Your UnSlut Project

Submitted by @angrybirds4819

I can be glad to say I’ve never been a victim of slut-shaming. Normal bullying, sure, but never slut-shaming. But this particular story isn’t focused on me; it’s focused on a friend of mine who is currently battling depression.

My friend, we’ll call her Vivian, was in one of those communities where all the parents are friends and all the kids grew up together from preschool. Vivian had a best friend called Georgia and they were buddies since they were 8 months. Both of them stayed in a friendship group with people they can connect and stay loyal with.

In the group there was Lydia (she is now best friends with Vivian), Georgia, Michael, and Stephanie. Basically, nothing really erupted from their group, no drama. They all liked to keep away from others and stay within themselves.

High school started in Year 7 (Australian Curriculum), and differences started to appear. I started the year halfway through. There were some conflicts between Georgia and Vivian.

Michael decided to ditch the others and hang out with kids older than him. More people started to join the group. Michael used to join rarely, and left the original friends confused.

The people Michael hung out with during breaks were the ones who took drugs and acted “cool”. Their behaviour rubbed off on him. He got mad easily, punched the girls, and it was also affecting his grades. His language became explicit for his age and he often talked about sexual intercourse and such.

In a few months, he was a train wreck. He admitted to liking Georgia in a more-than-a-friend way. No one knew about Vivian’s secret crush on him and even though it hurt her, she let them two date. They dated for a while and then broke up due to Georgia’s mum not accepting the relationship.

Michael moved on quickly, and soon asked Vivian out. She knew that Georgia really liked him, so she rejected his offer. Michael’s behaviour turned back to normal and he hung out with the group again.

Even though Vivian rejected Michael, she still gave off signs that she did like him. She used to blush every time he’d talk to her. She used to wait for him at lunch breaks and save him a seat.

Georgia took notice of that and became jealous. She couldn’t control her jealousy so one day, she shouted, “Vivian gave Michael a blow job!”

That’s when the slut-shaming started.

They accused her of hooking up with random guys at parties thrown for the seniors. They made websites about her and took pictures of her and photo shopped them. Everyone in the grade knew her as a slut.

She fell into depression. Her mum started treating her bad. She started hitting her. Vivian started to cut.

Ever since she’s told me about her story, I’ve done all I can to help her. The slut-shaming stopped. I confronted one of the boys who started rumours.

She’s in a better condition but she still faces her problems at home.

I really don’t know what to say about slut-shaming. I feel as though all the entries have a message in them.

Labeling people as a slut is not funny. No one deserves to be called that. Not even the people who sleep around a lot. Who are you to judge someone’s sex life?