Slut-shaming is the practice of criticizing people who violate expectations of behavior and appearance regarding issues related to sexuality. Examples of slut-shaming include criticism or punishment for: violating dress code policies by dressing in sexually provocative ways; requesting access to birth control ; [ 6 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ] having premarital , extramarital , casual , or promiscuous sex; or engaging in prostitution or other sex work.
Slut-shaming involves criticizing women for their transgression of accepted codes of sexual conduct, [ 13 ] i. Slut-shaming may be practiced by men and women. This blaming is done by stating the crime was caused either in part or in full by the woman wearing revealing clothing or acting in a sexually provocative manner, before refusing consent to sex, [ 11 ] thereby absolving the perpetrator of guilt.
Sexually permissive individuals can be at risk of social isolation. Kennair, et al. The action of slut-shaming can be a form of social punishment and is an aspect of sexism , as well as female intrasexual competition. Slut-shaming is a form of intrasexual competition because the term "slut" reduces the value of a woman. Being termed a "slut" is against a woman's gender norms. Researchers from Cornell University found that sentiments similar to slut-shaming appeared in a nonsexual, same-sex friendship context as well.
There is no documented date of origin for the term slut-shaming ; nor the act of it. Rather, although the act of slut-shaming has existed for centuries, discussion of it has grown out of social and cultural relations and the trespassing of boundaries of what is considered normative and acceptable behavior. While the origin is unknown, by the late s, the term was popular enough to merit usage in newspaper articles.
Literary characters who were killed or died by suicide as a result of their sexual choices include Ophelia of Hamlet c. In , Canadian writer E. Pauline Johnson criticized the novel An Algonquin Maiden for killing its protagonist and having male characters posthumously label her a " squaw ," a racial and sexual slur that displayed "glaring accusations against her virtue," which Johnson felt was undeserved.
