History Main / Slutshaming

* In ''PrideAndPrejudice'', Lydia's fling with Wickham almost ruins her entire family's reputation.

* In ''Going Too Far'' by Catherine Alliott, the protagonist believes that she cheated on her husband while spending the weekend away with friends. [[spoiler: It didn't happen. The guy drugged her and signed them both in at a hotel so he could use her as an alibi while he committed a burglary.]] Afterwards, she discovers she's pregnant She is driven to despair, not only because her husband throws her out, but because of this trope she fears being rejected by her friends and family (who are largely sympathetic while acknowledging that her problems are her own fault) and struggles to tell her gynaecologist that she doesn't know who the father is. [[spoiler:It's her husband's baby - the other man is infertile and didn't have sex with her anyway.]]

*** In the third trilogy, Fitz shames Starling a bit when, on learning of her marriage, turns her out of his bed. He then shames his son for taking up with a young woman when he didn't have the ability to make an honest woman out of her, and gets in a fight with the girl's father over the same. Fitz receives some shame himself when the world at large believes he's gaying it up with his foreign-born employer.

* After having a one night stand with [[spoiler:Gaius Baltar]], Starbuck gets thoroughly shamed by Apollo. The subtext makes it clear that it's because he's totally in love with her, but it takes the form of attacking her for promiscuity.

* The criminal inmates of ''BatmanArkhamCity'' are slightly misogynistic to the same degree they're also trying to slightly hurt Batman's feelings. Among other things, they think Harley and Catwoman deserve whatever they might get for the outfits they wear.

** In-universe, Critic gets some from Douchey. First he's just called a whore, but then he's called a “war whore”, an insult for a woman who cheats while her husband is away fighting. Wee bit harsh.

* MagickChicks: Invoked by name when [[AlphaBitch Faith]], [[http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/enjoying_the_perks calls Tiffany out on it.]] Also counts as a mild WhatTheHellHero moment, since Tiffany's the school's resident superhero.

** MagickChicks: Invoked by name when [[AlphaBitch Faith]], [[http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/enjoying_the_perks calls Tiffany out on it.]] Also counts as a mild WhatTheHellHero moment, since Tiffany's the school's resident superhero.

** In-universe, Critic gets some from Douchey. First he's just called a whore, but then he's called a “war whore”, an insult for a woman who cheats while her husband is away fighting. Wee bit harsh.

* ''AssassinsCreed2'' provides us with an example of shaming by legislation. The extra, in-game index describes how courtesans (by that time, a word meaning, essentially, "whores") were by law more and more circumscribed and sharply defined in dress and hairstyle in an effort to eliminate their profession from polite society.

* In the Music/KatePerry song "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAp9BKosZXs&ob=av3e I kissed a girl]]", the protagonist keep bashing herself in this way, fueled by InternalizedHomophobia.

MyGirlIsASlut! No, MyGirlIsNotASlut! Well, she's an EthicalSlut... Even TVTropes calls them sluts, for good or for ill.

If a man has sex, [[AManIsNotAVirgin he's lauded as a hero]]. If a woman has sex, she's RuinedForever.

See:
* DoubleStandard, which is the other side of the shaming coin.
* DefiledForever, the result of "wrong" sex and the background for this trope.
* SexIsEvil, which informs this trope.

NoRealLifeExamplesPlease

* ''Film/EasyA'' - The film is built around this trope.

* The {{Beautiful Slave Girl}}s on {{Gor}} will use this to taunt and/or insult each other, at least when they're not taunting and/or insulting each other over how frigid the other is.

* ''WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic'' and ''WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaChick'' use "slut" and "whore" freely to describe anyone they don't like, but they've both admitted to enjoying being slutty themselves.

* Inverted in ''QuestionableContent'', after Faye sleeps with [[spoiler:her boss's brother, Sven]]. She immediately begins to freak out, but is reassured by her therapist that she's not a slut, and that a casual sexual relationship can be healthy, and is perhaps exactly what she needs at that point.

* ''HowIMetYourMother'' plays this straight, inverts it, and averts it.

* The pilot to {{Friends}} gives us Monica sleeping with a man on the first date. The show didn't make too much hay of it, but the executives were worried the public would blame her, so the producers polled the live audience. Male or female, the only one who wasn't made to feel bad for sexual activity was Phoebe. Joey never really felt too bad, but his friends shamed him for his behavior.

