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Hailey Bieber

Professor Wilson

LIT 340

1 May 2018

Slut-Shaming: Barbara The Slut and Other People

According to Urban Dictionary, the number one most thumbed-up definition for the word

slut is “a woman with the morals of a man.” It’s a derogatory word used by classmates, media

reporters, and even politicians to objectify and ridicule women who don’t fit the status quo for

how a traditional feminine woman should act. “Slut-shaming” is the unfortunate phenomenon in

our society in which many women are constantly criticized and degraded for their perceived

promiscuity or sexuality. While many people defend their opinions by saying that sluts do not

have any self-respect and lack decent morals, it is clearly ignorant and should not be tolerated. In

fact, slut-shaming is a dangerous problem because it contributes to the double-standard of

women, is a form of bullying that leads to horrible consequences and plays a huge part in rape

culture through victim blaming (Pickle and Gentry).

However, some people still carry the misogynist mindset that women who act like a

“slut” simply lack positive guidance and that this new mainstream shaming might help prevent

naive girls from making bad decisions. George Tyndale from The Sunday Mercury defends his

position by saying, “Peer pressure is the only thing that many young girls respond to, and if

fellow teenagers are the only thing that makes them think twice about their appearance and

behavior, then so be it” (Tyndale). Many others agree with him, as well as blame other girls for

their “cattiness” and are disgusted by the disturbing over-sexualization in today’s media. They
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justify their crude remarks by believing that they are helping them; that their slander is sensible

advice that should be taken (Tyndale). They are contributing the stereotype of women which

dehumanizes them.

In January 2011, Toronto activists reacted to a comment by a local police officer who

equated women’s “slutty” dress with the probability of sexual assault. A group of women

responded by planning a “slut walk” protesting what they termed “sexual profiling” and “slut

shaming” (Reger).

The rapid adoption of the slut walks as a protest tactic and the intense critiques that

followed prompt the question addressed in this article: Why did an oft-repeated sentiment of

“Don’t dress like a slut if you don’t want to be treated like one?” (Reger) The issues of sexual

violence and victim-blaming are not new to feminism, and protests rape and sexual assault are a

part of the movement’s repertoire of tactics. As one news reporter noted: “The events [slut

walks] are similar to Take Back the Night rallies and marches that aim to bring attention to

sexual violence” (Contreras qtd. Reger). In the past, feminists faced with this scenario have

pushed for formal apology, along with the promise of police officer–sensitivity training and held

Take Back the Night marches to protest women’s lack of safety.

Barbara the Slut and Other People touch on this subject of woman not feeling safe.

There are times were woman are attacked or bullied for their choices they make with men or

with their body.

Lauren Holmes is a writer who believes that it is okay for women to enjoy sex just as

much as men do. There shouldn’t be a specific gender that should only like sex. In Holmes’s

novel, Barbara The Slut and Other People emphasizes the importance of independence of a
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woman. In ten short stories, Holmes trumps all the assumptions of what a woman should be and

the negative effects of slut-shaming.

“Holmes's characters break up with their college sweethearts, sleep with losers and know

it, and lie about their sexuality” (Arcement). Her narrators are often women who are funny,

imaginative and, yes, a little slutty and sluttiness isn't necessarily a bad thing.

In the titular story, "Barbara the Slut," Barbara is a high school senior who enjoys

sleeping around: "Maybe I wasn't hard to get, but I did have standards” (Holmes 239). Barbara is

also bright, and after she's admitted to the college of her choice, Princeton. “When slut got spray-

painted in pink letters down the front of my locker junior year, I had to go to the school therapist

to talk about my feelings” (Holmes 240). It is shown that the school somewhat cared about the

bullying she was enduring but also in a sense wanted to change the way she acted, which goes

back to the stereotypes of a female. “I kind of liked the color and I would have been more upset

if it had been black or something,” (Holmes 240) Barbara doesn’t care too much over the fact

that her classmates think she’s a slut but would rather care about the color that was chosen.

Barbara did care about being slut-shamed for liking sex. She felt sick after the times she

was attacked and when her classmates react by attacking her she left, "At lunch I went to the

cafeteria to get chocolate milk and somebody yelled 'whore,' so I went to eat in my car” (Holmes

254). But at the end she ended up feeling comfortable with her choices. Although bullying is

never a choice, she put two of her bullies in their place and she was once again okay with it.

As Holmes notes in an interview with Granta: "Women are allowed to like sex now, but

there's a fine line between liking it and liking it too much. When we cross that line we're sluts or
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sex addicts (mostly just sluts -- the more honorable and blameless term 'sex addict' seems to be

reserved for men)" (Holmes).

In another story -- "Pearl and the Swiss Guy Fall in Love" -- an unnamed woman breaks

a year-long dry spell by meeting a Swiss guy on the internet and sleeping with him after their

second date. Once they've had sex, he reveals that he's leaving town in just over a month. On the

subway ride home, she tries not to cry. She wonders "if it was time for my period, or if I was

actually sad" (Holmes 144). She knows that she's being manipulated; the only question is: by

what, or by whom? Sex is the main key into it as well. If the sex wasn’t good or the fact it has

been forever, she wouldn’t feel attached. The Swiss guy doesn’t even like her dog, which she

overlooks to still get sex. This is another example on how woman can like sex as well. After he

leaves, she realizes there was no attachment, “I did like him, until I got to know him better”

(Holmes 164).

In Holmes's collection, men also fail to escape the consequences of their sexual choices.

In "My Humans," the family dog Princess catalogues the breakup of her owners, Mike, and

Jenna, after Mike catches Jenna cheating on him: "There is a space between Mike and Jenna and

I sleep in it" (Holmes 208). At first Mike is angry, but when a friend calls Jenna "a lying,

cheating whore" (Holmes 210), he defends her. “She’s not a whore,” "Don't call her that"

(Holmes 210). Mike could've been a one-dimensional jilted, angry man. Instead, he proves that

you can be mad and not vindictive, you can be hurt but not lash out.

Meanwhile, in "Mike Anonymous," an anonymous client who has slept with a prostitute

goes to a health clinic convinced that he has HIV. When his test comes back negative, Mike

Anonymous is emphatic that the results are wrong, shouting "No!" (Holmes 57). Yet it is through

his despair, not his anger, that Holmes succeeds in scaring us. In this short story, Holmes makes
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it known that men can have female qualities as well and if women get slut-shamed, then so

should men.

Much of "Barbara the Slut" is just plain funny, Holmes toeing the line between

mundanity and dire circumstances, love, and something in between. “And in a time when most

women don't truly own the word "slut," much less claim it, the book is a rallying cry. When was

the last time you read the word "slut" in a newspaper? It was probably in a story about sexual

harassment and about an insult. In our culture, that is what it means” (Arcement). But, as

Holmes's Barbara quickly figures out, "slut" is only a word. And Holmes's collection dares us to

treat it that way: in the pages of her book and beyond.

Holmes touches on shaming women for sex but she also shows the thin line between

vulnerability and shame. “I think vulnerability can come from fear of shame. Both vulnerability

and shame are such inevitable and universal parts of the human condition. And that’s what I

wanted to say by exploring these feelings in my stories — everybody feels these things, they’re

unavoidable, they’re human, they’re important, and they’re okay,” Holmes stated in an interview

with Electric Literature. It seems to be the core of Barbara the Slut and Other People.

Slut-shaming has been happening for decades and will continue to happen. Even in 2018,

we still see slut-shaming even though it has seemed to be less prominent. Women can still have

sex but with how many partners or how many times? Holmes touches on theses subjects and

adds humor to these situations but at the same time can still make them entertaining. Slut-

shaming is a dangerous problem which can lead to other issues and emphasizes the importance

will help get the significance out.

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Works Cited

Arcement, Katherine. How One Author is Reclaiming the Word 'Slut'. Washington: WP

Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post, 2015. ProQuest. Web. 4 May 2018.

Electric Literature. “Seeing In A Haze Of Vulnerability: An Interview With Lauren Holmes,

Author Of Barbara The Slut: And...” Electric Literature, Electric Literature, 20 Oct.

2015, electricliterature.com/seeing-in-a-haze-of-vulnerability-an-interview-with-lauren-

holmes-author-of-barbara-the-slut-and-9c94ef2297d1

Holmes, Lauren. Barbara the Slut and Other People. Riverhead Books, 2016.

“Lauren Holmes | Interview.” Granta Magazine, 20 Feb. 2017, granta.com/interview-lauren-

holmes/.

Pickel, Kerri and Rachel Gentry. "Slut Shaming in a School Bullying Case: Evaluators Ignore

Level of Harm When the Victim Self-Presents as Sexually Available." Sex Roles, vol. 76,

no. 1/2, Jan. 2017, pp. 89-98. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s11199-016-0662-6.

Reger, Jo. "Micro-Cohorts, Feminist Discourse, and the Emergence of the Toronto SlutWalk."

Feminist Formations, vol. 26 no. 1, 2014, pp. 49-69. Project MUSE,

doi:10.1353/ff.2014.0005

Tyndale, George. “Why ‘Slut Shaming’ Could Be a Modest Victory.”

Www.birminghammail.co.uk, 13 Jan. 2013,

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www.birminghammail.co.uk/lifestyle/lifestyle-opinion/george-tyndale-why-slut-

shaming-could-1061683.