Sex In The Public Square - material culture - Comments

Who's wearing it?

Goldslut — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:19:57 -0700

The kind of person I usually see wearing a shirt like this (though I haven't seen this exact one) is a very young woman, often a teenager, who wears it as an act of rebellion against parental and/or social strictures that are keeping them from expressing themselves as a sexual being. At least that's how I would like to read it. It does worry me, however, as a symbol of such, as it often is paired with naiveté and careless behavior.

I find the phrase particularly problematic as someone who is enjoying reclaiming the word "slut," but have no desire to claim the word "shame." I'd rather reclaim the "walk of shame" as a "walk of whoo-eeee I had great sex and I'm still glowing from it," or something like that.

"I'm a slut..."

Anomie — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 15:48:48 -0700

...and proud of it? Or just want the nearby men to know?

Basically, I think the shirt is a subtle and clever way to tell the world "I'm a slut." Which could be a critique of our society's double standard regarding gender and sexual freedom. And it could be a way to let all the men in the vicinity know you're an easy mark. When I see such t-shirts on women, I tend to assume the latter. Mainly because I usually see them on inebriated females, hanging onto the nearest man for support.

Such women are challenging the norms in their behavior if not in their ideals. If we wanted to challenge the double standard, we would not look down on these women for their sluttiness. Rampant casual sex would be simply another loved behavior, like rampant casual eating of the potato chips.

"walk of shame"?

Elizabeth — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 08:30:08 -0700

This shirt puzzled me right away. In fact, I walked past the vendor's stall a second time to get a picture of it. That's what made me think about starting this feature.

So, here are some of the things I wondered:

Does this represent a "reclaiming" of the slut label? Is this something a woman would pick out for herself or would it be given to her as a joke?

This was printed only on women's tank tops and not on men's shirts. Is there a "walk of shame" for men? Wikipedia's "walk of shame entry suggests that for men the walk has to do with the desirability of the partner where for women it has to do with having had a one-night stand or hookup. (By the way, the Wikipedia entry needs work. If you know a lot about the idea of the "walk of shame" please help them out!) Does this shirt represent a reinforcement of the double standard around sexual freedom for men and women or is it an attempt to challenge that double standard?

Just some questions to start the discussion.

What do you make of this shirt and its message?