This was not because of any miscarriage of justice. The case should probably never have come to court as the circumstances were so ambiguous. What was painful was the vision of a girl sobbing in court as witnesses shamed her with one sexist cliche after another.
Witnesses described her as a 'slag' and a 'slut'. She dressed 'tartily'. She had even once won the joke title 'Slut of the Year'. The newspapers had an orgy with these insults, weaving them into their own accounts of her s exploits. None dwelt on the fact that earlier this year the girl had written a three-page refutation of her reputation as a slut, and pinned it to her door. Jane Mills, author of Woman Words a book about the origins and values of words relating to women , saw the coverage of last week's trial and says her heart sank.
But now the words are back in currency as if they were descriptions. There's nothing descriptive about 'slag' and 'slut'. They belong to a value system in which an actively sexual woman is seen as being disgusting.
The term acquired its negative sexual sense of 'a promiscuous woman' in the late 15th century. From then on it was often interchanged with 'bold' and 'impudent' girls, that is, girls not controlled by men.
By the 20th century 'slut' was a widespread term of abuse in Britain. It refers to lifestyle as well as sex. Girls get called sluts if they let the roots of their dyed hair show. Parents call little girls sluts for leaving their knickers on the floor. In the late Sixties Germaine Greer tried to reclaim the image of the bold and impudent girl, something she probably prefers to forget given her current chaste and peevish persona. Then, however, she posed for a 'beaver shot' in an underground magazine.
