The author, Mark Morford has some pretty interesting, and quite humorous, theories:

'Which brings me to my flawed theory as to why there exists such a nasty double standard, why there will always be a double standard, why men who have tons of unbridled wanton sex are considered hunky lotharios and women who have tons of unbridled careless stupid sex are considered sleazy unwanted harlots barely more highly evolved than a rat snake.'

He goes on to say:

'That is to say, women do indeed have a higher degree of responsibility with their sex because it is their most potent and divine strength, a dazzling and eternally alluring hunk of mystical magic, just as men have more responsibility not to abuse their physical strength and their awesome ability to barbecue meats or parallel park'

Luckily for him, he's not afraid to admit:

'I was wrong.

I have been set straight, more or less. I have been informed by some very smart very attuned young women with whom I shared the idea for this column that if I offered up this theory, that if I were to humbly suggest that women do, in fact, have a bit more accountability with their sexuality, I would be smacked upside the ideological head. By women. Smart women. Powerful women. Cool women who know things. '

and:

'It is, in its way, just another trap. It is, once again, putting the responsibility for sex and sluttiness and the procreative potency back onto women who don't necessarily want it or need it or feel like they have to embody anybody's inflated sexual notions of anything.

This is what they say. Just leave us the frick alone, let us play with our energies and strengths how we see fit, let us be just like men, not judged and not put upon, and let us be free to define ourselves how we want to, for good or ill, as guys seem to get to do, as the world has refused to allow us to do for, you know, millennia. To which I say, hell yes.'

and he concludes that what the world needs is more:

'self-defined sluts, luminous or divine, ugly or silly, egregious or annoying, regularly nonjudged sluts who can do whatever they want and sleep with whomever they want and who don't have to worry about what the hell "progressive" men or "enlightened" columnists or gum-snapping bimbo "Bachelor" bait have to say about it.'

It's a good read. I agree heartily on most of it.

I think sluttiness and morality have to be decided on by each individual person, just as each individual person has to sort out what their boundaries are, what their choices will be, who they want to be.

The thing that bothers me is the potential for harming others. It seems to me that just taking the attitude that women should have the same sexual freedom as men doesn't quite cover the whole problem.

Yes, women should have the same sexual freedoms as men.

But, in my opinion, both women and men should take a good hard look at how they exercise that freedom, whom they may be hurting, what they really want and need, and whether they are being honest with others and with themselves about what they are doing.

Sex is such a tricksy thing. We all have so much riding on it. Our feelings of desireability, security, our cravings, our fears of inadequacy, and loneliness. Sex and all the hot, flirty, sexy, delicious attention and affection that come with it, feels so damn good, so vital and juicy, so ripe with pleasure and naughtiness. It's easy to justify doing things that we know in our hearts are not in line with our deepest integrity.

For me, being a slut is playing with fire. One should do so with care, or someone is going to get burned.

Sigh... It's hard being a slut with a conscience.

:)