Hot and Bothered
There Is No Such Thing as a Slut
There is no such thing as a slut.
In my past articles, I’ve argued the points that get me hot and bothered extensively. I’m still going to do that here, but I don’t want the very simple, unquestionable message of this piece to get lost, so let me just reiterate: there is absolutely, unquestionably, standing-on-a-rooftop-shouting-it-through-a-megaphone definitely no such thing as a slut. And it’s time we let “slut-shaming” fade from our society’s mind: There are no sluts to shame—there are only people.
Good Cop, Bad Cop
My father, a sergeant of the South Hadley, Massachusetts police department and a 32-year veteran of the force, is a good man. He is strong-hearted, brave, and unyielding in his passion for public service. He has, for the last 21 years, set an example for the kindness and conviction with which I try to conduct my life.
He is not alone on my family tree in his career credentials. My aunt and grandfather—his sister and father—are veterans of the South Hadley police department as well, and my uncle and cousin—his brother and niece—are officers with the University of Massachusetts Police Department. Another of my cousins is a police officer in Easthampton, Mass., and at least two more, including my own brother, work as part-time officers in South Hadley.
The “Some” of Its Parts
A little under a year ago, a mass of drunken undergraduates and I, with more reading period burdens on our shoulders than clothes on our backs, gathered in Harvard Yard for the notorious, biannual Primal Scream to commemorate the start of final exams. We were joined on this freezing, rainy night by a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters carrying signs and chanting words that I no longer recall. The protesters called for a period of silence just prior to the start of the Scream to honor the death of Michael Brown, a call that went unanswered as the clock struck midnight and the runners, in lieu of stampeding over the protesters standing in the path of the usual counterclockwise lap around the Yard, turned to run unhindered in the opposite direction.
In the hours and days following, sentiments were expressed interpersonally and over social media about the insensitive nature of the Screamers who collectively chose to run instead of agreeing to the moment of silence. Specifically, the image of the white runners evading and thus delegitimizing the black protesters’ cause was at the forefront of the scrutiny. The white students involved were called out as a whole for their inaction.
A Hot and Bothered Letter
Dear XYZ,
I was eating dinner alone in Leverett dining hall the other night. Uninteresting meal. Uninteresting evening. I was minding my business, humming to myself, enjoying a brief break from emails, texts, and conversations.
The Misconception of Political Correctness
“The Republican Party’s typical position is to preemptively surrender whenever liberals start yelling, ‘Oh that’s mean. You can’t use that word.’ ‘Oh, I did not realize that the New York Times made a finding that the term... is offensive. Henceforth I shall not use it.’ Well... now Americans are finding out... the policies of these speech Nazis.”
Nothing like a grossly offensive quote by Ann Coulter to get you hot and bothered.