The Social Utility Of Slut Shaming

"THOT" is an acronym for "that ho [i.e., whore] over there," and is often used to describe the narcissistic, preening women that dress, well, like whores in public and social media posts. But THOTs sure don't like it when someone points out to them their inappropriate dress. Case in point, from the New York Post: "Shopper says she was shamed by grocery store worker for her outfit — and left feeling ‘belittled’." 

    Taila Batiste was doing a grocery shop when she claims a member of staff started shaming her because of her outfit.

    The New South Wales woman, 26, was “shocked” when a staff member allegedly claimed her outfit, which consisted of an oversized sweater and pink gym shorts, was inappropriate to wear grocery shopping.

There is a photograph in the article apparently showing the woman posing in the outfit she whore wore grocery shopping; the gym shorts are so form fitting she might as well have just used body paint. Of course, she couldn't let incident slide (is she sure her real name isn't Karen?) and complained to the manager, adding: “(I hope she is) harshly reprimanded so she doesn’t do it to the next person.” 

    It is because of these attention whores that Kylee Griswold, writing at The Federalist, argues that we, as a society, need to "Bring Back Slut Shaming." She writes:

    Public shaming would go a long way in phasing out all kinds of social ills. People should be made to feel stupid for masking outdoors or chomping popcorn with their mouths open during quiet movie scenes (or loud ones). You should feel the weight of a thousand disapproving eyeballs when you take your shoes off on an airplane or go to the grocery store in buffalo-plaid pajama bottoms and Crocs.

    But it’s not just things people do wear that deserve scorn. It’s also things they don’t. It’s time to bring back slut shaming.

    Before the feminists freak, I’m not talking about menacing strippers or blaming rape victims, so take a cleansing breath. I’m talking about normalizing the societal discouragement of looking like a hoe [sic] at work, at play, and online.

    We’ve all seen it: a boob threatening to launch out of athleisure wear or a pair of asscheeks popping out of some daisy dukes to bid passersby g’day. There’s no such thing as underwear anymore because anything can be outerwear. Rachel Green’s mortifying nightie looks downright puritanical next to the average Instagram post and workout OOTD.

    As one X user, Megha, rightly observed, hoes “think they can just go wherever and sexually assault our eyes with zero consequences.” Bingo — and not just our eyes but the eyes of our husbands, dads, and kids. So let’s introduce them to some social consequences, shall we?

As a woman, though, Griswold's concern isn't so much that everyone is being sexually assaulted, but that it disadvantages women, generally, in the sexual market place. She noted that "[w]hen women perpetually give away the goods under the guise of 'empowerment,' they give away the real sexual power of women everywhere — and make no mistake, women have sexual power men just don’t. Thanks to unlimited supply, value is in freefall." She further explains:

For societal slut shaming to work, we need to know who and what it’s for. It’s not to shame women for being sexy. Hello, that’s kind of a biological hazard. It’s also not to meet one act of inappropriateness with another. A young lady who shows up to church in a crop top shouldn’t leave believing her shirt length matters more than her soul. Rather, it’s to help reestablish the good societal expectation that while women are sexy, we’re not sex objects. And we should be expected to act accordingly.

In Isaiah 3, it discusses the THOTs that inhabited Jerusalem in those days, with the Lord warning that there would come a day when the whole mess would be brought down, including the THOTs: "And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty." (Isaiah 3:24). So there are worse things than social shaming.