Stop Slut Shaming Women Who Own Their Sexuality..

There is a word within the English that girls become conversant in fairly early in life. You’ve heard it countless times, maybe you’ve been called it yourself; maybe you’ve been the accuser. That one syllable we all know is aimed to sting, to degrade, to humiliate, to shame.

Sexuality: a word that our society refuses to register in its vocabulary, let alone try to grasp the concept. Especially women in this country don’t have the agency to explore their sexuality, and to even say it out loud that they have sexual desires. Those who do are slut-shamed.

From ‘flirty’ to ‘loose’, to ‘bitchy’ and ‘desperate’, slut shaming encompasses an entire range of insults. What all of these insults have in common however, is that they are all targeted at women, and they are all specifically concentrated on the female body

Slut stigma that refuses to die

Whether it's a gang of girls speaking in hushed voices or a bunch of entitled guys name-calling and labelling women. Be it the aunties piling their gaze with judgement. Slut-shaming is everywhere and there is no way to escape it. Being in a relationship, flirting, hooking up for casual sex; the moment a woman walks away from the norms of society she becomes vulnerable to the slut stigma.

There is a need for people to understand that having sexual desires is both common and natural. Speaking about your sexual desires or embracing them openly shouldn’t be a taboo.

If a woman wears whatever she wants to wear, talks openly about her sex life or has had several relationships in the past, it doesn’t make her a slut or someone who is “asking for it.” It just means that she is open about it and would rather live her life on her own terms and be happy, than follow social norms and stay unhappy.

Every woman has the right to explore and experiment with her sexuality. If a woman owning her sexuality means defying cultural standards and expectations then it is essential for us to get our cultural standards and expectation right.