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Wordslut is filled with fascinating info about the sexist history of our language: I literally said ‘whoa’ multiple times while reading this book. Wordslut is so witty, and brilliant, and men and women both need to read it.” — Blythe Roberson, author of How to Date Men When You Hate Men
Over the course of six centuries, it has referred to men, women, dogs, and light fixtures. It has meant messy, amoral, and, in one instance at least, cute. It has been a noun, a verb, and an adjective.McDavitt, Bryce; Mutchler, Matt G (2014). " 'Dude, you're such a slut!' Barriers and facilitators of sexual communication among young gay men and their best friends". Journal of Adolescent Research. 29 (4): 464–498. doi: 10.1177/0743558414528974. PMC 4239541. PMID 25419044. Connection also has been suggested with Old English (West Saxon) *sliet, *slyt, "sleet, slush," and comparison made to Norwegian dialectal slutr"snow mixed with rain" (see sleet). Blends academic study with pop-culture attitude … At its heart, this work reflects a tenet of sociolinguistic study: language is not divorced from culture; it both reflects and creates beliefs about identity and power.’ — Library Journal c. 1400, slutte, "a dirty, slovenly, careless, or untidy woman," first attested in the Coventry mystery plays. It is paired alliteratively with sloven (q.v.), which also first appears there, and both might suggest "lewd, lascivious woman" but this is uncertain.
With BDSM, polyamorous, and non-monogamous people, in usage taken from the book The Ethical Slut, the term has been used as an expression of choice to openly have multiple partners, and revel in that choice: "a slut is a person of any gender who has the courage to lead life according to the radical proposition that sex is nice and pleasure is good for you." [23] :4 A slut is a person who has taken control of their sexuality and has sex with whomever they choose, regardless of religious or social pressures or conventions to conform to a strait-laced monogamous lifestyle committed to one partner for life. I had no real idea what this book was about, I’d seen it briefly mentioned once before by a mutual on TikTok so when I saw it available on audiobook in my library - I snatched it up. The title of this book alone grabbed my attention, to be honest I didn’t need to know anything else about it before I jumped straight in. And what an immaculately chosen jump that was. In general, this book really flipped my view of "how we should speak" on its head. Basically everything at least I've been taught about "how we should speak" came from the lens of patriarchy. That sounding like a cis white straight man was the standard. When really there are so many groups (not just women, but POC, the queer community, etc) that get berated on for how they speak when in actuality the way these marginalized groups speak have their own goals, needs, and functions. As a woman, I am so empowered by this book. Holy crap all these years of being told I need to speak a certain way to be taken seriously--that was all patriarchy. Patriarchy says we need to speak like men to receive the respect men receive. In actuality, there is so much to learn from in terms of how women speak and especially amongst groups of only women. The OED’s first definition for slut is “a woman of dirty, slovenly, or untidy habits or appearance; a foul slattern.” The earliest citation for such usage is 1402, predating citations for either the F word or the C word. But again, slut then had no sexual connotation, so using it in print carried no onus. a b Bennett, Jessica (20 March 2015). "Monica Lewinsky and Why the Word Slut Is Still So Potent". Time . Retrieved 17 January 2020.The word bitch conjures many images for many people, but it is most often meant to describe an unpleasant woman. Even before its usage to mean a female canine, bitch didn’t refer to gender at all—it originated as a gender-neutral word meaning genitalia. A perfectly innocuous word devolving into a female insult is the case for tons more terms, including hussy—which simply meant housewife—or slut, which meant an untidy person and was also used to describe men. These words are just a few among history’s many English slurs hurled at women. Kudos, Amanda Montell (for I learned not to call you, Madam), for this insightful book that forced me to open my eyes and brain to new ways of comprehending language. At its heart, this work reflects a tenet of sociolinguistic study: language is not divorced from culture; it both reflects and creates beliefs about identity and power.’––Meagan Storey, Kirkus Review a b Breger, Melissa L. (1 July 2014). "Transforming cultural norms of sexual violence against women". Journal of Research in Gender Studies . Retrieved 10 August 2018– via Free Online Library. upgrading", giving a human pronoun to an object. When female pronouns are used for nature, technology and territories it categorizes them as "other" and equally states them as toys and/or property.