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Bring Back Slut Shaming: It’s not just the things people wear that should deserve scorn. It’s also the things they don’t.
The Federalist ^ | 03/04/2025 | Kylee Griswold

Posted on 03/04/2025 8:57:31 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Any time I venture into public, I’m increasingly convinced more people should have been bullied as kids (of the swirlie variety, not the “I wish you were dead” kind). Behind every ill-adjusted adult who thinks “ask me about my pronouns” buttons are rad or that perpetually living in his mom’s basement is normal is a dork who didn’t get shoved into enough lockers for weird behavior.

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 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?

Here’s how Megha handled one slutty yogi in her apartment’s shared courtyard:

(Catch me yelling, “Hoes can no longer be permitted to have a chokehold on society,” the next time I’m a few margaritas deep on a Taco Tuesday.)

But she’s right, and it happens everywhere. At the gym? Cake face walks in wearing booty shorts and risking a nip slip with each rep. Out to lunch? Pay no attention to the hussy in a miniskirt picking up the fork she dropped. Inauguration? Somebody’s got her ta-tas out because being ogled by just the billionaire she’s engaged to isn’t enough.

There’s a clear Christian case for decency in how men and women dress, but lest you think our societal need for slut shaming is driven by “purity culture” prudes, jealous ladies, or misogynist men, it isn’t. Modest may or may not be hottest, but that’s not the issue. When 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.

In 2018, Camille Paglia called it a “flesh parade,” writing, “The current surplus of exposed flesh in the public realm has led to a devaluation of women and, paradoxically, to sexual ennui.”

In other words, men are bored. Thanks to all the “ass, titties, ass, titties, ass, titties” every time they open social media or walk outside, guys like @gotsnacks_ are “not excited no more. I’m bootied out. Y’all have showed me so much ass, I’m numb to it.”

My colleague Madeline Osburn wrote about this phenomenon four years ago, noting that “the devaluation of women’s bodies hurts women too.” She said:

Before we were all “bootied out,” a woman’s sexuality was not just mysterious and proactive, but the most powerful force on the planet. It drove men to face great risks, cross oceans, write ballads, and even start wars just for the chance to gaze at a woman’s booty. Women held all the cards in intimate relationships.

Not anymore. As long as the hoes have “a chokehold on society,” they’ve tipped ladies’ hands.

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.

So, in the words of every airport everywhere, if you see something, say something. Maybe that means shouting across your apartment courtyard like Megha, or maybe it just means communicating with a look. Maybe we can pressure social media sites to expand their definition of obscene content and states to get more serious about enforcing indecent exposure laws. It’s about time “no shirt, no shoes, no service” policies also banned Meredith Palmer-esque “shirts” in their fine print.

For all their angry shrieking about misogyny, feminists are the ones who forfeited women’s true sexual power — but we can restore it. Not by covering every square inch of skin. We’re looking for less “Return to Amish” and more rediscovery of feminine allure. To make boobs and booties great again, flatter those features rather than flaunting or flattening them. Play to those curves without baring or androgenizing them. Show a bit of skin but not most of it, just a little something-something to keep ’em guessing. When hoes leave nothing to the imagination, they take what was once intriguing and make it boring instead. We can’t let them get away with it anymore.

“If women want respect in society, they must do their part to raise their own value,” Paglia wrote. “Stop throwing it away on empty display.”

Maybe not all women want respect, but some of us still do. So we’ll do our part to raise our value. Let the slut shaming commence.


Kylee Griswold is the managing editor of The Federalist and a contributor to IW Features. She previously worked as the copy editor for the Washington Examiner magazine and as an editor and producer at National Geographic. She holds a B.S. in communication arts/speech and an A.S. in criminal justice and writes on topics including feminism and gender issues, religion, and the media.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bloggers; dating; karen; karenshaming; karensonparade; manosphere; pua; redpill; shame; slut; slutwalk; women
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To: metmom
I've sometimes pointed out that sex is like many other things in life: you've got the talkers and you've got the do-ers. The loud talkers and provocative dressers tend to not be as sexually active as the ones who don't talk about sex as much. The loud talkers are trying to hide that they're missing out.

The people who have sex the most frequently are the people who are married, Christian, and attend church regularly. They're comfortable enough in their sexual behavior that they don't have to blare it out to everybody else.

41 posted on 03/04/2025 10:09:43 AM PST by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: Leaning Right; SeekAndFind; kelly4c; metmom
is a dork who didn’t get shoved into enough lockers for weird behavior.

I stopped reading right there.

Her sentiment is fair enough. But anyone who writes copy like that is just like a cheerleader who peaked in high school.

