Ethical Slut: Difference between revisions

''It's human nature''|'''[[Madonna]]''', "Human Nature"}}

This character is a moral and benevolent person, at least when it comes to matters of romance and sexuality. A person who has a strong (and reasonable) [[For Happiness|ethical code]], a strong (and not [[Abuse Mistake|misguided]]) sense of empathy, or both. Because of this, regardless of this ''or'' in spite of this (depending on the setting), the character believes that [[Sex Is Good]] and that it's wrong to impose [[Heteronormative Crusader|heteronormative]] limits to what sexuality should be like. For an Ethical Slut, ''everything'' is on the table as long as it [[For Happiness|brings happiness]] (and just a ''bit'' of spice) into a relationship.

This is a character who is strongly opposed to [[Rape Tropes|abuse]], [[Sexual Extortion|exploitation]], [[Entitled to Have You|entitlement]] and [[Double Standards]], while at the same time also opposing judgmental and moralistic attitudes about such matters as [[Really Gets Around|promiscuity]], [[Polyamory]], [[Netorare|hotwife/cuckold marriages]], [[My Girl Is a Slut|Openopen Relationshipsrelationships/marriages]], [[Friends with Benefits]], [[A Party - Also Known as an Orgy|group sex]], homosexuality, [[Casual Kink|BDSM]] and [[Maligned Mixed Marriage|interracial relationships]]. Since this standpoint is a personal one, the character does not have to be interested in politics or activism. More often than not, the character is simply leading by example by (directly or indirectly) embracing a wide range of sexuality and by caring about the emotions of everyone involved. Simply having a good time while being a good person. Also, when a [[Always Female|female character]] is described as being "liberated", it usually means that she's '''sexually liberated'''.

Note that embracing does ''not'' mean to make something mandatory, although it is likely be recommended. An Ethical Slut is allowed to be celibate or monogamous if he or she so prefer. However, [[Your Cheating Heart|cheating]] on a partner is totally unacceptable: Open relationships are okay, but deceit and dishonesty is not. The concept of ''Ethical Slut'' is a gender neutral one: The idea that only women can be sluts is a [[Double Standard]], and the idea that being a slut would be a bad thing reeks of [[Moral Guardian|moralism]] as well as [[Sex Is Evil and I Am Horny|confused emotions]]. The trope is named after the book ''The Ethical Slut: A practical guide to [[Polyamory]], open relationships & other adventures''. As [[wikipedia:Ethical slut|the other wiki]] describes the book:

* [[Trickster Mentor|Cross Marian]] of ''[[D.Gray-Man]]'': Sleeps around, but is still a gentleman. Anita, one of his lovers seemed to love him. She also tells us her mother loved him. Cross also believes Anita to be a good woman, regardless of her status as a prostitute. One of his hobbies includes visiting red-light districts. His character profile states he likes "good" women, which he states Anita is. So, he's, apparently, not a someone who dehumanize prostitutes, and just likes a nice woman in general, regardless of past/other lovers. Allen also says he looked under Cross' bed, at mother's, and it was filled with things he'd gotten from his lovers. Apparently he's sentimental and keeps gifts his lovers may give him, or asks for things to take. The stuff included pictures, accessories and silverware.

* Shinobu Handa of ''[[Yuri Genre|Shoujo Sect]]'', as well as a couple of the girls in her sizable harem. Shinobu is forever pining for [[Love Interest|Momoko Naitou]], but she will happily cavort with any ''willing'' female. Contrast to Ohkami Sayuri, who forces herself on Shinobu in the manga, and extorts her by threatening Naitou with a scandal in the anime. When asked why she allowed herself to be put in that position, Shinobu replied that no matter the circumstances,[[Wouldn't Hit a Girl|she couldn't bring herself to hurt a girl.]]

