Who Is A Slut?
A few years ago, I watched an interesting episode of Sex In The City. In case you are not familiar with the show, it’s about four attractive women who sleep around with various men in New York, looking for love and happiness. In the episode I’m referring to, the show’s main character Carrie Bradshaw asks, “Are we sluts?” I thought, “That’s an interesting question. In our modern, ‘sexually liberated’ culture, who exactly is a slut?”
Occasionally, (I’m not sure why) I watch Jerry Springer. It seems that on every episode at least one woman calls another woman “a slut” (or, more commonly, “a whore”) for sleeping with her boyfriend. However, it seems that few of these sexually active people are married and that they all have had multiple sex partners. So, I wonder, what criteria do they use to determine who among them deserves to be called “a slut”?
A hundred years ago, it was simple. A woman who remained a virgin until she got married and remained faithful to her husband was a good woman. Any woman who was sexually active outside of marriage or who committed adultery was “a slut.” If we judge by that standard, in our present culture the majority of women (and almost all men) are, or have been, sluts.
Again, by today’s standard, who exactly is a slut? Certainly, most people would consider a porn star a slut. Yet, I recently watched an interview with a retired porn star named Seka. She seemed to say that when she was doing porn she wasn’t a slut because she only had sex with a small circle of men. And, I would wager that a lot of current porn stars think of themselves as professional entertainers or actresses not sluts.
Yes, in by gone days it was simpler. There were women that men married and women that men played around with. The former were “saints” the latter were “sluts.” Today, most men marry women who have had multiple sex partners. And, of course, hardly any men are virgins when they marry. An alarming percentage of spouses are unfaithful. About half of marriages end in divorce, and the majority of divorcees soon begin new sexual relationships. So, today, people who call other people “sluts” are usually far from sexually moral themselves.
To be honest, we have all fallen short of the glory of God. Only God, the angels, the saints, and a very small percentage of people are pure. You might say that since almost all of us have sinned sexually and continue to do so (at least in thought if not in deed), nearly all of us are, at least to some degree, sluts. Every sin is a form of adultery because it is being unfaithful to God. Finally, keep in mind, that only the pure will enter heaven. “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). “Nothing impure will ever enter it nor will anyone who does what is shameful…” (Revelation 21:27). Therefore, strive for holiness in every aspect of your life.