To understand the oppressive nature of the word slut and the social concept behind it, we have to understand how its meaning evolved.
Slut began like many English words: neutral, then pejorated into a slur for girls and women. Linguist Amanda Montell, in Wordslut, traces how gender-neutral or positive words shift into insults for women. Bitch once referred to genitals or animals before narrowing to “bossy woman.” Hauswif (female head of household) became housewife and then hussy. Meanwhile, terms for men — sir, mister — stayed honorable, while madam and mistress became sexualized.
Middle English slutte meant a slovenly person of any gender. By the 1700s it signified a messy girl or wife; by the 1900s it became sexual. Use of slut soared in the 1970s, paralleling the rise of mass-market porn. The pattern is clear: men historically controlled communication — pulpits, presses, publishing, and porn — shaping language to reflect patriarchal norms.
Today’s meaning centers the accuser: an allegedly immoral woman who has “too much” sex or simply looks sexual. It frames sexual freedom as a lack of self-respect and dehumanizes girls and women, especially women with intersecting marginalized identities. Meanwhile, patriarchal cultures reward male promiscuity while condemning women’s.
Why? Because controlling women’s sexuality once meant controlling reproduction — and therefore property and power. As societies shifted to agriculture, paternity certainty upheld male dominance. Punishing “promiscuous” women maintained that control.
So why does this persist today? Sociolinguistics shows that language reflects and reinforces power. Montell highlights sexist defaults across English: female doctor, male nurse, manslut versus slut. The unmarked norm is male; women are the deviation.
Feminist philosopher Marilyn Frye defines oppression through double binds: whatever women choose, they lose. Dress attractively and risk slut-shaming; dress modestly and risk dismissal. Iris Marion Young expands this into the “five faces of oppression”: exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence.
The slut stereotype intersects with all five. Violence appears in misogynist mass murders by Elliot Rodger, Chris Harper-Mercer, and others who blamed women’s sexual autonomy. Powerlessness shows up in everyday self-censorship around clothing, behavior, and ambition. Online, weak legal protections for revenge porn and deepfakes disproportionately harm girls and women, sometimes forcing them to uproot their lives.
Cultural imperialism — or hegemonic “mind colonization” — surfaces when people internalize the attitudes that oppress them. As Allan Johnson argues, patriarchy is a system we all absorb: expectations about sexual availability, male entitlement, and female self-doubt seep into everyone raised within it.
So what do we do? One approach is reclamation. SlutWalks, sparked after a Toronto officer said women should “avoid dressing like sluts,” challenge rape culture and victim blaming. Activist Amber Rose argues reclaiming slut helps dismantle it. And frankly, it’s fun to say — a plosive, punchy word. Montell notes slurs fade only when the beliefs behind them fade.
Ways to address this issue:
• Get cishet men to call themselves sluts — not mansluts — and to do it vulnerably, without demeaning partners.
• Reintroduce slutte as a gender-neutral term, like heaux for ho/whore.
• Teach kids media literacy about porn and bodily autonomy. When teens use gendered insults, ask what they really mean; encourage ungendered ones like “butthole” or naming specific behaviors.
