Photo by Priscilla Du Preez
Take a glance at YouTube videos, comedy shows and everyday life. Women are continuously shamed for everything from one night stands to long term relationship sex. We are taught before puberty to question the motives of men and to protect our virginity from them. More importantly, we are taught to abandon the women who treat sex differently than ourselves.
We snickered at swollen bellies, at dropped condoms. We even mocked the girls who were the first to start their periods. Before we even started middle school, we were taught to believe that we would be better than other women as long as we waited until marriage.
We remembered everything we were taught.
One day we finally gave in. There was a brief moment that we felt cool. Like now we were part of this secret club, and all we had to do was trash our v-cards to get in. This moment passed and we were left thinking, “Wow, is this what everyone was making such a big deal about?”
We were taught to hold ourselves and other women to a higher standard, especially when it comes to sex. We pass off “man hoes” as just being young and stupid without allowing ourselves the same excuse. We drink our rum and cokes and watch the woman who bites her lip across the room.
Society has held women to this standard of sexual “purity” since the beginning of Christianity. We tell ourselves that we are allowed to judge because it says so in the Bible, but we ignore that passing judgment is also expressed in scripture.
Think about this the next time you find yourself slut shaming. We are all guilty, but we can all be better in supporting women no matter their sex life.