Spring 2012 - Clarion University

Dear Dr. Phillips:
Ask DR. phiLLips!
A couple days ago, my girl caught me doing the pink flamingo (you know, sexy stuff) with another woman. I admit that it was
the third time—and the third woman—I got caught with this month. And I even admit that I feel kinda bad about that (you
know, getting caught and all). But then my woman goes and screams at me something that I just didn’t get. She called
me a !@&% male-slut!! I was like what the !@&% is a male-slut, but she just set my couch on fire and ran off and I never got a
good response. So, I thought I would ask you since you are so smart and stuff. What the !@&% is a male-slut!!
— Buck from Bucks County, PA.
Dear Buck:
First off—great name! Secondly, you wrote to the right person: If there is anything we philosophers
understand, it is the meaning of words. And, let me tell you, your girlfriend’s attempt to verbally disparage you is
completely non-sensical. The use of the word ‘male-slut’ makes no more sense than other synonymous hyphenated
words like ‘whore-dog’ and ‘whore-hound.’ To show you why, let’s philosophically analyze the meaning of ‘male-slut.’
Obviously, the word ‘male’ just modifies the word ‘slut.’ So, your girlfriend is suggesting that you are a slut
that also happens to be male (genus and differentia). But given that we know what a man is, what is a slut Now
some academics would flip to the OED [Oxford English Dictionary] for an initial definition, but I prefer to use the ORL
[Ole Rush Limbaugh] whenever I can: it is larger, louder, and less work. According to Rush, a ‘slut’ is a woman that
likes to have sex a lot. Sad, but pretty straightforward, right As a side note, Rush suggests that sluts are similar to
prostitutes, as prostitutes are women who want to be paid for the enormous amount of sex they have. Therefore,
it is quite clear from the ORL that a slut absolutely has to be a woman. I mean, can you even imagine a slut that
is not a woman I didn’t think so! Therefore, by labeling you a ‘male-slut’ your girlfriend is accusing you of being
a man who is also a woman, and that just doesn’t make sense does it She might as well have just called you a
square-circle or a female U.S. Senator. These things just don’t exist!
Clearly your girlfriend just didn’t like you having your fun, so she wanted to use a made-up word to make
you feel like less of a person. What she didn’t realize was that words are the mechanisms by which we describe,
understand and value our mutual reality. By creating a word like ‘male-slut’ she was implying something not just
about you, but about all men—namely, that any of us might act like an over-sexed women. Is it fair to smear
an entire gender Of course, not. What you need to do is to take back reality. You could either try to rid
the world of the word ‘slut,’ that has some admittedly negative connotations for women, but that would be so
hard. Alternatively, you could just replace your girlfriend’s negative word for you with something more positive. I
asked around and was told that the word ‘player’ might be appropriate, or ‘playa’ as it is sometimes spelled. So
remember, Buck! You are not a male-slut! You are a playa. And everyone loves a ‘player!’ Except your girlfriend,
of course: she’s a real playa-hata.
Jamie Phillips, Ph.D.
Philosophy and WGS Advisory Council
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