called Taylor Swift The Sl*t Word like thirty times!
It turns out that according the Internet; The Sl*t Word has existed, as a term to describe a “sexually promiscuous female” since about 1450, even though it’s original purpose was to describe a “slovenly man.” Wow! History!
So why fight a word that’s existed since before Columbus discovered America? And why have I so recently decided that The Sl*t Word should be banished from everyone’s vocabulary? It’s simple. There is no male equivalent to The Sl*t Word.
I personally feel that though most derogatory terms are geared at, or inspired by women (Wh*re, C*nt, B*tch, P*ssy, Etc.). they usually have the ability to go both ways. A guy can be called a b*tch, or a p*ssy, just as easily as a woman can. But I want to know how many men have actually been called The Sl*t Word with real venom behind it? Or how many men have been called The Sl*t Word because his shirt was too revealing? Or because his pants were too tight? Or his shoes were too high? How many have been called a sl*t based solely on their appearance? (Do you see where I’m going with this?)
When was the last time you walked past a group of men dressed a certain way and said “Wow, what a bunch of sl*ts” ? When was the last time you were at a party and you saw a guy talking to a girl and thought “God, he is such a sl*t.” ? Have you ever really, from the bottom of your toes or off the top of your head called a dude The Sl*t Word?
Yeah, sure. Like once maybe. As a joke. But guess how many more times women have been called The Sl*t Word, based off of nothing but their appearance, or a couple of men they slept with once? (I don’t know, but I’m assuming 100 more times.)
This is why I have denounced The Sl*t Word. Because it can be used to place a bunch of women into one group… just because of what they look like. And where is the male equivalent to this word? Douche, maybe. But that doesn’t have the same definition as The Sl*t Word. According to Dictionary.com, The Sl*t Word is defined as : a woman with loose morals; a prostitute. So just ‘cause you can kind of see my bra through this shirt, I’m a prostitute? Or just ‘cause I slept with more men than you have, I’m a woman of loose morals?
In the classic film Mean Girls, Tina Fey’s character gets up in front of all of the girls after all hell has broken loose, and they are brought together in the gymnasium. She tells them that they all must stop calling each other b*tches and wh*res, because that makes it okay for guys to call us b*tches and wh*res. Well, the same thing goes for The Sl*t Word. Let’s take Ms. Norbury’s advice and denounce all of the words that classify our fellow sisters out there as “less than.” Let’s stop calling each other The Sl*t Word, so that the men in our lives will stop calling us The Sl*t Word. Or, we can find a word somewhere out there that has the same connotation, but for men. Unfortunately, I’ve searched for the latter and haven’t been able to find it. So let’s just stop calling each other The Sl*t Word. Okay?