In between the cat videos and makeup tutorials, I stumbled upon dangerous territory: Dr Phil YouTube videos.
In between the cat videos and makeup tutorials, I stumbled upon dangerous territory: Dr Phil YouTube videos. For those of you who are unaware of Dr Phil, he is a famous American “life guru” and psychologist that gained fame after appearing on different episodes of The Oprah Winfrey show. He then landed his own TV show where he helps troubled relationship, families and debates general issues.
What IS “slut shaming?”
One of the episodes I came across was entitled “Slut-shaming.” I will admit that I had heard of the term before but never looked it up or given it much thought. I decided to click on that video and “educate” myself on the issue of “slut-shaming.”
Slut shaming is basically the action of bullying or shaming a woman due to the way she behaves mainly judging her on how she looks. Slut shamers (not sure this term exists, but I am putting it out there) think it is acceptable to humiliate a woman and put her down due to her acting like a “slut.”
Word thrown around casually
Slut is a word that is thrown around so casually that I decided to look up the actual definition for “slut.” According to the Cambridge online dictionary a slut is: “a woman who has sexual relationships with a lot of men without any emotional involvement.” Notice how this definition doesn’t refer to a specific look, which is what most people that perform slut-shaming mainly rely on.
What shocks me the most is how some people feel like they can so quickly judge someone by simply looking at what they are wearing. If a slut is someone that sleeps around, how can you know it by only giving her a quick glance?
A person is entitled to wear what they want and how they want it. I don’t see how someone wearing a low cut top or short skirt is offending anyone. It is actually the person that thinks they have the right to judge someone that is being the offender. When did it become okay for people to act like the social police on their personal beliefs?
The serious consequences
“Slut-shaming” is not just a silly little trend going around. In many cases it has escalated to very serious incidents. There has been several situations where young girls have taken their lives due to the constant harassment and bullying by people that believe they have the right to torment them for their “slutty behaviour”. People, especially teenagers, make mistakes and people are so quick to put labels and act judgmental. The ironic thing is that, what mostly happens after a girl is bullied to death (literally), is that the bullies and tormentors mourn and cry over what they done. The real question is, why do it in the first place?
Another form of “slut-shaming” is a guy thinking they have the right to take advantage of a woman due to the way she is dressed or acts. In other words, raping a woman and putting the blame on her claiming that “she was asking for it.”
Regardless of how someone behaves or chooses to dress, everyone deserves respect.
Why slut-shaming should end
“Slut-shaming” needs to end right away. It is just another form of bullying that is having serious consequences. Unlike what some people think, it comes from both women and men and in both occasions it is absolutely unacceptable.
Even if someone chooses to be promiscuous and have many sexual partners you are not entitled to ridicule them because it is their body and their life.
We all have our beliefs and we can’t dictate how others should live their life. If you don’t like something or someone, you should just stick to the old good saying, “If you don’t have anything positive to say, don’t say anything at all.”
What do you think of slut-shaming? Have your say in the comments section below, on Facebook or on Twitter.
