Across the world, laws dictate what we can and can’t do with our bodies. Not for reasons of safety, health, or equality, but because of outdated, puritanical ideas about sex. Slutshaming isn’t just social pressure. It is written into the legal systems that govern our lives.

From sex toy bans to virginity testing, from adultery laws that punish women but not men to abortion restrictions that deny terminations based on how someone got pregnant, these laws are built on the same foundation. The idea that some kinds of sex are “good” and others are punishable.
 

What is The Slut Map?

The Slut Map is a live, evolving project documenting laws across the world that exist to police, control, and shame people for their sexual choices. These laws aren’t just relics of history. They are active, enforced, and shaping lives right now.

By mapping them, we expose the legal double standards, gendered punishments, and moral policing embedded in global legislation.
 

Why This Matters

Most people assume that slutshaming is cultural, not legal, but laws don’t exist in a vacuum. They reflect and reinforce the same social biases that shame and control people based on their sexual behaviour.
 

📌 When a country criminalises sex work but not those who purchase sex, it says: “Your body is not yours to profit from.”
📌 When an abortion law allows exceptions for rape but not for consensual sex outside marriage, it says: “Casual sex is a crime that deserves punishment.”
📌 When virginity testing is used to determine a woman’s worth, it says: “Your value is tied to what men think you have or haven’t done.”
 

These laws aren’t just outdated. They are barriers to bodily autonomy, equality, and freedom. They won’t change unless we expose them, challenge them, and demand better.
 

The Inspiration Behind This Project

This project was born from research for my book, Sluts: The Truth About Sex Shame and What We Can Do To Fight It. Originally, I planned a chapter exploring how governments legislate slutshaming, but I realised these laws evolve too quickly for a book to capture them. They needed a live, ongoing platform. One that could grow, adapt, and be updated as the world changes.
 

That’s what The Slut Map is.

It is a tool, a resource, and a call to action.

Because as long as laws punish people for their sexual choices, slutshaming isn’t just a social issue. It is a human rights issue.

📍 Explore the map. Know the laws. Join the fight.