Your UnSlut Project

Submitted by @englishgraffiti

I live in the U.K. so we usually wear uniforms to school, but on certain days throughout the year, we are allowed to wear clothes to help charity (we bring in money, in order to wear our own clothes).

It was my second year in high school, Year 8, and I was 13. It was the first non-uniform day of the year and I was excited. My personal style had changed a lot the past year. It used to be pretty dresses and now it was more skinny jeans and crop tops. So that's what I wore. High waisted skinny jeans and a stripy, monochrome crop top. It was my favourite top at the time. I was really happy and everyone was complimenting my outfit.

It was all going well until lunch time, when a girl made a comment that has affected me up until this day. She was about 15 years old and her friends sat at the table next to ours. As I was walking past, the girl whispered something to her friends, that was just audible. "She must be the slut of her group." Then the two of them giggled. I was hurt. I didn't know them personally. They were two years older than me. Why would they say that about me? I shook it off, tried to ignore it, but it echoed in my head.

Then one of my friends said something that made the wound sting, like someone had rubbed salt in a cut. It was something like: "Why are you walking like that? It makes you look..."

"Look what?" I demanded, but she just gave me a quick "never mind," and that was that. I knew what she was implying, though.

My body type is naturally quite plump and I have big boobs and a big butt. I guess. These days, my opinions on my body change depending on my mood. Sometimes I love my body, sometimes I find it disgusting. This is probably not a healthy outlook to have on yourself. I used to walk with a lot of confidence in my step. I was extremely self-assured. After that day, I wasn't the same. I don't know if you know what she meant about my walk. But it wasn't nice.

After that day I lost a lot of the confidence I possessed. I couldn't keep friends for more than a few months and I let people walk all over me. I had a yo-yo diet. I either ate way too much, or nothing at all. It got to a point where now my family checks my food account at school to make sure I'm eating.I wore jeans and loose fitting tops on the rest of the non-uniform days.

I looked in the mirror and I didn't know who I was, because I no longer had a personality. It would change, depending on who my friends were at the time. It's funny how those two insignificant comments that day affected me to the point where I wasted a whole year of my life hating myself and pretending to be someone else.

It's okay now. Better. I still have days where I beat myself up and call myself a slut. That day was not the last time people called me a slut or a whore, etc. There have been many incidents. I won't go into them. I'm not bullied or anything, but I know a lot of people have said things about me, my body and the way I dress.

"Slut" shaming is something that should never happen to anyone. Not to some 13-year-old school girl who just wanted to wear her favourite outfit on non-uniform day. Not to a 30-year-old businesswoman who likes to party at the weekend. Not to anybody. It affects someone more than it should. Look at me. All it took was two stupid little comments to ruin me. Two stupid little comments that shouldn't matter. But they did.

To learn more about The UnSlut Project, watch the short video below: