Men who rape, abuse or sleep with women do so freely and with gusto, but nearly always blame the woman - 'she was asking for it'.
But saying 'she was asking for it’ is too long and involves too many complications. What was she asking for precisely and why were you so eager to give?
So such men find it best to keep it short. Basically they need one word with a lot of subtext. Enter 'slut'. According to the dictionary it means a 'dirty woman'.
There is no equivalent word in everyday usage that similarly brands a man. His sexual acts are assumed to be always as clean as angels. A man can be a rapist only IF he is one of the rare few whose crime was both reported and punished by a court of law.
Image: Participants prepare to march for "SlutWalk" in Sydney on June 13, 2011
Text: Vinayak Hegde
Images: AP/AFP
