Amber Rose is simply not interested in your slut-shaming. The unapologetic social-media star, who has gained notoriety in the past for her contentious relationships with ex-boyfriend Kanye West and ex-husband Wiz Khalifa, doesn't mince words when it comes to a woman's right to own her sexuality.
On the latest episode of her Friday-night VH1 talk show, The Amber Rose Show, Rose offered a candid, empowering response to an audience member who took advantage of the show's Q&A segment to ask about whether or not women should be derided for carrying condoms.
"How can I be safe without scaring guys off?" a young woman in the audience began. "In order to protect myself, I always have condoms on me...but when I bring them out, I will have such shocked responses. Men will be like, 'She must be a slut!'"
Rose was simply not having that. "No, no, no — don't ever change that," she responded emphatically. "As women, we always things we have to change ourselves, we have to dumb ourselves down," she continued. "We gotta do whatever the fuck we wanna do! And if that means you gotta be single for awhile, until that one man comes along and says you know what, I appreciate you having condoms, girl, that means you take care of yourself, that you protect yourself." No one should have to apologise for taking care of themselves.
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Rose didn't stop there. Defending herself against the shocked reaction she received from many media outlets following a joke she made about ex-husband Wiz Khalifa "putting his babies" on her face (and yes, that means just what you think it means), Rose defended the rights of women to embrace their sexuality.
"Were they so appalled that I said it, or were they appalled because it looked like I actually enjoyed it?" she asked the cheering audience. "It's almost taboo: you're not allowed to be a women and enjoy anything sexual," she scoffed before encouraging ladies everywhere to stick together and "teach these men, let's teach our children to be better."
This is certainly not Rose's first time arguing against insipid slut-shaming. In January, she spoke out about the sexual double standard that so often comes with being a woman in an essay for Time. In a February appearance on It’s Not You, It’s Men, she unceremoniously shutdown the notion that she is physically up for grabs because of the provocative way in which she dresses.
To this defense of women and their right to both enjoy sex as well as protect their own bodies while doing so, we can only say hallelujah! Three cheers for moving past the troglodytic notion that a women who carries condoms is a slut (whatever that word may mean).
And it is with that sentiment that we invite you to peruse a handy guide to deciding which condom is best for you, as well as a few suggestions for spicing up foreplay. Because if you're into it — and it's not hurting anyone else — that's all that matters.