It wasn't until college that I realized that I slut-shamed. As someone who considers herself an open minded individual when I heard that slut-shaming is bad I thought "oh well if it's bad then I don't do it." I had never made a comment to a peer of mine about the promiscuity of another teenage girl's clothing, so I didn't slut shame, right?

Wrong.

I realized that I had been brought up in a way that casually slut shamed. Don't get me wrong, I always was against sexist dress codes that made girls cover up to prevent boys from being distracted. I never was taught that if a girl dressed scandalously was raped that it was her fault because she was "asking for it." But I was also conditioned to believe that if a girl wore shorts that were too short that it was disgusting.

People will always comment about how you dress, especially if you're a female. If you cover up too much or if you don't cover up at all, it will somehow be scrutinized. The female body is constantly sexualized, yet we're supposed to change our appearance so that the people who sexualize it won't be tempted.

All the models that are shown in magazines are ridiculously beautiful and even more so photoshopped. I know everyone says that, and yeah it's true, but people don't read magazines any more. I see girls as young as 7 years old on instagram following models that are considered "beautiful/gorgeous/hot."

These young girls compare their awkwardly changing bodies to those who have added makeup, filters, photoshop, and the right angle and think that they are ugly. I'm willing to bet that 100% of the females reading this article have not felt comfortable with their body at one point or another.

So what does this have to do with slut shaming? Well, here's the thing.

Loving one's body is hard. Being comfortable to show your body to the world, knowing FULL WELL that people are going to be judging and/or sexualizing you is difficult.

Even people who may be confident with their bodies might not have the confidence to wear a crop top due to the fear of being called a slut. Or maybe they don't want to wear those tight pants because they're worried a guy might think it's all for him.

Some people talk about girls who wear revealing clothing as "having no self respect." But since coming to college, I've realized that the opposite is true.

Now I'm not in any way advertising showing up to an interview in tailgate attire, but feeling confident enough with yourself and your body shows A TON of respect for yourself.

So next time you see a girl walking down the street in a crop top and booty shorts, don't think something like "oh my god she belongs at the beach," and instead think "wow, I really admire her self-confidence."