Five husbands: slut-shaming the Samaritan woman

This essay pushes back against the many readings, both scholarly and popular, of the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4) as an example of Jesus’ “radical inclusivity.” It argues that receptions of the passage as inclusive often perpetuate the tendency known as slut-shaming, a tactic frequently employed to denigrate women and police their sexualities. Slut-shaming techniques are common both in biblical commentaries and in popular readings of John 4, and, I argue, are also employed by the author of John. Slut-shaming is the attempted denigration of a person, usually a woman or girl, because of her perceived sexual deviancy or promiscuity. Viewed through this lens, it becomes evident that the passage is hardly a call for inclusion of women or Samaritans. In the end, the character of the Samaritan at the well becomes just another woman for men to “think with.” While finding inclusive readings of scripture is an important part of an ethical interpretive framework for religious communities, readings of this passage as an inclusive text run the risk of participating in the same slut-shaming that occurs in the biblical text. What is more, the pattern of slut-shaming in scholarship on John 4 reinforces damaging norms within the academy, norms which enable a culture of sexism and rape culture to flourish within our guild.