* Some people have accused the Taylor Swift video for ''You Belong With Me'' of constructing a story around this trope. She portrays both the shy nerd (good girl) and the "horrible and scary and intimidating" popular (ie. bad, slutty) girl. The good girl wins the boy after he catches the bad girl flirting with someone else.

* ''{{Firefly}}'' didn't have a long run, but it had a good amount of sex. Mal shamed himself for a one night stand, and loved to shame Inara for her career. Kaylee was shown to be rather enthusiastic about spaceships, and willing to sleep with mechanics to see the engines, but no one ever shamed her for it on screen.

** In other films, a woman who had sex simply wasn't allowed a happy ending (though she didn't necessarily have to die). The women of TheMalteseFalcon, for example, simply get ditched by the TrueNeutral protagonist.
* {{Bowfinger}} subverts slut-shaming.
--> '''Bowfinger:''' We're finished! It's over between us!
--> '''Daisy:''' But why?
--> '''Bowfinger:''' You slept with Jiff.
--> '''Daisy:''' So?
--> '''Bowfinger:''' You know, I never thought about it that way.
--> '''Daisy:''' So I'll see you tonight?
--> '''Bowfinger:''' What time?
* Within minutes of meeting a hostile reporter, IronMan's Tony Stark is having energetic sex with her. In the morning, Pepper Potts refers to one of her unfortunate responsibilities as "taking out the trash".
* In the StarTrek reboot, Uhura has nothing but contempt for slutty ManChild Kirk.
* WeddingCrashers follows the tail-end of the careers of a few semi-professional sluts. Any time they're exposed for what they are, they're heaped with shame for their behavior.
* Near the end of MoulinRouge, Christian, angry about being dumped by Satine, (she was trying to protect him the Duke) publically humiliates her by throwing money at her, saying "I have paid for my whore!".
* EasyA - The film is built around this trope.

--> '''Woman''': After every date, I end up in bed. I can simply refuse no man, and afterwards, I feel like a slut and an idiot.
--> '''Doctor''': Very well, I'll give you some pills, and you'll have no problem refusing...
--> '''Woman''': No, doctor, not something to be able to refuse. Give me pills so I won't feel like a slut and an idiot.

[[AC:Live Action TV]]
* BuffyTheVampireSlayer didn't have too many partners in her seven years on television. The show had a strong tendency to punish her for this, but the characters tended not to. One exception was Spike, who thoroughly humiliated her. Of course, he was a soulless, evil vampire.

---> '''Buffy:''' [crying] You must be so disappointed me.
---> '''Giles:''' No, no I'm not.
---> '''Buffy:''' This is all my fault.
---> '''Giles:''' No, I don't believe it is. Do you want me to wag my finger at you and tell you that you acted rashly? You did, and I can. I know that you loved him. And he... has proven more than once that he loved you. You couldn't have known what would happen. The coming months are going to be hard... I suspect on all of us. But... if it's guilt you're looking for, Buffy, I'm not your man. All you will get from me is my support... and my respect.

* Similar to {{Buffy}}, {{Angel}} the Series punished Cordelia for one-night stands (with two mystical pregnancies, no less). However, characters tended to be more concerned with whether or not someone was having sex with Angel and unleashing his evil alter-ego.
* As the most active member of the team, the eponymous {{Castle}} is the only one who really could be shamed, and his partner, Kate Beckett, is usually happy to do so.
* {{Chuck}}'s Sarah Walker frequently uses her body to get information, get past guards, and so on. This makes Chuck (entirely smitten) jealous and uncomfortable, and he occasionally attacks her for it.
* Subverted by {{Community}}'s Annie Edison. During the school's sexuality fair, it's revealed she's never seen a penis and everyone tries their best to make her comfortable about the word and the object, but she's proud to be uncomfortable about, thank you!
* DocMartin gives us a surprise pregnancy in the fourth season. The mother doesn't get much guff, but she does get some. The father gets none for the sex, just some for the lack of a wedding.
* The first season of {{Dollhouse}} gives us the anonymous client "Miss Lonelyheart", an octogenarian who frequently contracts the use of the doll Victor, and who is mocked by the staff of the house for it.
* DowntonAbbey's first season shows a young lady of the upper class having a disastrous one night stand ([[OutWithABang he dies in the act]]). Her mother is shocked and disgusted, and her reputation suffers immeasurably when the rumor spreads to London.

