The Evolution of "Slut"

For 500 years, being a slut meant one thing, and only one thing. But in the last ten years or so, the word has evolved to take on a whole series of new meanings. The Toronto Star has an article that looks at these meanings and what they might mean in our current cultural context.

Here is a portion of the article:

The word first emerged in Middle English as "slutte," which denoted a dirty, untidy woman, a meaning it still bears in the U.K. By the middle of the 15th century, it had acquired its taint of sexual licentiousness.

Until recently in North America, that was the only sense in which it was used. (In fact, "slut" is one of the few judgmental terms from pre-sexual revolution days that still has currency. "Loose," "floozy," "easy" and "has a reputation" now seem awfully quaint.)

The funniest bit of pop culture to remove some of the sting from "slut" was the Saturday Night Live "Weekend Update" skit in which Dan Aykroyd routinely addressed co-anchor Jane Curtin as "Jane, you ignorant slut."

Marcel Danesi, an anthropologist at the University of Toronto who teaches semiotics and youth culture, observes that "slut" is now an ambiguous word whose various meanings include – in hip-hop – "my woman." Yet he was taken aback when a colleague called him a "slut" recently. "I was complaining about the inane bureaucracy at the University of Toronto, and he said, `You're a typical slut ...' It was kind of friendly – he was saying that I break the rules."

To him, "slut" still reverberates with negative connotations linked to sexual promiscuity. "I would never, absolutely never, present my wife in this way."

Among younger people, though, the friendly use of "slut" is common. Mimi Hagiepetros, a 13-year-old Toronto student, says her schoolmates mostly use it "lovingly" and "as a joke."

Grown-up women will good-naturedly call each other "slut," employing the word with all its sexual connotations in subtle, ironic rebellion against a double standard that refuses to go away.

Read the rest.

Tags: slut, language, culture, Toronto Star