More than one female forumers and other female friends have expressed how the term “slut” makes them feel uncomfortable.
Since the term discourages female forumosans from participating in discussions, and renders any meaningful discussion into confrontations, I’m going to ban the word slut or any other word used in a way to be derogatory and demeaning to women in the “Culture and History” subforum. That means if the word skanky is used to be demeaning to women, instead of messy/dirty/untidy, it is also unwelcomed in this subforum.
I’ll remove all such usage in this subforum from here on. I’ll warn users who used it for the first time. Deliberate repeated usage will result in suspensions. It’s not a perfect system, so if forumers see such usage and is offended, please report it, so I can get on top of the situation as soon as possible.
Finally, here is a pretty good article on why we shouldn’t use the term.
[quote]However, I do have a problem with the general idea most people have of what a slut is, looks like or gets to be treated as. This is just like the problem I have with what “queer” means to many people, how they laugh at the word and use it to bash the LGBTQ+ community.
…
My biggest problem with the word “slut” is that many people seem to think that “sluttiness” causes rape. In rape trials across the country and the world we see defendants’ lawyers talking about the sexual history of the victim. If she has had “a lot” of sexual partners, that is used against her. As if having a lot of sex means that you can’t say no and want to have sex with anyone. Rape is illegitimized for women who are considered “slutty.” This is a huge part of rape culture and a reason why less than 1 of reported sexual assaults results in a conviction for the perpetrator. We are literally telling women that if they have what society says is “a lot” of sex, anyone is allowed to have sex with them regardless of if they want to or not. This is dehumanizing, we are taking body sovereignty from women by calling them sluts.[/quote]