The Cheat Sheet

jskagon:

cheatsheet:

5. —Anna Faris

Daily Beast, which I follow despite its repeated poor judgment as to what constitutes “news,” just posted a quote where Anna Faris, an actress, reveals the number of men she slept with before meeting her husband. The premise of her most recent movie is outrageously sexist. In it she has to abstain from any new sex partners because the odds of her getting married after sleeping with 20 people will drop, statistically speaking.

The movie itself suggests women should feel shame around their sexual choices especially if they want any hope of getting an ever-coveted marriage proposal. Here Daily Beast takes the subject matter out from under the protection of fantasy and lets us all how many partners this woman has actually slept with.

Faris may have said it, but does that mean you have to broadcast it?

I’ll reserve judgment on whether Faris’ movie is sexist until I see it, but your Tumblrer maintains that revealing one’s number of sexual partners is in no way sexist. Anything from zero to 100 or more sexual partners is nothing to be ashamed of, and we see no problem in someone broadcasting (Faris revealed her number at a screening) his or her number if s/he chooses. As you say, Faris’ character is limiting her number of sexual partners based on statistics (silly though they may be)—not because of any sort of slut shaming. If you’re offended by a movie about a woman who wants to get married (or even be in a relationship) and falls vulnerable to arbitrary suspicions or tactics, then stay away from the rom-coms.