Celebs Battle "Slut" Shaming

Guest post by Jenn Sawyer

Jenn Sawyer is a writer and account executive living in Boston, MA. She is new to the world of online journalism, but finding it is a great outlet for supporting the causes she believes in. You can find her on Twitter via her newly created account @_jennsawyer_.

There's certainly a contrast between how promiscuous men and women are portrayed in the media, and celebrities are no exception. 

Unlike the men, however, female celebrities are far more likely to be shamed for their sexual past. Within the last year, several female stars have been the target of media and public criticism for what should have been their most intimate and private moments.

Bachelorette Andi Dorfman with Nick Viall

Bachelorette Andi Dorfman, for example, came under fire after ABC aired the show's "After the Final Rose" special. During the episode, runner-up contestant Nick Viall asked her, “If you weren’t in love with me, I’m just not sure why, like, why you made love with me.”

Cue the media frenzy. 

After Bob Beckel, a co-host on Fox News' The Five, called Dorfman "a slut" during a broadcast, sex therapist Dr. Kat Van Kirk immediately took to her keyboard, venting her frustrations in this blog post. 

"These are adults here people, hello!?" she wrote. "Everything was consensual and I’m sorry but if I were considering marrying a guy, I’d want to know what our relationship was like in the sack first."

Van Kirk continued: "You can have a great relationship with someone but if there is no sexual chemistry, what’s the point? As far as I’m concerned, Dorfman was doing her due diligence."

Although Dorfman's unfair treatment did inspire many to speak out against "slut" shaming, including Taylor Solomon writing for The UnSlut Project, it didn't completely stop the negative backlash. It didn't seem to deter outlets from repeating the same mistakes, either. Even today, female celebrities are constantly making headlines for their sexual activities, most of which are laced with judgmental undertones. 

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Amber Rose

Sometimes, celebrities even use the media to slut-shame one another. Amber Rose is just one of the latest targets of online and media "slut" shaming, thanks to one of her fellow stars. A recent MTV report indicated that the model and hip-hop artist uploaded an Instagram photo with the caption "U Guys Love Slut-Shaming Huh? Good. I feed off that sh–. #HowtobeAbadBitch."

It's believed that her remarks were in response to a comment made by her ex, Kanye West. In February, West told a reporter that after dating Rose, he “had to take 30 showers” before beginning his relationship with Kim Kardashian. Rose didn't take kindly to West's bullying and quickly shot back. She said that a woman's sex life shouldn't be used as ammo and reminded him why his own wife wouldn't want her sexual history on blast either, referring to Kim's sex-tape. 

It just goes to show that celebrities aren't immune to the unfair backlash that comes with "slut" shaming, whether it be from the public or their peers. Not everyone is going to feel sorry for the wealthy celeb that's getting bullied, but at the end of the day, they're just like us. The change needed to do away with "slut" shaming doesn't have to start at the top of the celebrity pool. However, if we start adopting a more sex-positive ideology, it could have an impact on all women.

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