Jezebel 
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New York, 6:34 AM
Sun Nov 22
23 posts in the last 24 hours
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09/23/09
I have a boyfriend who is quite lovely and devoted to me, but in a previous life his sexual partners number in the triple digits. He's a total slut. My number is under 10, but one of those resulted in a baby. I would have been a slut because it sounds like fun, but got distracted by motherhood in my 20s. Recently, one of my boyfriend's douchebag friends was counseling him to dump me. Why? "Because she's a slut." Why am I slut? "Because she had a child out of wedlock."
Really? If a slut is an independent woman who opted out of a shotgun marriage to an unsuitable and inadequate man... Sign me up! I wish to be a slut.
I'm totally on the "take back the word" bandwagon.
09/23/09
09/23/09
And it's true. It's the same thing with the word bitch. The majority of people (and almost all men) are not paying you a compliment or even just saying some benign when they use that term.
You can only take the power away from something that's being said to you. So while groups of friends may have words and nicknames and jokes they use among each other, I don't think it's ever safe to say that generally, these terms can be used benignly.
09/23/09
[tomatonation.com]
09/23/09
09/23/09
If embracing slut means that it's not as hurtful, whether it's true or not, then great. But it's silly to think that lists like this won't happen--they'll just find new words to use to categorize.
09/23/09
09/23/09
I disagree with E.D. Hill because I think that women can and should have multiple partners if they want to - without the social stigma that their male peers are instantly exempt from. In fact, the idea that a female with multiple partners is such a bad thing is a big reason why the word slut originated in the first place, and why I hate the term.
09/23/09
I think that women can and should have multiple partners if they want to - without the social stigma that their male peers are instantly exempt from.
furthermore, teenage males shouldn't be exempt from the social stigma of multiple partners, either. and if we're talking about the issue of teenagers in general using the word slut liberally, then it should be applied equally. but we don't live in a vaccum. and the term is not applied to men. so here we are.
09/23/09
09/23/09
that's really perceptive, i agree with you about that viewpoint. to not be on the list, to these girls, meant they didn't make the "hottie" list. only the hot girls make the slut list!
09/23/09
On the flip side, I do think that the list was created as a way to marginalize the "competition." I can even remember, although I didn't care so much, feeling like old news as a senior, by the time all the "fresh meat" came in. Most senior girls were already moving onto college boys (university town). In that way, as people have said before, I think they probably DID target the more attractive girls and girls who developed early (which can be incredibly damaging) because they would have been getting most of the attention from boys.
09/23/09
09/23/09
09/23/09
but the interesting kicker is that it's other teenage women deciding which girl is hot - not men. or am i getting this whole story wrong?
09/23/09
the key part is in bold. right there.
09/23/09
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09/23/09
granted, using the word at all isn't a compliment, but does it somehow negate it when girls are doing the naming instead of guys? or not? would these freshmen girls feel differently if a bunch of guys were compiling the list?
09/23/09
09/23/09
If you don't want girls to take up the "slut" label, then give them more options besides just that and "virgin." When their options are so limited, don't be surprised when girls are willing to let go of your respect and admiration in favor of the more fun option. Girls just wanna have fun, after all.
09/23/09
09/23/09
09/23/09
The word "slut" cannot be compared to words like "n-----" or any other racial insult, because the insult originates from behaviors or alleged behaviors. The reclaiming of words such as this is always interesting, but in this case the "power" of this word is a bit ambiguous. Your girlfriend calling you a "slut" in jest is one thing, but this list that was compiled is quite another.
There is also no comparing "slut" to "stud" in my opinion, because "stud" originated with positive meaning, while "slut" originated from the opposite. And, you can't spin semantics in a vacuum, the plain fact is that women are viewed as sexual beings differently than men (see: rape culture, as we've been talking about).
I call myself and my friends whores all the time, so it's not like I can judge. However, I am a 29 year old woman, not a 15 year old girl. And these are my friends, not strangers. I think the conversation about "reclaiming" the word is pretty much bogus.
09/23/09
09/23/09
09/23/09
So either we create some new words (equal opportunity!) or everyone in the world needs to just being reasonable and kind.
09/23/09
09/23/09
09/23/09
09/23/09
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09/23/09
Either way, imo, it sucks.
09/23/09
09/23/09
but i do use the word slut so i might not have much of soapbox to stand on. but the way that i like to use the word slut has nothing to do with sex. i say dumb stuff like "oh my god, im such a slut for chubby hubby" or some other self-indulgent treat.
09/23/09
09/23/09
i dont think i mean to use it in that sense (because it implies that an indulgence is something be controlled and restrained) but more in the sense that i am ALWAYS WILLING to eat some chubby hubby cause i love it so much. which, obviously, isnt that far from another variation of the conventional usage either.