So let me tell you something, world. I am not a slut, and not because of what I wear or whether or not I have sex. I’m not a slut because I refuse to be punished by society for failing to behave the way you want me to. I am not a slut because men and women should be held by the same standards, especially when it comes to sex. What I am is a person and a woman. My defining quality is not how I dress or behave sexually. It is my mind and how I use it, even if I use it to decide to sleep with someone.
Victorian society held a double standard for men and women. While it was unthinkable that a woman would have any sexual thoughts, it was understood that a man did. Although he was expected to control these urges the best he could, the man was allowed some latitude. Theoretically, he was expected to remain faithful to his wife, but if he occasionally visited a prostitute to “relieve himself of evils,” his wife was expected to overlook this and welcome him back.