Amanda Montell is an LA-based writer and the features editor at WhoWhatWear. She has a degree in linguistics and creative writing from New York University, and her work has appeared widely including Marie Claire, Cosmpolitan, The Rumpus, … The double standard associated with slut-labeling is part of the modern day rape culture. Rape culture is "the casual debasement [of women] ... that has become such a part of our lives that it is often invisible." [26] Though people in society are vocally anti-rape, there is an insinuation that certain types of rape are acceptable or that women are voluntarily taking actions that justify sexual advances. "For example, women continue to be blamed if they are raped because of how they are dressed, the assumption that women purportedly lie about being raped remains popular, and certain women, such as married women or women of colour, are still considered 'unrapeable'”. [27] The word slut and the double standard it contains reflects the gender norms and gender biases [26] that are prevalent in a culture in which rape is constantly justified. People from all sects of society contribute to this justification. [28] Connection also has been suggested with Old English (West Saxon) *sliet, *slyt, "sleet, slush," and comparison made to Norwegian dialectal slutr"snow mixed with rain" (see sleet).

According to OED "Of doubtful origin," but probably cognate with dialectal German Schlutt"slovenly woman," dialectal Swedish slata"idle woman, slut," and Dutch slodde"slut," slodder"a careless man," though the exact relationship of all these is obscure.After scanning the database (British National Corpus), Cameron found that when people use female as a noun, as opposed to woman, it's often in explicitly negative contexts."

disclaimer: I am an anthropology major who did a focus in linguistics. This book is so up my alley that it isn't really an alley anymore, it's a highway. Or a field? I don't know, you get my metaphor. Este libro de no-ficción ofrece una mirada feminista al uso cotidiano que le damos al inglés y explora los orígenes de tales usos. Deconstuye el idioma y lo analiza desde raíz: desde los insultos, los chismes, el acoso callejero, la gramática y la pronunciación, para mostrar como el lenguaje ha sido utilizado durante siglos para mantener las mujeres, y otros géneros, fuera del poder. Over the course of six centuries, it has referred to men, women, dogs, and light fixtures. It has meant messy, amoral, and, in one instance at least, cute. It has been a noun, a verb, and an adjective. slut". The Mavens' Word of the Day. Random House. 15 December 1997. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. I earned 100 points for identifying a singular "they" which I would now like to redeem for a cookie or, like, a hug or something. I've defended singular they for years and boy am I validated.Shakespeare, William. As You Like It (III, iii, 1531–1537). "[Audrey:] Well, I am not fair; and therefore I pray the gods make me / honest. / [Touchstone:] Truly, and to cast away honesty upon a foul slut were / to put good meat into an unclean dish. / [Audrey:] I am not a slut, though I thank the gods I am foul. / [Touchstone:] Well, praised be the gods for thy foulness; / sluttishness may come hereafter...." Slut (archaic: slattern) is an English-language term for a person, usually a woman or girl, who is sexually promiscuous or considered to have loose sexual morals. [1] [2] It is usually used as an insult, sexual slur or offensive term of disparagement. [2] [3] It originally meant "a dirty, slovenly woman", [2] and is rarely used to refer to men, generally requiring clarification by use of the terms male slut or man whore. [4] [5]

Shillinglaw had been discussing the “slut” issue with scholars and archivists “for about five years”, with no inkling of the Swedish angle. The word bitch conjures many images for many people, but it is most often meant to describe an unpleasant woman. Even before its usage to mean a female canine, bitch didn’t refer to gender at all—it originated as a gender-neutral word meaning genitalia. A perfectly innocuous word devolving into a female insult is the case for tons more terms, including hussy—which simply meant housewife—or slut, which meant an untidy person and was also used to describe men. These words are just a few among history’s many English slurs hurled at women.upgrading", giving a human pronoun to an object. When female pronouns are used for nature, technology and territories it categorizes them as "other" and equally states them as toys and/or property. The second definition is “a woman of a low or loose character; a bold or impudent girl; a hussy, jade.” But if you read the citations under this definition, the sexual aspect isn’t entirely clear. For instance, in The Anatomy of Melancholy (1651), Sir Thomas Burton refers to “a peevish drunken flurt, a waspish choleric slut.” Not a compliment, obviously, but it’s not clear whether he’s insulting her character or her housekeeping. Another early meaning was 'kitchen maid or drudge' ( c. 1450), a meaning retained as late as the 18th century, when hard knots of dough found in bread were referred to as slut's pennies. [10] An example of this use is Samuel Pepys's diary description of his servant girl as "an admirable slut" who "pleases us mightily, doing more service than both the others and deserves wages better" (February 1664). [15] Slut and slutishness occur in Shakespeare's comedy As You Like It, written in 1599 or 1600. [16] In the nineteenth century, the word was used as a euphemism in place of bitch in the sense of a female dog. [10] [17] In the mid-17 th century, the diarist Samuel Pepys wrote, “Our little girl Susan is a most admirable slut, and pleases us mightily.”