== ComicsComic Books ==

* The Star Sapphires of the ''[[Green Lantern]]'' comics. They believe in love and the freedom to love in all its myriad forms, though his becomes hypocritical when it's shown that one of the Sapphires' weapons is a '''worldwide''' crystal prison and many of their individual Lanterns are brainwashed former criminals.

** To be fair, only one Sapphire (Fatality) is known to be a former criminal at this point.{{when}} The Sapphires' problem is that originally the titular crystal would turn its bearers into rampaging [[Yandere]]s, who would preserve their love for eternity (if it was reciprocated) by encasing the entire planet they were on in crystal. Now that they channel their power through rings the Sapphires have calmed down considerably.

* ''[[Cherry Comics|Cherry]]'' is all about this.

* Louise Bryant in ''[[Film/Reds|Reds]]'' becomes one after Jack Reed turns her on to his free love philosophy. For a time, she becomes kind of fundamentalist about it, and Eugene O'Neill makes fun of her about it during their affair. Both she and Jack have trouble remaining true to their slut-ethics over the course of the film, with their jealousy periodically causing one or the other to break off their relationship.

* [[Aldous Huxley]]'s ''[[Brave New World]]''. "Everyone belongs to everyone", after all...

* The [[Trope namerNamer]] -- as noted in the main text -- is the non-fiction "book ''The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities''." The 2009 2nd edition was renamed to the more specific "''The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships & Other Adventures"''.

* [[Oksana Pankeeva]]. ANYTHING''Anything'' by Oksana Pankeeva, though the actual content is very PG-13. Subverted in her take on elves, who manage to turn it [[Up to 11Eleven]] so hard that it freaks out not just the rest of the Ethical Slut universe, but even the bloody '''''Paladin Corps''''' (a bunch of [[Lawful Stupid]] fratboy bunnies on steroids). Although it might also have something to do with elves being grotesquely-dressed compulsively bisexual omnivores who spew Ethical Slut ideology to woo their targets.

* In the ''[[Star Trek Novel Verse]]'', several cultures among the [[Loads and Loads of Races]] fit the trope. The Deltan, Efrosian, Argelian, Rianconi and Risian cultures are all examples (though they differ in how they express it). The trope is explored in some depth in the ''[[Star Trek: Titan]]'' series. Xin Ra-Havreii is an Efrosian, a culture where respectful sexual contact between work colleagues (or anyone you find attractive) is perfectly acceptable, indeed celebrated. Ra-Havreii also calls the Rianconi an “enlightened culture” upon discovering they’re the same. However, another character, Aili Lavena, complicates the trope. Her race exist in two life phases- an amphibious youthful/breeder stage and an aquatic form later on. The aquatic form is an Ethical Slut culture, but those in the amphibian stage are supposed to dedicate themselves to family life and avoid such sexuality. Lavena gave in to temptation and essentially tried to be an Ethical Slut too early, abandoning responsibility to her children. As such, she is now an Ethical Slut who is a non-Ethical Slut.

* And the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' has the Zeltrons. Pink-skinned, [[The Empath|empathic]] humanoids who can manipulate their pheremones. Because of their empathy, they want everyone in range to be contented. The culture also considers monogamy to be quaint, but archaic. So long as everyone involved has consented and is enjoying themselves, what's the problem? It may also say something about [[Star Wars]], though, that there seem to be a lot of "deviant" Zeltrons who treat the pain of others like a drug. They also tend to be attracted to Force-Sensitive characters, like [[Marvel Star Wars|Luke]].

* This seems to be an inherent part of the planet Beowulf's culture in David weberWeber's ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' series. ironically the only person from Beowulf we've actually met is Honor's mother who is happily married to her father, although she enjoys tweaking the noses of the more repressed Manticorans.

* This along with [[Beware the Nice Ones]] is pretty much the "hat" of ''[[The Culture]]''. One of the best examples in the series is probably Diziet Sma of ''[[The Culture/Use of Weapons|Use of Weapons]]'' whose pursuit of casual sexual encounters in no way detracts from her status as a relatively decent person and ultra competent operative. That being said, sexuality in the Culture isn't uniformly positive, and for instance, several of the protagonists of the novel ''[[The Culture/Excession|Excession]]'' fall into the more negative [[Casanova]] trope.

