Sometime last December, there was an audible groan heard ‘round the internet as women’s sexual rights were being stifled in a video made by YouTube sensation Jenna Mourey (more commonly known as Jenna Marbles). The blogger, whose online rants I often pee myself over suddenly jumped in the driver’s seat of the slut-shaming bandwagon with her video “Things I Don’t Understand About Girls Part 2: Slut Edition,” and I couldn’t have been more disgusted by it. The video begins with a disclaimer that viewers should “feel free to disagree” with her, however, judging by the 103,207 likes compared to the 19,992 dislikes the video received, there clearly wasn’t much disagreement with what Jenna had to say, which alone speaks volumes about the societal stigmas at hand.
Jenna begins the video by defining a “slut” as “someone who has a lot of casual sex.” She continues by explaining why the concept of a one-night stand is mind-blowing to her, as it puts a girl in the most vulnerable state she could possibly be in with someone she doesn’t know. She then goes on to explain that sexual activity on any level counts as sex, which warrants shame and a negative reputation. She closes her video by urging her viewers to “help the sluts of the world make less bad slutty decisions,” reminding the millions of girls tuning in to her weekly musings — 4,347,224 to be exact — that “hooking up with a lot of dudes doesn’t make you cool,” and that she would “only judge you based on the contents of your mouth, butthole and vagina.” Oh, and as an afterword, Jenna adds that “anyone can be a slut, but that it takes some logic and reasoning to be with one person,” comparing monogamy to “a higher state of evolution.”
Welp, I’m done here. Single file everyone.
Okay, I’m going to attempt to break this down. This entire video exemplifies a cultural problem called slut-shaming, wherein a woman is insulted and degraded based on her sexual choices. Traditionally, a woman is supposed to wait until marriage — or at least love — to sleep with a man, and regardless of how progressive our culture has become, a woman will still receive judgment for straying from this tradition. A woman with “a lot” of sexual partners is said to lack respect for herself and her body, and is societally shamed and looked down upon for her own personal decisions. This slut-shaming idea can even lead to a wider cultural phenomenon of victim-blaming, wherein a woman is made to feel at fault for being sexually assaulted or raped based on her appearance or “slutty” decisions.
One component of this slut-shaming phenomenon that I find particularly twisted and counterproductive is that it is largely being perpetuated by the same gender it’s targeting. Think about it. Girls’ most prevalent judges are each other. A girl sleeps around; she’s considered a slut by other girls. Once a girl is considered a slut by other girls, she’s shamed and deemed unworthy of respect. Why? Because she made a conscious, adult decision to do with her body what she pleases? The choices she makes about her own body in no way imply that she doesn’t possess the vast intelligence necessary to grasp the concept of monogamy, nor does it indicate, contrary to Jenna’s statement, she is at all “lonely and sad.”
Nobody should ever be made to feel ashamed of their decisions. Nobody should ever be made to feel as though their sexual choices have any correlation to their self-respect, worth, intelligence or merit. Women need to break free of the double-standard and the stigma associated with exercising their sexual wants and needs, and it starts within themselves. In the words of an amazing comedian and role model, girls have got to stop calling each other sluts and whores, because it just makes it okay for guys to call you sluts and whores.