Promiscuous Girl

-Irene Rose De Lilly

Labeling women by means of their sexual activity has been an oppressive and on-going occurrence for centuries. Dating back to at least 1450, for example, the word “slut” has seen associated with "a dirty, untidy, or slovenly woman" (Oxford English Dictionary). The term was later used to label a woman who is more sexually active than is deemed acceptable by society. “Words and events have a history of meanings and usages [and] they only mean something within a specific context,” writes Jeffrey Nealon and Susan Searls Giroux (24). In contemporary America, the usage of slur words such as “slut” has changed with the cultural contexts in which it is used. Yet, society’s overall concern with the personal matter of a woman’s sexual habits has increased both in the media and in the social circles of the young women who use sexual slurs to label each other. Consequently, they are seeing acting like a slut as a positive thing and associating female power with sex, eternalizing the images most men want to see on display. Although to date, woman have made huge strives in sexual liberation, the over usage of slurs against women, by women changes the impact of the slurs not their original meaning. Reclaiming words such as “slut” or “ho” will not liberate women, but focusing on the real reasons why woman remain marginalized and oppressed in society will empower them. The Women’s Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s sparked a lot of change that has benefited women throughout the United States, but the battle for equal rights is not over. Women still remain under paid and underrepresented in sports, medicine, engineering, and a whole array of other professions. According to the US Department of Labor, on average, women make 76 cents on the dollar compared to men. The exact amount varies greatly depending on what professions they hold and where they live, but over all women in the workforce do not earn as much as their male counterparts (US Department of Labor 2005). Furthermore in 2003, “among full-time, year-round workers, men earned $41,503 and women $31,653” (Andersen & Collins 72). Poverty is also an area for huge concern in the United States because since 2000 it has been steadily increasing particularly among women, who often are the breadwinners in single parent households (Andersen & Collins 67). In American politics, in organized religion, and in the military, women still have a limited influence. Therefore, eradicating social injustices and educating young women about them will prove far more beneficial than proudly calling other women sluts. While the sexual liberation of women is a positive move in the right direction, there are larger issues at hand.

The word “slut” itself was born out of oppression, restriction, and patriarchy. “One of the reasons why words are so powerful,” says feminist writer Kate Townsend, “is their ability to label, categorize and contain the diversity of humanity into neat, easy to understand groups” (2). Words that label individuals as deviant constrain and subjugate those who are confined to the categories. Simone De Beauvoir, in The Second Sex, goes into detail as to how women have been “othered” in a patriarchal world. She states, “Otherness is a fundamental category of human thought…even today woman is heavily handicapped” (151-52). Yet currently, “othering” and oppressive words such as “slut” have become commonplace in popular culture, casual conversation and media marketing. Contemporary women, young and old, use the term to demonstrate gluttony, and greed. Anything done excessively, could easily get the word “slut” attached to the end of it and instantly be considered acceptable. Calling a female friend a slut or a ho is ok if done in an endearing manner. However, the word is not losing its meaning, but rather losing its negative impact. The over usage of slur words, once used to degrade promiscuous women, are now promoting the idea of promiscuity.

That promotion is especially common in the media, via television commercials, print ads, and popular sitcoms, where sex and women’s bodies are used to sell just about anything. “There is an alarming tendency to categorize women according to their sexual behavior,” writes Townsend in her article “War of Words.” Doing this overshadows anything else that a woman might be because her sexual activity is deemed more worthy than possibly her intelligence or skills. The idea of being a slut, without actually having a lot of sex, is the ideal woman that the media advocates. Atoosa Rubenstein, editor in chief of Seventeen Magazine, recently discussed young celebrities Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears in the New York Times article, “The Taming of the Slur.” “All of our pop icons look like porn stars, however they’re all virgins, quote unquote,” she commented, “That’s a very complex message to send to girls” (2). These complex messages often lead young women to think that acting like a slut is cool because many of the attractive, famous, and, powerful women in American society are portrayed in a very sexual manner. However, these images contradict real life. A women arriving for a corporate interview could never get away with dressing provocatively, yet movies such as “Legally Blonde” have the main character showing cleavage as she fights a legal dispute in the courtroom.


Television shows such as “Girl Friends”, “The Steve Harvey Show”, and “Scrubs” portray successful women who have professional careers, but unrealistically wear tight and revealing clothing on the job. Townsend elaborates saying that if female pop icons and celebrities “continue to pose for men's magazines in their underwear and simultaneously deny any interest in sex, female sexuality [will] remain firmly divided and the sexualized woman disempowered” (3). Not to say that women should not express themselves sexually, but where does one draw the line? Impressionable young women, highly influenced by magazines, television, and cinema, have very confusing female role models.
If women act and dress like sluts people in society will perceive them to be one regardless of what they actually are or have done. Edwin M. Schur, professor of sociology at New York University, writes in his book Labeling Women Deviant that “it is often what one is perceived to ‘be,’ more than what one is believed to have done, that gives rise to stigmatization” (22). Image is very important, however the messages young women receive from the media are that looking sexy is the most powerful, if not the only way, for them to be heard. Jean Kilbourne expands on this in her article “You Talkin’ to Me?” In it she states, “Sexual images in advertising and throughout the media define what is sexy” (229). In the media, women speak first with their bodies and with their sexuality long before viewers even see their faces or hear their words. “Many ads feature just a part of a woman’s body—a derriere, a headless torso…and [are] often criticized from a puritanical perspective—there’s too much of it, its too blatant, it will encourage kids to be promiscuous…[nevertheless] mass media has made it possible for these images to constantly surround us” (Kilbourne 228-29).

The large quantity of sex in the media could possibly be producing a negligent attitude toward social problems, blinding women to the notions that they are still controlled by men. Shaved legs, hairless bikini lines, and tiny waists are only three physical characteristics women adhere to in order to look desirable. Although not all women do so for the acceptance of men, “as long as young people are bombarded with a narrow range of images that symbolizes sexiness, [many] young women will continue to let male peers and magazine pages dictate how their bodies should look and what they should be used for” (Funari 2). The usage of the word “slut” is no exception. Young women’s over usage of negative terminology to define themselves may take away the sting those words once caused, but in the end, they are still hurtful and not something women really want to be. Most men would not be interested in a promiscuous girl for anything other than a one-night stand. What matters the most is that regardless of how often the word is used, what men think about sluts is what drives most women to avoid actually being one. Kilbourne notes in her article that no woman with aspirations to get married and have a family wants to be a slut (2). Looking sexy or “slutty” is one thing, but at the end of the night, most women are aware that they are viewed and treated according to the image they present to the world.

Looking and acting like a “promiscuous girl,” as Nelly Furtado sings in her recent chart topping hit, or using the word “slut” with friends, has become commonplace among the social circles of young women. As opposed to actually being promiscuous, acting out the role has had a growing influence on popular culture for decades. This trend of cultivating an exhibitionistic appearance and attitude appears to be increasing both in the media and in the social arenas of young women. As celebrities and the media create more contradicting messages for their female audiences, consequently heightening the sexual confusion that already exists they also further the devaluation process and stigmatization of women. Presently, the word “slut” has not necessarily taken on a new meaning, but may in the future because “all meaning is contextual…languages are social rather than natural phenomena” (Nealon & Giroux 24). In the mean time, rappers Eminem and Nate Dogg will continue to hunt for “a big old slut,” while American young women continue to search for a more positive way to sexually label themselves.