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Heard this on NPR last night on the commute home. The piece is a powerful and very coherent analogy relating modern "slut shaming" to the classic The Scarlet L

by tankbot 14y ago

Heard this on NPR last night on the commute home. The piece is a powerful and very coherent analogy relating modern "slut shaming" to the classic The Scarlet Letter. It's heartbreaking to hear about kids making bad decisions in an effort to fit in, but it's even worse to think that these mistakes can follow them forever due to the nature of digital content. I couldn't believe how cruel even the girls were to young women that were victimized. Some of them were quoted as saying it wasn't even the guys' fault, that we can't help it. That's so offensive to me on so many levels.

pdonis 14y ago
The piece is a powerful and very coherent analogy relating modern "slut shaming" to the classic The Scarlet Letter. I'm not sure this comparison holds. AFAIK the girl in question in this case was not cheating on anyone; she simply made a bad choice of which boy to have sex with. Hester Prynne committed adultery (and with a minister to boot), and it was the adultery that got her the scarlet letter. Not at all the same thing.
- tankbot 14y ago
  Wow, I really want to ad hom here because you obviously didn't read the article or listen to the original (and excellent) WNYC Radio Rookie piece, but I'll resist. This isn't about a girl or a case. It's about many girls (and boys) and how public "slut shaming" in the modern age affects their lives. Yes, Hester was forced to wear a scarlet "A" as her public shaming. But in today's world the scarlet letter is a digital record that follows you, potentially for the rest of your life because of a bad choice as a teenager. Can you now understand Temitayo Fagbenle's allusion?
  - pdonis 14y ago
    Ok, s/girl/girls/ and s/case/cases/ in my post. How does that change the point? AFAIK, all of the girls involved did not cheat on anyone. Hester Prynne did. My point is that the "scarlet letter" analogy is unfair to the girls, because it implies that they have done something worse than just make a bad choice of who to trust.
    - tankbot 14y ago
      They're both about public shaming for sex acts.
      - pdonis 14y ago
        Yes, I understand the obvious comparison. I'm trying to point out that the obvious comparison has flaws that, IMO, bear some thinking about.

by tankbot 14y ago

pdonis 14y ago

The piece is a powerful and very coherent analogy relating modern "slut shaming" to the classic The Scarlet Letter. I'm not sure this comparison holds. AFAIK the girl in question in this case was not cheating on anyone; she simply made a bad choice of which boy to have sex with. Hester Prynne committed adultery (and with a minister to boot), and it was the adultery that got her the scarlet letter. Not at all the same thing.

tankbot 14y ago
Wow, I really want to ad hom here because you obviously didn't read the article or listen to the original (and excellent) WNYC Radio Rookie piece, but I'll resist. This isn't about a girl or a case. It's about many girls (and boys) and how public "slut shaming" in the modern age affects their lives. Yes, Hester was forced to wear a scarlet "A" as her public shaming. But in today's world the scarlet letter is a digital record that follows you, potentially for the rest of your life because of a bad choice as a teenager. Can you now understand Temitayo Fagbenle's allusion?
- pdonis 14y ago
  Ok, s/girl/girls/ and s/case/cases/ in my post. How does that change the point? AFAIK, all of the girls involved did not cheat on anyone. Hester Prynne did. My point is that the "scarlet letter" analogy is unfair to the girls, because it implies that they have done something worse than just make a bad choice of who to trust.
  - tankbot 14y ago
    They're both about public shaming for sex acts.
    - pdonis 14y ago
      Yes, I understand the obvious comparison. I'm trying to point out that the obvious comparison has flaws that, IMO, bear some thinking about.