Why do we call girls sluts? Is it because we are deeply concerned with the number of guys she’s hooked up with, or is it because our ex-boyfriend hit on her? Most likely, it’s the second reason.

The other day I was walking to my car after a concert and saw a girl wearing high-waisted jeans, a crop top, and sandals. She looked really pretty, and I even complimented her outfit earlier in the night. A car full of girls drove by and screamed out the window, “Put some clothes on you slut.” These girls had no idea who that “slut” was or anything about her. All they wanted to do was make her feel bad about herself in an outfit that she felt confident in. I was absolutely disgusted.

Shaming girls based on what they wear or how many guys they’ve slept with is unacceptable, especially when it comes from other girls. We already live in a world where women are still seen as sexual objects to men, and guys still want a “trophy wife.” When girls team up against each other, we are only adding to the problem.

Of course, I’m guilty of throwing the word “slut” around, and I know for a fact that I'm not the only one. Whether it’s playfully calling my friend a slut if she’s wearing a revealing dress or if I see a girl flirting with a guy I was talking to, I use the word a lot more than I want to admit. Tina Fey says it best in “Mean Girls.” “You have all got to stop calling each other sluts and whores, it just makes it okay for guys to call you sluts and whores”.

I can’t even count the number of times I've heard a guy call a girl a slut because she rejected him; all I can say about this is that you weren’t calling a slut 10 minutes ago when you were trying to take her home. Girls are called sluts to make them think less of themselves, and that needs to change.

If you see a girl wearing a mini skirt, tell her she looks fabulous. If your ex-boyfriend starts dating someone new, see this as a reason to open your heart back up again. I’m taking the pledge to remove slut from my vocabulary; it’s time to start shaming the word slut!