As a student walking on my way to class at UCSB, a school that prides itself upon its emphatic dedication to the notion of equality, I find myself lost.

I feel as if I am attending a university consumed by hypocritical ignorance that is perpetuated by the student body – unfortunately my peers. I currently live in a society in which the term “equality” encompasses the same truths as it did during the times of slavery.

The insidious sexual double standard of “the stud/slut system,” which rewards men for sexual conquests and demoralizes females for theirs, is the bona fide social reality at UCSB. As a sexually unconventional female, my sexual attitude and behaviors are more representative of a male. Unlike the majority of my female peers, I am not afraid of the socially imposed sexual stigmatization that coincides with having a liberated sexual attitude.

It was not until I was fucked by a guy on a couch in my own home while I was sleeping that I realized the devastating depth and ramifications of the sexual double standard. Being called a slut by another woman for an action that I plainly did not consent to and then having her tell countless people about me having “fucked some random guy” caused me far more emotional damage than being forcefully fucked during my sleep.

This girl never asked me about what happened. I didn’t tell her. She made me feel ashamed, and, thanks to her ignorance, I have been thought of as a slut from that night on. In hindsight, I wish that I had not been so ashamed of my “sluttish actions” that one night, because I would have reported the guy, not for myself, but because it could have prevented the next unsuspecting sleeping girl from being fucked – physically by him and socially by ignorant women.

It is the women, not the men, who enforce the double standard. For the most part, men are not as superciliously hypocritical. They do not condone or ridicule females for behaving as they do. Besides, heterosexual males need females in order to get laid.

It is the females who, in their haughtily hypocritical nature, judge other females. In my experience with girls, it’s OK for them to have sex and not be a slut. All other sexually active females do merit the label slut, however.

So, to all of you girls reading this, consumed with utter disgust and outrage, I hope that the next time you start shooting the shit about some other girl’s sex life, you think that that slutty girl on the couch could have been you. And then I hope the next time you call a girl a slut based on actions that are not your business, whether these actions are consensual or not, thank God that sleeping slut who was fucked in her sleep was not you.

In theory, the dictionary definition of “equality” and the universal social implementation of its principles are ideal. However, the practical reality of equality is a very obscure notion, indoctrinated by hypocritical ignorance. The dumbfounded ignorance of the female sex is irrefutably responsible for the preservation of the sexual double standard and is the main deterrent of sexual equality.

So, to all of you duplicitous females, the next time you are whining about female inequalities, such as equal pay or sexual harassment, and looking somewhere to point the finger, I suggest that you look in a mirror – and point.

Lauren is a UCSB student who wished that her name not be published so she would not suffer further repercussions from those she said have wronged her.