Lana Rhoades, ex-porn star, entrepreneur and influencer has had to continuously slap-back at trolls after she announced her pregnancy online on June 2nd. Even though Lana has ventured away from porn, the internet trolls aren’t letting her past go. And Lana’s not the only ex porn-star to have to live with this. Bree Olsen, a former ex of Charlie Sheen compares the slut-shaming insults directed at her to something she wears every day for everyone to see.
What is Slut-Shaming?
According to Wikipedia, Slut-shaming is the practice of criticising people, especially women and girls, who are perceived to violate expectations of behaviour and appearance regarding issues related to sexuality. Examples of slut-shaming include being criticised or punished for violating dress code policies by dressing in perceived sexually provocative ways, requesting access to birth control, having premarital, casual, or promiscuous sex, engaging in sex work or when being victim blamed for being raped or otherwise sexually assaulted.
It is clearly obvious what kind of a person would be slut-shaming. Someone with a toxic and outdated sense of what it means to be “be a lady.” Slut-shaming can be seen as an act of social punishment, an act entirely contrived because of Sexism. As well as female intrasexual competition, which can be described women putting down other women in which they feel in competition with.
Lana Rhoades Is Fed Up
Even though she has moved on from the industry, trolls can’t stop bringing up her porn star past and making jokes about the birth. So the 24-year-old decided to address the hate on an episode of her 3 Girls 1 Kitchen podcast.
When a listener crudely asked the influencer: “How easy do you think the baby will come out?”, she hit back. Lana told co-hosts Alexa and Olivia: “I don’t know if you guys have seen but people are making memes and TikToks saying two things. “One that my child is going to be bullied in school. And two they’re making TikTok’s about the delivery of my child – showing children going down water slides.”
Lana continued: “Those are the majority of comments on my Instagram, TikTok and Twitter”. “People are also saying ‘I feel bad for the kid because your mum did porn’… “I have one thing to say to that. I feel bad for you because you clearly have a terrible mum who raised a son that talks that way to women.”
The social media star’s friend chimed in to point out that keyboard warriors seem to lack knowledge in basic female anatomy. She said: “I really hope you are going to take a science or biology book and do some research. A woman’s body doesn’t work that way.”
Continued
Lana continued: “It doesn’t matter if a woman has had sex with one person or three, five, 10, 20, 40.”
“It’s not going to make her vagina loose and the baby to come out like a water slide. The human anatomy doesn’t work like that so it’s really disrespectful to say a comment like that. It’s actually wrong so it’s not even an insult. You are making yourself sound very dumb by being so uneducated”. While Lana isn’t letting the hate comments bring her down, she’s disappointed to see so much misogynistic abuse online.
Lana added: “They should be ashamed to talk to a woman like that. I don’t care what the woman has done in the past. It’s misogynistic and it’s disrespectful. These comments are so stupid. They don’t even make me feel bad and I don’t care… but I don’t think it’s OK. Especially all the things you’re not allowed to say anymore in 2021 but you can talk to women like this? It’s disrespectful.”
Slut-Shaming Is Detrimental
Implying a woman is sexually loose may be ridiculously archaic but remains a potent, and highly effective tool to damage a woman and her credibility. It is dirty and it works. There is, still, no male equivalent of slut-shaming; the implication that if someone is promiscuous they are of low morals, a bit grubby and less than virtuous is only hung around the necks of women.
It is amazing to me that a medieval slur on the purity (hence the worth) of a woman that you would have thought went out with witch hunts is not only still around. But still considered a fine weapon to use on any kind of woman.
Dr Nicola Henry, sexual violence and law reform researcher at RMIT, says the reason making allegations about a woman’s sexual activity is such an effective “tool of degradation and abuse” is because “unwritten rules and expectations about how men and women should behave sexually” persist, even now. This prejudice may usually remain unspoken, and fly in the face of the apparently free-flowing attitudes to sex in the west generally, but the taboo around women behaving “badly” sexually – ie exercising their sexual agency, liberally (even if only implied and not true) – lurks just beneath the surface.
For men, there is value attached to them having multiple sexual partners – it’s a badge of honour for many men. But for women, there is value attached to being virginal, pure and submissive. It may seem at odds with what we see in music videos, film and women’s magazines. Where women are overly sexualised. But the point is that women’s sexuality continues to be policed, monitored and evaluated not only by others within a society, but also by women themselves.
Beliefs & Societal Expectations
It really comes down to beliefs, values and attitudes, and societal expectations about how men and woman should behave. So women who don’t perform to these standards are socially punished, just like how Lana is being punished. Slut shaming has such a negative impact on its target’s public image. Because, while women are judged on how much sex they are thought to be having. Males are judged on how much sex they are perceived to be having.
We can talk about the ‘slut-stud’ paradox; where men benefit from perceptions they’re sexually attractive judging by how many partners they’ve had. But women are devalued in this context, they become ‘less than’. Not because of the number of sexual partners she has, but by the presumptions around it.
Value is associated with women who are virtuous, chaste, moral. Suggesting they are sexually promiscuous, even if it is not true, disproportionately impacts women. A man has a healthy sexual appetite, a woman is a ‘slut’. It comes from religion, this premium places on virginity and motherhood, and has set women up for unattainable standards. Slut shaming is a means to punish women for going against the expectations of their gender and into fields where they are not wanted. It serves as a deterrent for others to join in.
Former Sex Worker & Victorian MP Fiona Patten
Former sex worker and Victorian MP, Fiona Patten, says slut shaming works so well to hurt the target. Because “we as a community have deep shame about sex in general. We might exhibit it and see everyone from Madonna to the latest K Pop act being really sexual. But as a community we still do not talk about sex. This is why slut shaming is so effective, and why the majority of women don’t report sexual assault, it is all tied in together!” The fact women are autonomous beings does not sit well with with portions of our community,” says Ms Patten.
“The height of hypocrisy in this is, as I said in my inaugural speech, I might be the first sex worker to come into Parliament but thousands of clients have come in before me…the whole room looked at their feet.” – Says Fiona
Final Thought
If a person is to judge another based on the amount of sexual exploration or lack there of a person has had, then that person being a judge should take a good look in the mirror and ask themselves a simple question. How are my beliefs about people impacting me and the world? A person with wisdom would say their beliefs impact the future. A misinformed or delusional person would not care. The expectations of society do not exist unless they are enforced by the people. The people within societies control the cultural perceptions. If we truly want a free world with no judgement and pure radical acceptance then that change starts with us. analysing our own beliefs and values, as well as challenging others.
