Slut-shaming matters because when people are dismissed as sluts, hoes, and thots, they are denied care and compassion as human beings and in a variety of situations, including when they are sexually harassed, sexually assaulted, victimized by image-based sexual abuse ("revenge porn" and "deepfakes"), and need an abortion.
Do you know their playbook?
The Latest on Slut-Shaming + Bodily Autonomy
October 15, 2025
Last weekend, I visited a chilling exhibit at the New York Historical, “Blacklisted: An American Story,” which focuses on two decades of attacks on people in Hollywood suspected of having ties to communism, beginning after World War II. The exhibit demonstrates the ways in which political conservatives manufactured and then exploited fears of Soviet espionage, using it as a pretext to roll back New Deal policies and inflict cruelty on citizens holding left-leaning political beliefs.
People alleged to be left-wing were accused of being “un-American.” Their careers were destroyed and passports confiscated, and in some cases they were sentenced to jail. This piece of US history, which reached far beyond Hollywood and touched the lives of Americans from all walks of life, is known as the “Second Red Scare” (the first took place after World War I) and as "McCarthyism."
The analogy to the historical moment we experience now in the US is obvious, as the president claims that the US must battle the "enemy from within" and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller compares political opposition to terrorism.
From the indictments of New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey to the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show, and from the arrests and violent treatment of peaceful protesters to the firings of people who made private comments criticizing Charlie Kirk after his death, people are being punished over their political beliefs.
Even journalists documenting the actions of masked ICE agents are being deported "for the crime of committing journalism." And Trump is bragging that he "took the freedom of speech away" from protesters.
As a result, many of us in the US are carefully choosing our words. In some spaces, “diversity,” “equity,” “white supremacy,” "gender," and “they/them” can lead to the termination of grants and employment.
At the same time, many people are also being targeted today simply because of who we are: women, people of color, and trans people, among others. This was also true during the Second Red Scare: Antisemitism was foundational to the accusations of communism, with Jews disproportionately singled out.
When Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed hundreds of military leaders at the end of September and complained that women in the military are not as fit as men, even though fitness standards are gender-neutral for high-risk positions, his message was: Women, you're inherently not competent and are placing our country at risk.
When the president stated without evidence in January that a fatal airplane collision was the result of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at the Federal Aviation Administration, his message was: People of color, and women of all races, you are naturally unqualified and causing innocent people to die.
And when he declared without evidence that autism is caused when a pregnant woman takes Tylenol, his message was: Women, you are the root of widespread pain, and you deserve to suffer.
Blaming individuals and holding them accountable for societal problems is nothing new.
Mothers have long been accused of generating their children’s autism, as Jessica Grose reminds us. Victim-surviviors of sexual assault are commonly told they either weren’t assaulted or at all, or they were asking for it, because of what they were wearing. Many who seek out abortion care or birth control are denied the health care they need and are told they are sluts and hoes threatening traditional families.
A recent news story particularly haunts me: A woman who spoke up against injustice, as Apera Tobiason bravely did when she reported the torture and assault of developmentally disabled adults at an Oklahoma institution, was met not with gratitude but with a public smear campaign advertising her photo and phone number with the false statement that she is a sex worker.
And many people of color living in white supremacy are accused of being intellectually inferior, sexually dangerous, undeserving of success, and “replacing” white people. In the last few months, the president has gone on a firing spree of Black leaders in high-profile positions.
In short, we are experiencing two tracks, often intersecting, of cruelty and hatred. Some victims are selected because of their opinions and statements, while others are targeted because of their identities.
I am learning more about the Second Red Scare, starting with a book I bought at the gift shop of the New York Historical, The Second Red Scare and the Unmaking of the New Deal Left by Landon R. Y. Storrs.
I advise us all to familiarize ourselves with this piece of our history that is repeating itself so that we are best prepared to challenge the ongoing destruction of social justice and equity.