Slut-shaming for everyone

Is gender equality important enough to justify social backpedaling in the form of, say, slut-shaming across the board?

Two researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago released a study Monday that showed roughly 75 percent of college students in the United States possess egalitarian attitudes toward “hooking up.”

In other words, the old double standard of promiscuous women being trashy while promiscuous men are pimpin’ is less popular than ever before.

But with the decline of this unfair attitude comes the reality of a more judgmental and uptight generation concerning sexuality.

The study also showed interesting results regarding a reverse double standard, the view kept primarily by members of sororities.

One co-author speculated that the almost adversarial gender dichotomy in greek life has to do with this, fueling bonding and a sense of togetherness to a degree not seen even by fraternities.

Similarly, the old double standard is still kept by some, namely males who fit the “varsity athlete” typecast.

Overall, it’s good news women are not exclusively subjected to social criticism for being sexually expressive and active.

But the cost of this condemnatory attitude seems rather high.

Intuitively, one would assume with improved gender equality would come advancement in the sexual revolution, which has been steadily progressing since the 1960s.

Instead, it seems America’s sexual anxiety is on the rise, and what appears to be a new wave of gender equality may be, overall, a deceiving sense of progress.

The motivational foundation of criticism in the realm of sexuality should be on physical and emotional safety, not counting notches on bedposts to judge and jump to conclusions.

Nothing good has historically come from slut-shaming. It merely ostracizes individuals, making sex a taboo subject.

This dilutes the cause of sex education and makes the U.S. look like a bunch of hypocritical prudes.