Of course, people, regardless of gender, may have certain expectations of their partner when it comes to sexual experience – or rather, inexperience. Different people have different limits of what “too much” is. Some would say 40 is a little too much, and others may think six is pushing it, but generally, women are held to a much stricter standard when talking about their “body count”. When it comes to dating, a woman’s value is somehow directly tied to how many people she’s had sex with.
When it comes to dating, a woman’s value is somehow directly tied to how many people she’s had sex with.
Why is a man who has slept with 15 women just a normal guy and a woman who has slept with 15 men a slut? Why has it always been so important for women to stay “pure” virgins for their husbands, and why do men romanticise women’s suffering during sex so much?
The answer is a little too easy. That used car they compare women to? That lollipop somebody already put their saliva on, or a chewing gum someone chewed and spat out, that is all a woman’s body is to them.
Men could always go and enjoy life because they were seen as human beings seeking pleasure and fun, but women were things meant to give those pleasures. In the eyes of these people, women are no different to the toys somebody took out of their box and destroyed by playing with them – just something to use.
Years passed, and very little changed. Women are still urged to think about their future husbands because nobody wants a dirty sponge or an over-sharpened pencil. Men sleeping around is accepted, but women who are sleeping around are still called sluts and whores, because the female body is still viewed as something being used for cheap and not a person doing something fun.
Men sleeping around is accepted, but women who are sleeping around are still called sluts and whores, because the female body is still viewed as something being used for cheap and not a person doing something fun.
In the end, the whole body count double standard and slut shaming comes down to one very simple thing: how we still dehumanise women in the act of sex itself.
