What is slut shaming?

Slut shaming is the practice of criticizing or degrading someone, usually a woman, for their sexual behavior, appearance, or perceived promiscuity. It includes memes, social media posts, and in-person bullying that stigmatize women for how they dress or who they date.

Where did slut shaming come from?

The behavior has existed for centuries, but the term was popularized online starting around 2006 on feminist blogs. It entered mainstream internet culture through the SlutWalk protests of 2011 and the "Hey Girls, Did You Know?" meme in 2012.

What does slut shaming mean?

It means stigmatizing an individual based on appearance, sexual availability, or actual or perceived sexual behavior, primarily targeting women and girls. It operates within a double standard where female sexuality is policed more strictly than male sexuality.

How do you use slut-shaming memes?

The most common format involves a selfie-style photo with overlay text offering condescending "advice" about clothing or behavior. Counter-memes use the same template to deliver empowering or satirical messages instead.

Is slut shaming still popular?

The specific "Hey Girls, Did You Know?" meme format peaked in 2012-2013, but slut-shaming discourse and counter-memes remain part of broader online conversations about feminism and cyberbullying.

What was the "Hey Girls, Did You Know?" meme?

A Tumblr meme started in June 2012 by user officialsabrina_xo, featuring a selfie with text saying "Girls, did you know, that uhm, your boobs go inside your shirt?" It spawned thousands of copies and a Facebook page with nearly 37,000 likes.

SlutWalk is an international protest movement started in Toronto in April 2011 after a police officer told law students that women should "avoid dressing like sluts" to prevent sexual assault. Marches have been held in dozens of countries.

Why was the SlutWalk controversial?

While widely supported, the movement faced criticism from Black Women's Blueprint, who argued that Black women could not reclaim the word "slut" without reinforcing historical stereotypes about Black female sexuality.

Who started the first SlutWalk?

Sonya Barnett and Heather Jarvis co-founded the movement in Toronto, along with Jeanette Janzen, Alyssa Teekah, and Erika Jane Scholz.

Does slut shaming affect mental health?

Yes. Research published in 2021 found measurable impacts on physical and psychological well-being of adolescent girls, linking it to depression, low self-esteem, and broader patterns of gender-based victimization.

Is slut shaming only directed at women?

While the practice disproportionately targets women and girls, research shows both men and women engage in slut shaming, and the term has been applied to men in some contexts. However, the cultural impact differs significantly due to the sexual double standard.

Slut Shaming

2006Image macro / social concept / meme seriessemi-active

Published March 24, 2026

Also known as: Slut-bashing · slut-bashing memes

Slut shaming is an internet-era term for the practice of criticizing or degrading people, primarily women, for their sexual behavior, appearance, or perceived promiscuity. While the behavior predates the internet, the term gained traction online in the mid-2000s and exploded into meme culture by 2012 with formats like the "Hey Girls, Did You Know?" image macros on Tumblr and Facebook13. The concept sits at the intersection of meme culture, feminism, and cyberbullying, spawning both memes that perpetuate shaming and counter-memes that mock it.

slut shaming memes gender stereotype memes feminism memes image macro memes culture war memes

Overview

Slut shaming refers to stigmatizing someone based on their appearance, sexual availability, or perceived sexual behavior4. Online, it takes the form of memes, image macros, and social media posts that mock or criticize women for how they dress, how much makeup they wear, or how many sexual partners they've had. The term covers both the act itself and the memes created to either perpetuate or critique it8.

