What Makes A Slut? The Only Rule, It Seems, Is Being Female

What Makes Someone A 'Slut?' Being Female
Women hold banners and shout slogans as they take part in a 'slut walk' in London on September 22, 2012 to protest against the police and courts' denial of justice for rape victims. AFP PHOTO / JUSTIN TALLIS (Photo credit should read JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/GettyImages)
Women hold banners and shout slogans as they take part in a 'slut walk' in London on September 22, 2012 to protest against the police and courts' denial of justice for rape victims. AFP PHOTO / JUSTIN TALLIS (Photo credit should read JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/GettyImages)

Sandra Fluke heard it when she talked about insurance coverage for birth control. Sara Brown from Boston told me she was first called it at a pool party in the fifth grade because she was wearing a bikini. Courtney Caldwell in Dallas said she was tagged with it after being sexually assaulted as a freshman in high school.

Many women I asked even said that it was not having sex that inspired a young man to start rumors that they were one.

And this is what is so confounding about the word "slut": it's arguably the most ubiquitous slur used against women, and yet it's nearly impossible to define.

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