Slut-shaming presents a uniquely unfair disadvantage to women and non-binary femmes by implementing required unrealistic normative behavior. Slut-shaming is the pervasive act of ridiculing often a woman or femme individual for their perceived sexual “promiscuity” or engagement in sexual relations. Ness, Wendy, “Slut-Shaming in the Workplace: Sexual Rumors & Hostile Work Environment Claims”, NYU Review of Law & Social Change, at 581 (2016) All the while, the standard privileges their male counterparts both within and outside the household.
The workplace, for instance, is fertile ground for such disparate, inequitable treatment to fester, as rumors about women who participate in sex acts, consensual or not, with male coworkers or superiors often result in the penalization of such women for supposedly violating gender stereotypes. Perceived violators, such as women rumored to be having sex with male leadership or others, are especially vulnerable to slander, often cast as incompetent or mentally unstable.
