What Makes A Slut? The Only Rule, It Seems, Is Being Female - Guardian

[Gravitycollapse]

59. "But it never happened in my group of friends." - That is a fabricated belief.

Either you believe such a lie or you're conscious of the lie. Either way, it's a fairytale.

Slut shaming is a mechanism of hegemonic masculinity. Precisely because of this remote rule, the mechanism itself is wound up and placed into the hands of the subjugated. The system cannot possibly rely entirely on the subordination imposed only by the ruling class. It must delegate responsibility out amongst the ruled. Thus, the subjugated set up hierarchies that, on the surface, are designed merely as a means of personal gain (which is true in a sense), but actually are deeply involved in maintaining the power of the ruling class.

This is analogous to the management structure of a large corporation. The philosophy of the corporation is a reflection of the executives which is largely dictated to the workers through the rule of the middle and lower management positions (managers who rose out of the body of workers). The managers are mimicking the executives precisely because they know such actions just might allow them to become gate-keepers themselves and escape their own subjugation. Even though they will almost certainly never become executives themselves.

Pynchon's first proverb for paranoids:

1. You may never get to touch the Master, but you can tickle his creatures.

I think that through this argument we defeat the very core of your argument. Which is essentially to accuse me of scapegoating the responsibility of women slut shaming other women onto men; it may almost appear as though I'm stealing away the agency of women by arguing how their actions maintain a greater cause.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The actions of women in slut shaming other women are reprehensible. But each action is not just the product of some spontaneous desire to dominate. It reflects the philosophy of the entire system of male supremacy.

So when you say:

90% of men want nothing to do with that kind of garbage. We stay out of it.

What this really reflects is a desire to gain all of the rewards of slut shaming without getting one's hands very dirty. Do not be confused, however, with the idea that you don't slut shame all the time. You do in all sorts of seemingly minor ways. In fact, that is the benefit of being in the ruling class. Intention can become deeply subliminal because you have the power to create a desired effect with much less effort.