British YouTube star Hannah Witton made a video post last week about the responses she got when she asked users on various social media platforms to define the word “slut.”
The results actually say a lot about the user base of Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook. Tumblr users were by far the “most progressive,” Witton says, and Facebook users were the least. But here are the best definitions of “slut” from each platform:
Tumblr: a (patriarchal) social construct used to hold women to a stricter set of standards than the ones men are held to”
Twitter: “a human affected by double standards”
Facebook: “a woman who has sex with countless amounts of men”
Winston also points out that men often hurl the insult at women who refuse to sleep with them, which begs the question: “so, if you do sleep with him, you’re a slut, and if you don’t sleep with him you’re also a slut. Great. You can’t win.”
(h/t Mic)
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Write to Charlotte Alter at charlotte.alter@time.com