Two new books ponder the meaning of "slut"
by John Sewell
Everybody knows that the teenage years can be difficult and painful times, but the bulk of literature created for parents and teens coping with the infinite ugliness of high school life is at best candy-coated. There are a number of reasons for this lack of realistic information: adult writers are too far removed from the teenage experience to possess realistic insight, self-help books aimed at teens often must be "parent approved," thereby removing the harsh light of close examination, and even more books adopt the Pollyanna approach by offering easy fixes and slogans ("just say no," "good girls don't") that only work for those teens who are sequestered from mainstream reality. Let's face it—teenage life is murder, and it's always getting worse.
As is usual in all of our wonderful social castes, the females get the short shrift in high school life. This syndrome reaches its acme in the world of high school cliques, where rumor and innuendo can effectively ruin a girl's social standing for the entirety of her teenage experience. In spite of the supposed progress of the sexual revolution, being branded a "slut" in high school is tantamount to the scarlet letter. Everything and nothing has changed.
Finally, there are a couple of books that examine the phenomenon of slut-bashing realistically. Emily White's Fast Girls: Teenage Tribes And The Myth Of The Slut ($22/Scribner) and Leora Tanenbaum's Slut!: Growing Up Female With A Bad Reputation ($13/Harper) offer even-handed, sympathetic evaluations of the lives of ostracized girls. As is required by the subject, both books  are rather blunt. And with both books, the frank approach is a virtue.
There is no rhyme or reason to the attachment of the slut label. Teenage girls are bombarded with a barrage of conflicting messages re: their budding sexuality (can you say Britney?), and it seems that none are safe from the razor sharp, double-edged blade of the S-word. Girls who develop early are most vulnerable to labeling. Girls who are "weird" or can't afford designer clothes are often tagged. Girls will call other girls sluts, merely as a way to diminish their social standing in a cruel (and disarmingly effective) way. Girls who seek sexual pleasure—as is always encouraged by youth marketing—are punished with a bad reputation. And, in the worst-case scenario, rape victims are classified as "easy." Once the slut label is affixed, its mark is indelible.
White explains how being tagged a slut (for whatever reason, as if any is justified) portends a dangerous era in the life of a teenage girl. "Generally the girls I interviewed were most impressed  by the rumor's swiftness, its strange efficiency. One day they were part of the crowd; the next day they were the crowd's target. This transformation happens outside of the realm of adult supervision."
Both authors report that adults in supervisory capacities are usually unable (and often unwilling) to stop the harassment that accompanies the slut label. When dealing with "sluts," high school officials often become judgmental on their own, acting as if the victims of the S-word somehow deserve to be abused and degraded by their peers.
Neither author offers statistical research, each preferring to explain the phenomenon by interviewing women who have been labeled as "easy" and by relating their own experiences (both authors claim being labeled as a slut during adolescence). The disquieting similarity of accounts in both books also suggests that statistical evidence is unnecessary.
Tanenbaum explains how, whatever their behavior, no teenage girl is exempt from potential damage of slut labeling. "Girls who are singled out for being 'sluts' are by no means a monolithic group. And contrary to what most people think of when they visualize a 'slut,' many have no more sexual experience than their peers do, and some have no sexual experience at all. Whether or not a girl is targeted because of her sexual behavior, the effect is nonetheless to police her sexuality."
It seems that the primary effect of slut bashing is to reinforce the double standard where male sexuality is encouraged (men with multiple partners are "studs") while the enjoyment of female sexuality (i.e. "slutty" behavior) is taboo. Though our culture celebrates female sexual pleasure, the slut phenomenon that exists in the microcosm of high school life (and elsewhere) is imminently prevalent.
The unfair, illogical and downright stupid nature of slut bashing leaves females vulnerable and indefensible. Thankfully, neither Tanenbaum nor White give credence to the slut label. And both authors refuse to pass judgment on young females who choose to enjoy their sexuality.
Sadly, both books serve only as commentary on an all-too-typical double standard and as damage control manuals for girls who have been maligned by their peers for sexual impropriety—as if such a thing exists. The authors are sympathetic but unflinching in descriptions of harsh reality.
It will surely take quite a lot of societal retooling before unfair sexual stereotyping becomes a thing of the past, or is even diminished. But addressing the problem in a realistic manner might just be step one. Both books succeed on several levels: as self-help manuals, as parental advice, as portraits of teenage life and as startling eye-openers for anyone.
May 16, 2002 * Vol. 12, No. 2
© 2002 Metro Pulse
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