The most recognizable meme format is the "Hey Girls, Did You Know?" template, where a girl poses with text offering condescending "advice" to other girls about their clothing or behavior3. A parallel format compares modest vintage photos of grandmothers with modern Instagram selfies, implying women today lack respectability2. Both formats drew significant pushback, with counter-memes and parodies often going more viral than the originals13.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

WordPress blogs (term), Tumblr (meme format)

Key People

Alon Levy, officialsabrina_xo, Sonya Barnett and Heather Jarvis

Date

2006 (term popularized online), 2012 (meme format breakout)

The earliest known online usage of "slut-shaming" as a named concept appeared on blogs in 2006. Blogger Alon Levy published a post on Abstract Nonsense in November 2006 arguing that the word "slut" carries built-in negative connotations and that "slut-shaming isn't about the use of the word, but about the implication that if a woman has sex that traditional society disapproves of, she should feel guilty and inferior"6. By 2008, the term appeared in feminist blog discussions, including a Feminocracy post about singer Jordin Sparks saying anyone without a purity ring was "a slut"11.

The concept got its first formal blog-style definition in April 2010 on Finally, A Feminism 101 Blog, which defined it as "shaming and/or attacking a woman or a girl for being sexual, having one or more sexual partners, acknowledging sexual feelings, and/or acting on sexual feelings"8. This definition drew from linguistic research showing English has roughly 220 words for a sexually promiscuous woman but only 20 for a sexually promiscuous man8.

The meme format that brought slut shaming into mainstream internet discourse arrived in June 2012. On June 18, Tumblr user officialsabrina_xo uploaded a photo of herself with the caption "Girls, did you know, that uhm, your boobs go inside your shirt?"3. The image was quickly deleted, but not before it had been screenshotted and reblogged across the platform12.

How It Spread

### The SlutWalk Movement (2011)

Before slut shaming became a meme template, it became a protest movement. On January 24, 2011, Toronto police Constable Michael Sanguinetti told law students at York University that "women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised"15. In response, Sonya Barnett and Heather Jarvis organized the first SlutWalk on April 3, 2011, marching from Queen's Park to Toronto Police headquarters15. By June 2011, SlutWalks had spread to cities worldwide including Los Angeles, London, Melbourne, and New York9 7 10 16.

The London SlutWalk drew up to 5,000 participants, with chants of "blame the rapist not the victim, doesn't matter what I'm dressed in"7. In Melbourne, around 3,000 marched, organized by a 17-year-old named Anastasia Richardson10. The New York City SlutWalk in October 2011 filled Union Square, though it also drew criticism from Black Women's Blueprint, who wrote in an open letter that Black women "do not have the privilege or the space to call ourselves 'slut' without validating the already historically entrenched ideology" about Black female sexuality16.

### The "Hey Girls, Did You Know?" Meme (2012-2013)

After officialsabrina_xo's original post went viral in June 2012, a Facebook page called "Hey Girls, Did You Know?" launched within a week3. By January 2013, the page had nearly 37,000 likes12. Posts ranged from the original body-policing tone ("Hey girls, uhm did you know – open books, NOT legs?") to variations about makeup and deodorant use3. One post telling girls to use deodorant was shared 33 times and liked by 1,335 people on December 2, 201214.

BuzzFeed covered the trend as "Girl-On-Girl Crime," noting that what made the meme distinctive was that it was "started and largely perpetrated by girls themselves"13. The New York Daily News reported on the "alarming trend" in January 2013, quoting internet privacy lawyer Parry Aftab warning that "free speech has its limits" and that public shaming could cross legal lines12.

### The "Dear Girls" Precursor (2011)

A related format preceded "Hey Girls" by about a year. In 2011, male model Cole Mohr posed with a sign reading "Dear Girls: DON'T BE INSECURE / You don't need make-up & nice clothes / you're all f** beautiful"13. Tumblr user einsteinonacid responded with a parody photo reading "Dear boy in outer space: Don't tell me what to do," which picked up over 150,000 notes in two months13. The "Dear Girls" format was criticized by bloggers as concern-trolling disguised as compliments, and it faded by summer 2012 as "Hey Girls" took its place13.

### The "Grandma" Comparison Format

Another slut-shaming meme format placed a modestly dressed woman from the early 1900s beside a modern Instagram selfie, captioned with variations of "pics of your grandma in 2016 vs. what your grandkids will find in 70 years"2. This format was memorably debunked by Tumblr user gallusrostromegalus, who shared the story of their great-great-grandmother's nude photographs from the 1890s, proving that earlier generations were not as buttoned-up as the meme implied2. The response went viral on Bored Panda.

