Marty Lobdell
Staff Writer

In our society, the term slut has typically been applied to females who are judged to be too sexually promiscuous. More recently, the terms male slut or man slut have gained some traction. Like the female slut, male sluts are judged to be too sexually promiscuous. How did the above come about?

Throughout Judeo-Christian history women have been more heavily censured for promiscuity. In biblical times, women who were adulteresses would be stoned, whereas men who committed adultery were usually fined.

This long-standing practice of stronger proscription for females being too sexually open continues to the present. The most likely reason for this is twofold. First, women carry the babies and are therefore easily detected as having been sexually active. And second, men, for the most part, made the rules.

Patrilineal societies (inheritance from fathers to sons) have always been concerned that children were biologically linked to the father and not some interloper.  Unchaste males could, in effect, hit and run; a female bore the consequences if impregnated by someone other than her husband.

The Scarlet Letter is an excellent example of the above factors. Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne wears a scarlet “A” for adulteress on her dress, and yet the adulterer, Rev. Dimmesdale, never faces the public wrath and humiliation. He does, however, suffer from his own moral guilt, torment and self-mutilation.  In reality, it was not uncommon to brand the wanton woman’s cheek with a large letter “A”, while the man went unpunished.

Some of the stigma against women changed with The Pill in the 1960’s. Women for the first time could, to a large degree, separate sexual intercourse from pregnancy. Premarital and extramarital intercourse became much more frequent for women in America.  Females became “sexually liberated” but there was still the stigma of being too free with sexual favors.

Women who were thought to have had many partners were still judged to be sluts. This thinking continues to the present. Females must walk a delicate line between being too sexually inhibited and too sexually loose…a slut.

What about males? For a long time, men who had multiple conquests were studs (think Casanova, Errol Flynn, or more recently, Charlie Sheen).

There was a high water mark in the spring of 1993. A group of high school boys in Lakewood, California started a group called the “Spur Posse.” These guys were the studs of the high school and they rated their many conquests using a point scale that they openly shared. When this came to the attention of the media, several of the boys did a round of talk shows. Interestingly, they did not get accolades, but instead were booed by most audiences.

Thus was born the idea of a male slut. Being a stud and having some experience is still cool, but being a male slut is uncool.

Presently, neither males nor females want to be labeled a slut. Fortunately, most young adults who are sexually experienced have had only one or two partners. Their partner is typically someone with whom they are committed.