In his Oct. 10 Saturday Night Live (SNL) monologue, American comedian Shane Gillis joked that women at the gym dress like “whores” these days. The backlash was swift and widespread, in the news and across social media. Critics zeroed in on the sexualization of women who are simply trying to exercise without being harassed or judged.
While that’s fair, much of the criticism overlooked another problem. The objections often came down to this: these women aren’t sex workers, so they shouldn’t be called “whores.” That response leaves the insult itself intact, along with the assumption that being compared to a sex worker is degrading.
However well-intentioned, Canadian actor Dan Levy, for example, argued on Instagram only that wearing short shorts to the gym doesn’t make women “whores,” it makes the men calling them that misogynists.
The normalization of stigma toward sex workers runs deep. Everyday language, media coverage and public conversations all contribute to stigmatizing attitudes toward sex workers and to social norms that can fuel discrimination and exclusion. When we object to women being called “whores,” we can unintentionally reinforce the idea that being compared to a sex worker is an insult.
Gillis also joked about looking lesbian and gay, adding homophobia to the mix. Sex work stigma and homophobia have this in common: both are rooted in ideas of sexual immorality and deviance.
Stigma toward sex workers matters
Sex workers around the world experience profound health and social inequities. A recent series in The Lancet Public Health documents their disproportionate exposure to violence, unsafe working conditions and poor health outcomes. The series traces these sustained inequities to stigma and the criminalization of sex work.
Canada is no exception. Canada’s sex work laws, such as the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA), criminalize purchasing sexual services even though selling one’s own sexual services generally is not.
This can make it harder for sex workers to screen potential clients because it limits how they can communicate with them and negotiate their safety. For instance, clients may be reluctant to share their identifying information due to fear of being arrested, in turn making it harder for sex workers to verify their identity, check references and learn about potentially dangerous clients.
Fear of police surveillance can also drive sexual transactions into more isolated settings, making it harder for sex workers to access help if needed. Criminalizing third-party involvement can also create barriers to safety arrangements, such as working with others to screen clients.
But why is calling a woman a “whore” still considered an insult?
Where the stigma comes from
In his 1963 book Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, sociologist Erving Goffman described stigma as a social process through which certain people are labelled and discredited. Among them were people judged as “immoral,” like sex workers and lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer people.
But stigma is more than a set of negative attitudes. It’s also about power: who has access to resources and opportunities, who is valued and who is seen as deserving of dignity and respect.
Feminist scholar Gail Pheterson explored how this plays out for women in her work on “whore stigma” more than 30 years ago. She argued that the label “whore” is used to control women’s sexuality by sorting women into groups of those considered respectable and those judged immoral, dishonourable or sexually deviant.
It’s crucial to note that a woman does not even have to be a sex worker to be labelled a “whore.” Any woman perceived as violating gendered expectations of how to dress, act or express her sexuality can be.
This brings us back to Gillis’s joke. The women at the gym are not being called “whores” because their occupation is to sell sex. Gillis uses sex work as shorthand for sexual deviance. The joke only works if being compared to a sex worker is accepted as degrading. And this is the problem.
In other words, it is possible to challenge the sexism reflected in the policing of some women’s bodies and still overlook the gender-based stigma toward the women whose identities are being used as an insult.
(Unsplash)
The connection to homophobia
Gillis’s jokes about looking gay or lesbian draw on the same logic. While homophobia and stigma toward sex workers have distinct histories, both are rooted in social expectations about whose sexuality is considered acceptable.
Researchers call the devaluation of people based on same-gender attraction, identities, relationships and practices “sexual stigma.” It extends well beyond insults and negative attitudes. Sexual stigma shapes laws, health care, employment, opportunities and social relationships. It also limits people’s ability to live safely and openly, with dignity and full rights.
Multiple forms of stigma can also intersect. Queer sex workers, for example, may face stigma and discrimination related to both their sexual identity and their occupation.
Reclaiming a slur versus using one
A joke premised on the idea that being gay, lesbian or a sex worker is embarrassing or shameful does more than fall flat. It reproduces wider social beliefs about who’s acceptable and who’s not.
Interestingly, some sex workers have reclaimed the term “whore” to resist stigma and express pride. But there is a difference between a marginalized community reclaiming a stigmatizing label and outsiders using it to demean.
Was that joke funny or offensive? Who’s telling it matters
The backlash against Gillis’s SNL monologue raises an important question: can we challenge the policing of women’s bodies without reinforcing stigma toward sex workers?
We can — and we should. Women deserve to exercise without being sexualized, judged or harassed. Sex workers deserve the same dignity, safety and respect.
When we fight against women being called “whores,” we should ask whether we are mainly concerned because these women aren’t sex workers. This becomes a problem if it means accepting that a sex worker is someone unworthy of respect.
What we need to talk about more as a society is not just that women at the gym are being compared to sex workers. It’s that being compared to a sex worker continues to be used as an insult.
