If dictionaries define slut or slutty as ones’ act and not ones wear would you agree or amend your thinking on who is a slut, or dresses slutty?

I’ve been called a slut when I was younger, because of my actions and because of what I was wearing.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder ;)

Advertising T & A, with bling. As if you were wearing neon that advertised “Check out these knockers!!!” or “Free beaver shot when I walk. Watch carefully!”

I see young women show up for work squeezed into t-shirts that are 3 sizes too small, wearing skirts that don’t cover their backsides, with extremely high heeled shoes.

Fine if you’re headed out for a night at a strip club, not fine for work or dinner in a nice restaurant. If you’re not selling, don’t advertise.

I agree and I also agree with @BarnacleBill “If you’re not selling, don’t advertise.”

But you surely can know if one’s a slut by the way she dresses.
There’s no slut wearing a long robe to cover all her body when she’s at a street corner to look for something… you get the picture.

Then there’s the sluts who are acting that way because they have issues with themselves or with others around and they either want to get noticed or they want to be different that way.

In any case it’s hard to explain.

I suspect I’m going to be getting on my feminist soapbox very soon.

My definition of the word slut is a woman who embraces her sexual freedom, but I would never use it to describe a woman who hadn’t used it to describe herself first. That’s my approach to the word, and since it carries so many varying connotations I don’t think any dictionary definition is going to change that.

The link between ‘promiscuous’ attire and actual promiscuity is fragile. @BarnacleBill @Cruiser Are you guys serious? “If you’re not selling, don’t advertise.” I acknowledge that there are expected standards of dress for different occasions, but that statement is really offensive. It objectifies women and suggests not only that they all dress just to attract men, but also that a woman who wears tight or revealing clothing is ‘asking for it’.

I don’t use the word slut, it carries way too much judgment for me. It smacks of a double standard, the male equivalent is “stud”.

The term is a noun of behavior, not of style. “Slutty” is an adjectival version of the noun.

The word does not come to mind when I see women dressed provocatively. When someone uses the word around me I don’t think of it as a descriptor of sexual activity as much as a descriptor of someone who has sex indiscriminately.

@iphigeneia I will add here my thought process to my answer. IMO there is a big difference to looking good as in sharply dressed well coiffed etc. and dressed to advertise in “slutty” attire. Even if a woman wears plunging necklines, makeup, jewelry, short skirt and high heels…she is dressed to look and feel sexy and quite often is done to please her man. IMO nothing wrong there at all as I like it when my lady dresses to look and feel sexy. But there is, again IMO, a line that gets crossed that screams “slut” and I have seen this first hand many times over where a woman is overtly dressed for one reason and one reason only and that is to advertise to bag a man for a roll in the hay.

I don’t care whether it’s dress or actions – it’s a subjective term that has no actual definition since people’s concepts of what’s ‘random sex w/many people’ or ‘slutty clothing’ vary as much as our DNA varies. I hate when people use the term, hate it.

I would amend my grammar, and say that they dress sluttily. However, sluttish words aren’t really in my main vocabulary, and I prefer to misuse promiscuous and say permisskiterry. People tend to use the term slut as a slur, so when I opine as such, I’m usually intending to inflict harm on their character or feelings.

There are places for promiscuous attire and to express your sexuality. Work, school and white tablecloth restaurants aren’t among them. Any place where it’s not appropriate to ask someone about their sexual proclivities is not appropriate to advertise your body.

If you would be horrified to find that while you’re standing at the copier your boss is snickering to a coworker about being able to see your black thong underwear through your white skirt, you should be mindful about exactly what image you’re portraying.

A slut is someone who dreses like a slut to me. Someone who dresses like a slut/slutty is someone who wears tons of makeup and short shorts. Thats the simplest way to put it.

“Slut” is quiet a vulgar word to throw around. Honestly, no one deserves to be given that title unless he/she has earned.

I’ve had friends who were abstinent and also virgins, but they were labeled “sluts” because of how they dressed. It didn’t make much sense to me.

I’ve also noticed that women to tend to have many male friends (who are really just friends), are also called “sluts”. That don’t make much sense either.

I believe a slut is a person who has sex with many people, without having any real connection to these people they sleep with. I’d say that the term “promiscuous” and “slut” are somewhat synonymous, but that is only my opinion…

Let see if I can follow the logic so far.

From many of the response so far, a gal who is dressed in an over-sized jersey top and baggy sweats would not or cannot be a slut even if she is the neighborhood bicycle (everyone gets a ride). Show up at her house with some chips and a Pepsi, a little chitchat, and under 12 minutes the bloke is naked with her in the bed boinking like bunnies. Even if this repeats scenario repeats itself an average six times a week she is no slut because she don’t dress in heels booty shorts, or low cut tops.

However, if she had an older sister who wore booty shorts, minis (commando even), halter and spaghetti tops, never wears a bra, never let a guy get past first base, never on second unless he put in 14 months of more of dedicated courting, and she was still a virgin; she is a slut or slutty because of the way she dress, and that people see her as ultra sexy?

Is that about right?

First of all, words pretty much mean what I want them to mean, within reason. So I don’t care about any definition in the dictionary. What really matters is what I think I mean and what you think I mean when I say those words or any others.

Second of all, slut can be used in both positive and negative ways. In the bedroom, I want my wife to be slutty. I want her to want me. Acting like a slut is acting like you want to get naked with me. It has nothing to do with anything that happens outside of our relationship—in public space.

Slutty is also a way of describing a way of dressing that is primarily designed to attract prurient attention. Sometimes people dressed that way also want sexual attention, and they don’t require knowing the person in order to be willing to fuck them.

I would never judge anyone who behaved this way, male or female, because I know where this impulse comes from, and it is not a pretty place. We all want love, I think, but far too many of us have no idea what love is, and maybe don’t believe in it. All that is left for them, in many cases, is sex. New partner after new partner, in an attempt to make themselves feel desired.

They know they are undesirable for any personal characteristics, so all that leaves is their bodies. It is a sad thing, and it is no wonder that a lot of hooking up takes place in bars, where people are numbing themselves to pain that leads them to almost random hook-ups in the first place. Looking slutty just helps them get what they want, or so they believe.