### Sweden Instagram Riot (2012)

In December 2012, Swedish high school students staged a riot after a photo was posted on Instagram requesting that all "sluts" be identified. Around 200 pictures were posted, mostly of 13-year-old girls. Students in Gothenburg took to the streets in protest, resulting in 27 arrests3 14.

How to Use This Meme

Slut-shaming memes typically follow one of a few templates:

"Hey Girls, Did You Know?" format: A selfie-style photo of a girl with overlay text offering sarcastic "advice" about clothing, body presentation, or behavior. Common phrasings include "Girls, did you know that uhm..." followed by a condescending instruction3.

Vintage comparison format: A side-by-side placing a black-and-white photo of a modestly dressed woman next to a modern selfie or Instagram photo, with captions implying moral decline2.

Counter-memes: Parody versions of the above formats that flip the message. These use the same visual template but replace the shaming text with empowering or absurdist alternatives ("Hey girls, did you know that uhmm... Your boobs... can go wherever they want... because it's your body")12.

The counter-meme responses tend to outperform the originals in engagement, suggesting the format works better as satire than as sincere policing13.

Cultural Impact

The slut-shaming discussion crossed from meme culture into academia and public policy. A 2021 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that 18.7% of young people had been called a "slut" on social networks in a six-month period, with 21% of girls under 14 affected4. The same study confirmed measurable impacts on physical and psychological well-being, linking online slut shaming to broader patterns of sexist victimization4.

EBSCO Research noted that feminist scholars view slut shaming as part of a "transitional double standard" where "men are allowed to engage in coitus for any reason" while women face judgment unless they are "in love or engaged"5. A 2011 American Association of University Women survey found 46% of middle and high school girls had experienced unsolicited sexual comments at least once, while a 2018 National Sexual Violence Resource Center study put the figure at 56% for girls in grades 7-125.

The SlutWalk movement, which grew directly from the discourse, became an annual international event held across the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, Germany, South Africa, India, and the Middle East5 9. The movement intersected with debates about rape culture, victim-blaming, and school dress codes that disproportionately police girls' clothing5.

A slut-shaming meme shared during Pride Month 2016 drew widespread backlash online, covered by Out Magazine's digital platform1.

Fun Facts

Linguist research cited by feminist bloggers found roughly 220 English words for a sexually promiscuous woman versus only 20 for a sexually promiscuous man. The male terms ("Casanova," "Romeo," "Lothario") tend to carry positive connotations of conquest, while female terms ("trollop," "hussy," "slag") are uniformly negative8.

The word "slut" originally had nothing to do with sex. Feminist author Leslie Cannold told a Melbourne SlutWalk crowd that it derived from the Middle Ages10.

The original "Hey Girls, Did You Know?" image was deleted by its creator almost immediately after posting, but Tumblr's reblog system had already spread it beyond recovery12.

Two lone Christian protesters at Melbourne's SlutWalk held signs reading "Rape is horrifying but so is immodesty," making them arguably the city's least popular people that afternoon10.

At the NYC SlutWalk, one male participant carried a sign reading "I was wearing PANTS the night it happened," drawing attention to male sexual assault survivors16.

Derivatives & Variations

"Hey Girls, Did You Know?" parodies

— Counter-memes using the same format to deliver feminist or absurdist messages, often featuring SpongeBob SquarePants or cats instead of selfies[13].

"Dear Girls" / "Dear Boy in Outer Space"

— The Cole Mohr photo and its feminist rebuttals, which accumulated over 150,000 Tumblr notes[13].

Grandma comparison debunks

— Tumblr posts sharing historical evidence of ancestors' sexual openness to counter the "modest grandma" narrative[2].

SlutWalk signage memes

— Protest signs from SlutWalk events that circulated as standalone images, including phrases like "cleavage is not consent" and "my dress is not a yes"[7].