* This mentality seems to be the norm in Terre d'Ange from ''[[Kushiel's Legacy|Terre d'Ange]]''.

* Genji from ''[[The Tale of Genji]]'' qualifies as one in the standards of the time. Even though he was married and had many, MANY''many'' affairs (including [[Hikaru Genji Plan|one with his adopted daughter]]), the fact that he supported the women and (usually) only had an affair with one woman at a time made him '"moral'".

* ''[[Star Trek]]'' ought to be full of these, considering that the entire Federation is [[Word of God|designed]] as a [[Free-Love Future]] and the frequently mentioned planet Risa is a [[Planet of Hats]] of this trope. And yet, the writers<ref>(whoWho, granted, have no direct experience of Roddenberry's visionary future and were probably uncomfortable with this aspect of his vision).</ref> seem to have limited themselves to one (token) Ethical Slut per series.

** ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' could be said to have two, although both are very toned down: Riker and Troi.

*** Considering that she was an amalgamation of many different people, male and female, due to her heritage (Dax passing one life into another through her implant), she kinda had to be an ethical slut because she's has memories of being both male and female.

** In ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Star Trek Voyager]]'', Tom Paris is this kind of character—although he stops living it out once he gets a permanent and very monogamous girlfriend (and later wife).

** In ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Star Trek Enterprise]]'' Doctor Phlox has multiple wives, each having multiple husbands other than himself; this is apparently standard for his race. He also encouraged Trip to take a roll in the hay with one of his wives that had come to visit. Trip, being a [[Southern Gentleman]] (sometimes), refused, citing his views on infidelity. Phlox just shrugs with a "what an idiot" expression.

** In Temperance's case, it's less a matter of being an Ethical Slut as it is not believing that long-term monogamous relationships are possible, and not wanting to open herself up to the possibility of being abandoned ([[Freudian Excuse|which given how her parents abandoned her as a child may be understandable]]). Her views on monogamy have clearly changedchange during the course of the series, though, as she has enteredenters into a [[They Do|long-term relationship with Booth.]]

* Most of the "Companions" (and ex-Companions) in ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'' qualify, except they have a guild and they usually expect to be paid.

* Hawkeye Pierce in ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|M*A*S*H]]''.

* Micheal Scott in ''[[The Office]]''.

* Roz Doyle from ''[[Frasier]]'' was an excellent example of this — often the butt of wisecracks aimed at her rampant promiscuity, but always portrayed as a good person and never treated cruelly or disrespectfully by other characters because of it. Of course, [[Executive Meddling|the execs didn't understand that this trope's exists]] and [[Unfortunate Implications|forced the writers to impregnate her as punishment for being a whore.]]

* Keisha from [[VH-1]]'s ''Single Ladies'' is an unapologetic pleasure-seeker. She is less ethical than most of the other examples, but, ssas we find out in one episode, she does draw the line at drinking age when at comes to sexual partners.

* Colleen [[Mc Murphy]]McMurphy on ''[[China Beach]]''.

* Officer Cory [[Mac Namara]]MacNamara on ''[[Pacific Blue]]''.

* [[Garbage]], or at least [[Face of the Band|Shirley Manson]], as evidenced by the song "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BLck_I8Am0 "Sex is Not the Enemy"]."

