slut-shame

verb

To make a person (especially a woman) feel guilty or inferior for sexual activity, desires, expression, or circumstances that deviate from traditional or orthodox gender expectations or religious or cultural standards.

Meanings

verbslut-shame (third-person singular simple present slut-shames, present participle slut-shaming, simple past and past participle slut-shamed)

present singular third person slut-shames · participle present slut-shaming · participle past slut-shamed · past slut-shamed · alternative slut shame · alternative slutshame

  1. To make a person (especially a woman) feel guilty or inferior for sexual activity, desires, expression, or circumstances that deviate from traditional or orthodox gender expectations or religious or cultural standards.

    His accuser was publicly reviled—viciously slut-shamed, in some cases—and withdrew from classes.

    2014, Steve Almond, Against Football: One Fan's Reluctant Manifesto, Melville House, published 2014, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    There seems to be no middle ground between embracing one's inner porn star and slut-shaming the women who find themselves pressured or lured into sex-related work because they have few other options.

    2013, Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, Heather Wood Rudúlph, Sexy Feminism: A Girl's Guide to Love, Success, and Style, Mariner Books, published 2013, →ISBN, page 119

    Further, why is it OK for a prepubescent girl to play at sexy, but a teen girl gets slut-shamed for expressing and experimenting with her sexuality?

    2014, Melissa Atkins Wardy, Redefining Girly: How Parents Can Fight the Stereotyping and Sexualizing of Girlhood, from Birth to Tween, Chicago Review Press, published 2014, →ISBN, page 6
Cite this entry
APA

slut-shame. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slut-shame

MLA

“slut-shame.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slut-shame. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “slut-shame,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slut-shame.

Source: slut-shame on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.