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“Trampire”? Slut-shaming and Kristen Stewart

And the demonized female of the year goes to … Kristen Stewart!

I know what you’re thinking. More about Kristen Stewart? Really? Yes, really, but I’ll be brief.

I generally try to stay away from tabloid-esque celebrity gossip, but the treatment of Kristen Stewart’s affair has reached a breaking point for me. Specifically, it all came crashing down when I saw this t-shirt featured in The Huffington Post.

If the t-shirt reading “Kristen Stewart is a Trampire” doesn’t appeal to you, don’t worry, you can also buy one reading “Kristen Stewart F*cking Sucks,” or “I Wanna Take a Dump on Kristen Stewart.” All for the low price of $20.99!

This comes, of course, after the news reported last week that Stewart was cut out of the Snow White and the Huntsmsan sequel, news which Universal has since denied, blandly claiming that no real plans for a second movie have yet been sealed. Either way, the damaging image of “you kiss your director, you no get more movies” was still spread around the world.

Here’s the thing: No logical person would ever say that cheating is OK, especially cheating with a married dude. Know who else is guilty though? The married dude! The older, married dude who was the boss! Where are the shirts proclaiming the desire to take a dump on him? Believe me, I don’t think we should be wanting to take dumps on anyone — unless, you know, that’s your thing — but fair is fair, people.

Also, thank goodness Kristen Stewart is getting her due, while Chris Brown can beat a woman to a bloody pulp and still win Grammys! And a million other famous dudes who have committed not only immoral, but illegal acts, who we still sing the high praises of every day!

This desire to trash a female star anytime they do something wrong, while the men can get away with whatever they please, is such an old trope, such a repetitive story, so boringly predictable, that I almost can’t believe we are still having to point it out. But it apparently is still happening, so, it’s still our duty to point it out. I mean, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter in 1850, for crying out loud, and we’re still emblazoning that “A” all over Kristen Stewart’s chest! What is going on, world?

Thankfully, I’m not the only one sick of it. Jodie Foster is, too, and even moreso because she knows what Kristen Stewart’s going through. She posted a heartbreaking, impassioned essay on The Daily Beast on the matter, describing her own experiences as a child actress. She then explains how she got to know Kristen well on the set of Panic Room when Kristen was 11 years old, and how she grew to “love that kid.” She then paints this haunting scene:

Cut to: Today … A beautiful young woman strides down the sidewalk alone, head down, hands drawn into fists. She’s walking fast, darting around huge men with black cameras thrusting at her mouth and chest. “Kristen, how do you feel?” “Smile Kris!” “Hey, hey, did you get her?” “I got her. I got her!” The young woman doesn’t cry. Fuck no. She doesn’t look up. She’s learned. She keeps her head down, her shades on, fists in her pockets. Don’t speak. Don’t look. Don’t cry.

In the end, Kristen Stewart kissed a guy she shouldn’t have kissed. Let’s be honest: in life, a lot of people kiss people they shouldn’t kiss. Was it a mistake? Yeah, of course. So she apologized. The act of defending Kristen Stewart isn’t a matter of defending cheating, it’s a matter of saying, hey, human beings mess up. When we do mess up, we should admit it, and learn from it. And then we should all collectively be able to move on and get over it. And in no circumstance should anyone deserve to be demonized, called a tramp, have hatred towards them printed on t-shirts, or be denied jobs for making a mistake.

Yet in our Internet-fueled, social-media driven society, it often seems that as soon as someone does make a mistake, sticking a dagger in them is the first thing we all want to do. It can be a sick and twisted sprint to out-snark each other, to see who can think of the most bitingly sarcastic commentary first. The “trampire” comment was apparently coined by Will Farrell on Conan, and I like Will Farrell. But come on, Will. Enough with the slut-shaming jokes. It’s offensive and it’s boring. We can do better.

To make myself feel better from all this, I’m now going to watch this (NSFW-ish) scene from The Runaways in which Kristen Stewart teaches us how to masturbate to Farrah Fawcett and then tells an old white dude to eff off. Because that’s the KStew I believe in.

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