Kylee Griswold is the managing editor of The Federalist and a contributor to IW Features. She previously worked as the copy editor for the Washington Examiner magazine and as an editor and producer at National Geographic. She holds a B.S. in communication arts/speech and an A.S. in criminal justice and writes on topics including feminism and gender issues, religion, and the media.

So, the bully is criticizing sluts? That’s rich.

42 posted on 03/04/2025 10:13:13 AM PST by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s² )
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To: SeekAndFind

A year or so ago I was at a trade show with several male colleagues and one younger new female employee who was there to learn about the industry. She was very inappropriately dressed for the show but it was nothing compared to what she wore to dinner. And either way, she did not have the body style for revealing clothes.

The sales manager was planning to speak with her supervisor, also female who always dresses appropriately to have a discussion with her. I haven’t really seen her since so I have no idea if it stuck.


43 posted on 03/04/2025 10:23:32 AM PST by cyclotic (Don’t be part of the problem. Be the entire problem)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Everything these degenerate progs do revolves around sex. They are the collective Copernicus of the anus (H.T. Peep Show). If they just wanted to be left alone why are they displaying such grotesque sexual fetishes in their parades and gatherings? Just gross people.


44 posted on 03/04/2025 10:27:25 AM PST by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes)
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To: cyclotic

The bank I worked at had normal dress code guidelines as you would expect.

Thing is... It was always the gals who violated the dress codes.

Men were smart though. They knew it would be sexual harassment if they said something so they left it up to female management to address the problems.


45 posted on 03/04/2025 10:32:56 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (Nobody elected Elon Musk? Well nobody elected the Deep State either.)
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To: SeekAndFind

46 posted on 03/04/2025 10:38:00 AM PST by Albion Wilde (“Did you ever meet a woke person that’s happy? There’s no such thing.” —Donald J. Trump)
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To: SeekAndFind

47 posted on 03/04/2025 10:42:19 AM PST by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
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To: Leaning Right

You missed the point!


48 posted on 03/04/2025 10:53:21 AM PST by 7thson (I've got a seat at the big conference table! I'm gonna paint my logo on it!)
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To: Jamestown1630
“Tramp Stamp’ refers to a tattoo located in a certain area - a woman’s lower back.

Stupid me, I was completely ignorant of what I know must be a widely known fact.

Myself and my social circle have been mis'trampstamping folk for years.

Is there a tattoo pride association or even a NGO that we can formally apologize to?

49 posted on 03/04/2025 10:56:03 AM PST by Biblebelter
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To: Jamestown1630

Back in the day, only two types of people had tats - convicts and military.


50 posted on 03/04/2025 10:56:07 AM PST by 7thson (I've got a seat at the big conference table! I'm gonna paint my logo on it!)
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To: drSteve78
I am overweight as to being labeled obese. Being fat is not a good look. I know I do not look good and right now I am in the process of doing something about it. I know it will be a long haul, but the reward will be worth it.

Fat men and fat women are not beautiful.

51 posted on 03/04/2025 10:59:30 AM PST by 7thson (I've got a seat at the big conference table! I'm gonna paint my logo on it!)
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To: SeekAndFind
This is what males want...if they didn't want it there would be no Hooters ,with that "good" food nor a multibillion dollar porn industry..

if they wanted women to be more modest then they would stop rewarding the opposite.

52 posted on 03/04/2025 11:02:06 AM PST by cherry
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To: Biblebelter

If they care at all, I’d think women with tattoos probably wouldn’t prefer being associated with the word ‘tramp’.


53 posted on 03/04/2025 11:05:33 AM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: 7thson

A lot of ideas and attitudes that used to be true aren’t true any longer.


54 posted on 03/04/2025 11:06:29 AM PST by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: cyclotic

I’ve noticed the ones the most likely to dress inappropriately are the ones least qualified to do so.

Usually grossly overweight, or bulging out of their skimpy clothes.

Not a pretty picture and they are not slimmer and sexy because they are fitting into a smaller size than they should be wearing.

Classy dressing is Melania.


55 posted on 03/04/2025 11:12:50 AM PST by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Are we sure they aren’t protesting the DOGE inspired firings of government layabouts?


56 posted on 03/04/2025 11:17:20 AM PST by lastchance (Cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius.)
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To: shelterguy

So? The end should justify the jeans?


57 posted on 03/04/2025 11:39:41 AM PST by ASOC (This space for rent)
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To: AppyPappy

I though “ho” was a portion of Santa’s laugh. (Sorry, sorry) [Well, not so much]


58 posted on 03/04/2025 11:41:42 AM PST by GingisK
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To: metmom

You are being excessively gracious!


59 posted on 03/04/2025 11:51:33 AM PST by Theophilus (covfefe)
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To: simpson96

The greater the fool the less they know where their money went.


60 posted on 03/04/2025 12:04:43 PM PST by Vaduz
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