15 Women Describe Their Most Traumatic Slut-Shaming Experience (So Far)
1. “I’ve experienced this a couple of times now—where a guy will ask me what ‘my number’ is, I’ll tell him, it ends up being higher than his, and so he tosses me aside as a slut because he’s insecure. Now if anyone asks me, I just lie.”
— Hannah, 22
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2. “I didn’t want to go on a third date. He was furious with me and started stomping around and calling me names like ‘slut’—right in the middle of my hall. My neighbors still give me sympathetic looks.”
— Hailey, 23
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3. “Not sure if this classifies as a singular experience, but I pretty much get called a slut every time I refuse to send nudes over Snapchat or Tinder.”
— Jackie, 20
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4. “Prom night, my junior year of high school. My then-boyfriend wanted us to have sex after the dance and I wasn’t ready. He called me a slut in the limo ride home in front of all our friends.”
— Christine, 21
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5. “I had just met this guy at a bar, and we made small talk for maybe an hour before making out for a little bit. He was really nice, up until he asked if I wanted to go home with him, to which I promptly—but politely—declined. He then got super angry and called me a slut for supposedly leading him on and wasting his time.”
— Annie, 23
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6. “I hooked up with a guy at a concert, not realizing that one of my ex-boyfriends happened to also be there and witness it. He, completely inebriated, pulled me aside and told me I was a slut for deliberately hooking up with as many guys as possible right in front of his face. We had broken up months prior and I had kissed a whopping total of two people since.”
— Erin, 21
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7. “Literally was just leaning against a wall at a frat, waiting for my friend to come out of the bathroom. Some random guy walked by me and coughed ‘slut.’ Have never been back.”
— Caroline, 19
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8. “Once I was walking home by myself after a late shift. These drunk guys sitting across from my apartment were screaming obscenities at me as I fumbled trying to unlock my front door; calling me a slut and a whore, asking where I was coming from so late at night. I ended up crying in the shower over it.”
— Nicole, 24
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9. “I was at a house party and was pretty tipsy, but not drunk. I was dancing in sort of a silly way, trying to make some of my guy friends laugh, when I caught the end of this conversation these two girls in the corner were having. About me. Apparently I was acting like a slut by dancing around in front of my friends. I was incredibly embarrassed and it totally ruined my night. I seriously think about it every time I dance now.”
— Laura, 20
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10. “My job very much has a ‘boy’s club’ vibe to it. When I was just starting out, I was trying to make friends and be accepted by everyone. During our lunch hour, some of the guys started exchanging sex stories, and as an attempt to fit in, I threw out one of my stories that typically gets a laugh from whatever crowd I tell it to. It went over horribly. A few days later, I was walking towards the break room and could hear someone mentioning that I was the new ‘office slut.’ I now keep to myself.”
— Patricia, 24
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11. “I was at a Halloween party when I realized that I had several missed calls and texts from this guy I had casually slept with a couple of days ago. Only an hour had passed since he sent the first message, but the texts he had sent since then were getting angrier and angrier. When I called him back the next day, he called me a slut and hung up on me.”
— Mary, 22
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12. “When I was 15, my friends and I were going to our first real party, and we were so excited. I had gone to the mall with my mom to a buy cute summer dress just for the occasion, and when I emerged from my friend’s bathroom after changing, this absolute bitch friend of ours looked me up and down and informed me that I looked like a slut. Everyone else laughed. I was so shocked, I immediately turned around and locked the door so I could promptly sob on the bathroom floor. I didn’t end up going to the party and I haven’t spoken to that girl since.”
— Megan, 20
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13. “One of my really good guy friends asked me out on a serious date, and I was pretty taken aback because I thought we were just friends. I tried to talk it out with him because I didn’t want to hurt his feelings by rejecting him, and I wanted to keep our relationship at the stage it currently was. When he realized I wasn’t into it, he started bringing up private things I had told him as evidence for why I was such a slut and how he was ‘too good’ for me anyway. We don’t speak anymore.”
— Isabelle, 18
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14. “One of my best friends called me a slut when I told her about my first one night stand.”
— Tessa, 22
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15. “My boyfriend and I were attempting to do the long distance relationship while at college. One of my good girlfriends ended up visiting him and a couple other people at his school over a long weekend, and messaged me saying that this crazy girl who lived in his dorm was in love with my boyfriend, and would constantly shit-talk me by pulling up my Facebook page just to go through photos and call me a slut. I’d never even met this girl! I made all my social media private after that.”
— Jen, 19 