Slut Pride, Slut Song, and Slut Sex (with Birth Control!)

Well. According to Google Trends (see the handy screen capture above), the word “slut” appeared in the news more this month than at any time in the history of the world (since 2004, anyway). This was thanks, presumably, to some ridiculous comments from a certain right-wing radio personality. The gist of the comments, for any who by some stroke of fairy magic managed not to hear/read them, was basically that any woman who has trouble affording birth control—or, debatably, any woman who even uses birth control—is a slut. Whichever way you interpret the comments, they refer to A LOT of women.

So it makes sense that one particularly notable theme to come out of the controversy has been a rallying cry for birth-control-loving folks far and wide to band together over their right (and the right of their loved ones) to access birth control—even if that makes them “sluts” by the (bizarro) standards of some. Sure, “slut” can mean different things to different people (especially on Twitter, as we’ve noted in the past), but regardless of how you feel about the word, we hope you’ll agree that the following three ways it’s been used lately are—for lack of a better word—awesome.

1) Sir Richard’s Condom Company started a “Sluts Unite” campaign, complete with its very own oath (!). The oath is worth reading in its entirety, in our humble opinion:

THE SLUTS UNITE OATH

I believe that sex represents more than just the creation of children.

I believe it is an enjoyable, healthy and a profound part of the human experience.

I also believe that the responsible use of birth control is an essential component of a mature, civilized society.

And if these beliefs make me a slut in some people’s eyes, then so be it.

I will stand united with my fellow sluts, now and always.

If the oath inspires you to show your “slut pride,” you can do so with downloadable slut-positive slogans like this one, courtesy of the Sluts Unite website.

2) Musical comedy duo Reformed Whores made a response video to the controversial comments, in which they proclaimed themselves sluts for using birth control—even though one was using it within her marriage and the other was using it for health benefits.

3) And last, but definitely not least, Not So Secret made the word into an acronym for healthy sex. If “slut” sex—that is sex involving safety, love, understanding, and trust—is wrong, we don’t want to be right.