The Biggest Crime a Woman Can Make in Society

Okay so I recently read The Scarlet Letter, which we all have heard of or at least read in a English high school or college class or like me, did it on our own free time. I’ve finally picked up the book one day and felt like I should just sit down and finally read it since it’s considered such a good book in our culture. So finally after reading this, I started to wonder if the plot of this story is dangerously similar to today’s society when it comes to sexuality and immorality.

Now we all know the plot of the The Scarlet Letter (even if you never even picked up the book, you’ve probably heard about the plot before). We all know that the story begins with the main character, Hester Pynne, who has an affair and has a child due to that affair. And throughout the book, we see how she has to wear the letter A is a badge of shame and how she deals with the town’s scorn and hatred towards her. The reason it made me think about today’s society is that even we eventually learn that Hester Prynne is a good person, people looked at her as an adulterer before hand. So I decided to go to Yahoo! Answers and I pretty much described an imaginary woman that would seem a lot and this was what my question was:

“Say you met a girl who had the reputation of being a promiscuous girl. And say she owned up to her promiscuity. But at the same time she was a good hearted person and was always kind to people and was the type of girl to help out. Would you still judge her for her promiscuous behavior or would you overlook it?”

Here are just some of the responses I received:

“A whore is always goin to be judged. I don’t care how nice you are. To be honest everyone is judged. But people always talk about the bad and ignore the good so yes she will still be judged for her promiscuity.”

Now this person does have somewhat of a point. In society, we always are first to look at the bad and not the good in people. It’s just easier to do that. But the question I had was why are you going to be judged for something as trivial as who you had sex with? Why does it matter who you’ve been in bed with? It’s your life and your business. I would think that the positive attitude you bring into the world is more important than your sex life.

“Well she would be a h0 but a good hearted h0…Your actions have consequences and people will judge you for them”

So this comment was very similar to the last comment and something I always wanted to know if why should your sexual actions have consequences? It would be one thing if you were talking about STI’s and unwanted pregnancies but usually consequences is code for, “If you’re a whore, people will not like you or respect you.” Why is it in our society, we feel like we have the right to punish someone for what they do in their personal sex life? Why are some people so self rightous?

“I wouldn’t judge her however I’d never have a relationship with her that went beyond friendship.”

This response is pretty self explanatory. Women who are “tainted” aren’t worth dating because we all know the old saying, “Can’t turn a hoe into a housewife.” This is 2011 and women are still being seen as not datable due to who they’ve been with. But I’m pretty sure a man sleeping around will have no problem finding a companion.

“she is a slut, BUT “she was a good hearted person and was always kind to people and was the type of girl to help out.” That is hilarious. Yea, seems she is too helpful (oh you need sex, here use me lol). The type of girl you help out: yes, let me bend you over and “help” you lol.

From your words, she sounds like not only a slut, but a dumb and desperate one as well. Air-headed sluts are like rental cars, anyone can drive them, ride them hard, put lots of miles on them, and walk away. Sure, if you absolutely have no other way of transportation, you might use one, but you certainly don’t buy one. But in today’s age of STDs, most men won’t even take the risk of using them (not even with a condom).”

That’s just nice. Comparing a woman to a car. This response alone needs no explanation I believe.

“Who ever promiscuous needs professional help. :)”

This response here was self explanatory. It’s 2011 and to this day it still seems taboo for women (and it seems to this commentor, men too) to be sexual people. If we admit to loving sex or admit to having a few partners, she or he is now just crazy and needs to see a psychiatrist. That is sadly still a thought process today.

But not all responses were bad. Here were a couple that were positive:

“if i had just met her i would judge her by the way she acted towards me and others not by what she did but by who she is on the inside…”it’s what’s inside that counts””

“You can never judge a person on their past. It’s important to accept people at face value. If, as you said, she’s a nice girl, some casual sex in her past ultimately doesn’t matter…”

So there were are people who think more progressively and believe that no one should be judged for their personal sex life but we still have some ways to go before people can stop making fast judgments and start actually accepting people for their personalities and their intentions.