What Does “Slut” Really Mean?: A Bad Bitch Interpretation
By Kaitlin Heins
Why is it so common today for women to be referred to as sluts as often as we are? Women are called sluts because of their sexual decisions that are normally praised by someone with a Y-chromosome. The ones who choose to abstain from a “free-spirit” life are seen as prude. When in reality, some of the greatest women in human history were “sluts."
First, Patti Boyd. Without Patti Boyd, where would we be without some of the greatest lyrical masterpieces to grace the musical world? We must give credit to anyone married to a Beatle just because of their long standing credibility. Their bowl-haircuts glorified on the wall of every dorm room for the last 60 years. Without her, girls would not be able to listen to their boyfriends hack a crappy version of “Something,” (originally by George Harrison) on a Youtube Channel. We commend her for batting her eyes at sweet George, and giving us some of the greatest music to grace our ears from four fabulous British men, as a result of her eleven year marriage. But what we must not forget is when she broke George’s heart...and with broken hearts, comes extraordinary milestones in music. Patti did another large service to the music industry when she gave us the work of Eric Clapton. Her marriage and “sluttiness” may have left George heartbroken but it gave many wedding receptions “Wonderful Tonight.” Also from Clapton’s collection came “Layla", a cinematic treasure, that manages to make so many movie soundtracks that most films would be incomplete without it (shout out to GoodFellas). Any “slut” to marry two music legends is a pretty epic bad bitch in my book.
June Carter Cash is one of my favorite “other women.” Without June, every country music fanatic out there has to ask if Johnny Cash would have made it through his prime? Would he have stayed sober long enough to give us “Hurt” or “Girl From the North Country?” More importantly, we would not have had “Ring of Fire” without darling June. The writing, for which Johnny is most famous for, should actually be accredited to Miss June. I would like to think that even those who don’t have a taste for southern flare should be thankful for June’s attribution to this gem. Johnny only outlived June by a matter of months. He could not physically stand the world without her. She and Johnny were truly in love and although their means of being together was looked upon with scorn in many ways, I still look at them with admiration.
For a real throwback, let’s talk about Cleopatra. Cleopatra, along with being the queen of Egypt, was known to be a mistress of one of the most powerful men in history. Julius Caesar was supposedly enthraaaalled with Cleopatra. His infatuation was not with just her beauty, but also with her brain. She was a smart, strong woman and is more widely noted for her brains as opposed to her beauty. She was one of the first largely influential women in human history. She had her man and career, essentially, she had it all.
“Wake up every morning and tell yourself that you are a badass bitch from hell and that no one can fuck with you, and then don’t let anybody fuck with you.”
My apologies to Jennifer Aniston on this one because she will always hold a place in my heart, but we must have a moment of silence for Angelina Jolie. On the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Angie and Brad (yes, as in Pitt) let sparks fly on and off the screen. Although it is said that all romances between the two began after Brad and Jenn had broken up...the public will always fill in the blanks for themselves, as will I. Jolie is one bad ass bitch who kills it on all fronts. Brad always by her side, she kills it at the box office with her action-packed movies and killer stunts, as well as a few Oscar nominated films here and there. She has two Oscars but not just for her acting ability. She was the recipient of the James Hersholt Humanitarian Award, because not only is she constantly adopting children in need, she puts herself on the forefront of all of the action. Hats off to Angie, we all aspire to be as good-hearted as you.
Finally, the most astonishing of them all...when we look at sex idols, one name comes across every mind, male or female; Marilyn Monroe. She was the original blonde and beautiful. Her love affairs with President John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and even Arthur Miller have shown America that she wasn’t afraid to be who she was, with whomever she wanted. She flaunted her talents and allure on the Madison Square Garden stage in the famous performance for JFK on his birthday. She lives on as every teenage girl’s computer background and Halloween costumes of aspiration and jealousy as girls hang around steam grates in drifting dresses. Marilyn is an icon that will never be forgotten and we adore her for her “sluttiness” in pop culture even today.
The reason I use the word “slut” in this article is to denote its power. We only let things have control over us because we are the ones that allow them to. There are so many people that let themselves be defined by the words of others. I admire these women simply because they have never let judgement keep them from being who they were meant to be.