At over 50 now, it has never ceased to appall me what happened then and that it continues to happen.

As a 15-year-old boy I remember finding out that my then girlfriend (also 15) was being called a slut because a rumor was going around our school that we were sexually active. I can still remember clearly my confusion that the rumor would produce different outcomes for us given it was about something we had both supposedly been doing. I was appalled and could find no way to defend her adequately from the hurt she suffered, made worse in some way by the apparent approval I received. It was my first personal exposure to the power of that word, and its impact on people. At over 50 now, it has never ceased to appall me what happened then and that it continues to happen. I have sacked someone from his job for referring to a co-worker as a slut in my hearing, that made me feel I had done something about it but I doubt that it truly fixed it for that person although it did make everyone else aware that it was an issue in that workplace. I have raised two sons with the understanding that is a forbidden word. That whilst language is situational and swearing may be more or less acceptable in differing circumstances, that word has no place in any circumstance. Reading the accounts on this page has bought back back that confusion I felt all those years ago although tempered with a sad degree of cynicism about others. - Ian