Sluts on the Small Screen

<p> Viewers spend years laughing crying celebrating and mourning with their favorite TV characters but when those characters are promiscuous women different viewers may have very different reactions. Both sexual freedom and sexual shame run deep in the cultural waters so as TV's promiscuous female characters navigate those choppy waters what unfolds onscreen reflects--and ultimately shapes--perceptions of promiscuous women as liberated and adventurous damaged and destructive or even sick and gross.</p><p> This work examines fifteen promiscuous female characters and identifies trends in those portrayals--from what motivates their promiscuity to the reproaches they face the revelations they have and the redemption it seems they must undergo as a result of their slutty ways. This book aims not to promote promiscuity but to fight against the stigmatization of promiscuous women which is a fight against puritanical patriarchy that benefits everyone.</p>