* [[Music/Salt -N Pepa|Salt N -Pepa]], with songs like "Let's Talk About Sex" and "None of Your Business":

{{quote|''If I wanna take a guy home with me tonight

''It's none of your business

''And if she wanna be a freak and sell it on the weekend

''It's none of your business }}

* In the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]]'' setting ''[[Scarred Lands]]'', the partial loss of this trope is one of the cornerstones of defining the setting as a [[Crapsack World]]. In the backstory, the demi-goddess [[Love Goddess|Idra]] and her followers were [[Chaotic Good]] and fit this trope perfectly. [[Parental Incest|And]]... [[Rape and Revenge|then]]... [[Gotterdammerung|it]]... [[Break the Cutie|all]]... [[Chaotic Neutral|changed]]. Despite this, Idra and her followers are still much of Ethical Sluts. Technically she's now [[Chaotic Neutral]], but her religion still places a lot of emphasis on love, and making sure both partners are satisfied. She doesn't care how extreme sexual exploration is, just so long as it's not non-consensual, dangerous or even just not enjoyed. However, they now also have a sadness and cold calculating streak they didn't have before, and there's more then a hint that the sluttery once done for mutual joy and [[For Happiness|happiness]] is now a facade for a more or less sinister conspiracy with goals hidden even from the other deities. See the setting's [[Scarred Lands/WMG|WMG]].

* In the''The D20 Book Of Erotic Fantasy"'', Good characters can be raging sex-addicts, despite the stereotype of a "good person" waiting for marriage and performing strict monogamy afterward.

* In the ''[[Old World of Darkness]]'' game ''[[Mage: The Ascension]]'', most members of the Cult of EcstacyEcstasy are this.

* [[Bliss Stage First and Final Act|Keenan Caine]] from the [[Visual Novel]]'s take on ''[[Bliss Stage]]''. This pretty much defines his character.

* In ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'', Sarah Greenhilt (Roy's mom) becomes adorably slutty after her own death, when she finds out that the first tier of the [[Lawful Good]] paradise is a [[Free-Love Future|Free Love Afterlife]] (as well as a lot of other things, with theological/philosophical aspects that are off-topic to this trope). {{spoiler|Roy finds this particularly embarrassing when he dies and hangs out with her while waiting for resurrection. Especially since she looks [[Older Than They Look|much younger than him]] and really hot.}}

* in ''[[Sabrina Online]]'', the porn star Zig Zag is portrayed as a really good person. Her coworkers are likely to hold the same high ethical standards as well, but the readers don't get to know them well enough to tell. She's portrayed similarly in the old run of ''[[Badly Drawn Kitties]]''; she goes beyond flirtiness to pushiness, but when Lydia points out that she (Lydia) already has a boyfriend, Zig immediately backs off, saying "You can take away someone's inhibitions, but you can't take away love."

* Scarlet Blut from ''[[Pleasure Bon Bon]]'' mixes this with [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire]].

* Roomie, of [https://web.archive.org/web/20120517005552/http://gogetaroomie.chloe-art.com/ ''Go Get a Roomie''], is a shining example of this trope. There are others in this comic that fit the trope, but none really nail it like her.

* The [http://www.avclub.com/features/savage-love/ ''Savage Love''] Sexsex advice column by Dan Savage promotes this kind of worldview. More specifically, he advocates for a policy of "GGG," which stands for "Good, Giving, and Game." Basically, people in relationship need to be both aware of what their partner likes and what squicks them out, and work out a compromise somewhere in the middle. He also advises adventurism in sex

* In the ''[[MSF High Forums]]'', this is the general opinions of GAN, and especially Seram. Interestingly, some of the Legion can also fall under this. Michelle, especially, has switched into this due to her girlfriend breaking up with her. (Via the player leaving the game).

* The youtube[[You Tube]] video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrsTE1vpoXM "How To Win Every Game in ''League of Legends''"] playplays it as a metaphor. In this video, the word "slut" is used in a positive sense, in a context where it refers to helping your teammates as if working closely together with one of them is like a relationship and working closely with all/any of them makes one a slut.

* The Pendorians of ''[[The Journal Entries]]'' are basically an entire civilization of these. They also have a cultural belief in the existence of evil and the duty of every member of society to excise evil by whatever means are necessary. People put up signs like this:

[[Category:EthicalTrue SlutEmpowerment]]