Reader “Don” had this to say in response to our post “How Many Partners Officially Makes You a Slut?” While we can see the benefits of reclaiming the word and wearing it as a badge of honor, we also appreciate, like Don, the importance of not using it any self-denigrating way, however subtly:

Once, a close friend described herself as a slut. I got angry with her. The word has such negative connotations that simply do not apply to her, now or in the past. She was a wonderful woman that had a lot of love to give. The fact that she saw having sex with men when not in a romantic liaison as something that was wrong […was, well, wrong]. I asked her, when she slept with [these men], did she feel nothing for her partners in the moment? She answered, except for a couple, [that] she always felt connected in the moment. There you go! (Just so you know I never slept with her.)

A closer look at slut-shaming:
In Defense of the Slut