* {{Firefly}} didn't have a long run, but it had a good amount of sex. Mal shamed himself for a one night stand, and loved to shame Inara for her career. Kaylee was shown to be rather enthusiastic about spaceships, and willing to sleep with mechanics to see the engines, but no one ever shamed her for it on screen.
* HowIMetYourMother plays this straight, inverts it, and averts it.

* LawAndOrder and its spin-offs provide a realistic treatment. One of the problems the prosecutions often faces is that while they're trying the defendant, the defense is trying the victim. Once a victim is shown to have had sex with more than one person, it becomes a concern that the jury will assume she deserved murder or rape.
* MadMen, thanks to ValuesDissonance, has the DoubleStandard in full effect. The men are free to romp, so long as they're discreet, and other men don't particularly care, but if a woman steps toe over the line, she's torn apart. Peggy Olson gets it particularly bad from her family and her priest, for having a baby out of wedlock.
* {{Scrubs}} tended to treat characters badly if they had sex outside of a committed relationship. Men were ostensibly excused if it had been long enough, but they were portrayed (and treated) as somewhat pathetic.
* The MidsomerMurders episode "''A Sacred Trust''" involves some romantic liaisons, including one girl shamed for her involvement with a jock.

[[AC:Literature]]
* As punishment for having a child out of wedlock, Hester Prynne had to wear the eponymous [[TheScarletLetter Scarlet Letter]], 'A' for 'adultery'.

** The RealmOfTheElderlings features restrictive roles for women and plenty of slut-shaming.

** TheSoldierSon: The eponymous son becomes, thanks to a disease, grotesquely obese, which warrants disgust from everyone he meets, and colors their opinion of any desire he might express. His father's disgust is deepened when he believes the boy caught the disease from a prostitute (false), and he flees town ahead of a mob for supposed necrophilia (also false).
* The AubreyMaturin series plays the DoubleStandard for all its worth.

* MemorySorrowAndThorn has this in full effect. When a girl falls for a beautiful man's blandishments, she feels ashamed. When a young man she's been friends with forever finds out about it, he (still a virgin) is hurt and shames her, but eventually comes around.
* Matrim Cauthon of the WheelOfTime series is another inveterate manwhore (though the text rarely implies that he does more than kiss women, and when he does he tends to be monogamous), upon whom shame is copiously heaped, mostly by the [[TheUnfairSex women in his life]].

* In PrideAndPrejudice, Lydia's fling with Wickham almost ruins her entire family's reputation.

[[AC:Music]]

[[AC:Video Games]]
* AssassinsCreed2 provides us with an example of shaming by legislation. The extra, in-game index describes how courtesans (by that time, a word meaning, essentially, "whores") were by law more and more circumscribed and sharply defined in dress and hairstyle in an effort to eliminate their profession from polite society.
* The criminal inmates of BatmanArkhamCity are slightly misogynistic to the same degree they're also trying to slightly hurt Batman's feelings. Among other things, they think Harley and Catwoman deserve whatever they might get for the outfits they wear.

[[AC:Web Original]]
* WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaCritic and WebOriginal/TheNostalgiaChick use "slut" and "whore" freely to describe anyone they don't like, but they've both admitted to enjoying being slutty themselves.

[[AC:Webcomics]]
* Inverted in QuestionableContent, after Faye sleeps with [[spoiler:her boss's brother, Sven]]. She immediately begins to freak out, but is reassured by her therapist that she's not a slut, and that a casual sexual relationship can be healthy, and is perhaps exactly what she needs at that point.

->''What the hell is slut shaming? Slut shaming is the unfortunate phenomenon in which people degrade or mock a woman because she dresses in tight or revealing clothing, enjoys sex, has sex a lot or may even just be ''rumored'' to participate in sexual activity. The message that slut shaming sends to women is that sex is bad, having sex with more than one person is horrible, and everyone will hate you for having sex at all.''

* TheNostalgiaCritic and TheNostalgiaChick use "slut" and "whore" freely to describe anyone they don't like, but they've both admitted to enjoying being slutty themselves.

DoubleStandard, which is the other side of the shaming coin.
SexIsEvil, which informs this trope.

* Near the end of MoulinRouge, Christian, angry about being dumped by Satine, (she was trying to protect him the Duke) publically humiliates her by throwing money at her, saying "I have paid for my whore!". It's the only scene in the film NostalgiaChick didn't like. She even called it "Slut Shaming". NostalgiaCritic hated the whole thing.

* TheNostalgiaCritic and TheNostalgiaChick use "slut" and "whore" freely to describe anyone they don't like, but they've both admitted to enjoying being slutty themselves.