Slut shaming is off the syllabus

[dropcap]”W[/dropcap]hat a slut!”; “she had it coming, did you see what she was wearing?”; “It’s her own fault for sending those pictures.” Recently, numerous scandals have plagued the internet concerning women and sexual abuse. Sam Pepper sexually harassed women on the street in one of his famous ‘prank’ videos, and nudes of Jennifer Lawrence were leaked for public consumption. Instances like these make me uncomfortable because they normalise and validate sexual abuse, and encourage slut-shaming.

Pepper remains a contributor to the YouTube community with millions of fans, yet his video promotes a deeply unhealthy attitude towards women’s bodies. How many boys will see that video and believe they can replicate his behaviour? How many girls will accept the same abuse if it ever happens to them? The internet, especially revered YouTubers, is incredibly powerful in influencing people, particularly impressionable teenagers.

When it comes to sexual rights, women are second-class citizens;

we are told to ‘take it as a compliment’ if wolf-whistled at, or to expect advances if our skirts are short enough. We live in a society that accepts abuse. Jennifer Lawrence is not at fault, it was her right to share photos in what was “a loving, healthy, great relationship” (Vanity Fair interview 08/10/14).

The people who shared them online are culpable, yet she has received abuse and criticism. Our attitude towards women is fundamentally flawed; instead of teaching girls self-defense, or how to dress ‘appropriately’ we should be teaching boys not to view women’s bodies as public property, but to respect women as equals.

These discussions of gender equality needs to begin is schools, in sexual-education classes where consent is on the syllabus.

We need to abandon this antiquated opinion that women should not be as sexual as men or afforded the same respect if they are sexually active. We need to stop slut-shaming, and start believing rape victims. We cannot generalise and pretend that these attitudes apply to all men. However it remains a fact that women’s sexual rights are placed below men’s, that women’s bodies are objectified from our advertisements to our newspapers, and that these everyday occurrences of sexualisation implicitly teach both men and women not to respect female sexual rights.

I ask you, therefore, how we can expect to move forward as a society, when we teach women that a man’s inability to control his ‘base desires’ are a valid excuse for the abuse of her human rights.