Wayland High Superlative: Tradition or Insult?

We don’t know what the superlative is. Wayland High School contacts will not reveal or discuss the word.

But according to students, the superlative was voted out by the yearbook staff this year because the superlative has become a euphemism for “school slut.” Some Wayland High School students are angry that it has been removed, and argue that it is “tradition.” Others feel it’s degrading and offensive, and has no business being in the book this year.

“We don’t want to hurt the reputation of the previous winners, whether the euphemism was true for their year or not, so we didn’t publish the name of the superlative, giving the winners some anonymity,” said Whitney Halperin, student who writes for the Wayland Student Press Network. ”This year, the superlative was removed (by the yearbook staff who didn’t want to continue having that euphemism in the yearbook), and that was the source of controversy because some people thought that it shouldn’t be removed because it’s a tradition.”

Halperin wrote “Slut Shaming is Not OK” to address the issue:

On Thursday night, the senior superlatives nominations list was posted. Minutes later, outrage erupted in the WHS Seniors Facebook group about the different superlatives that were missing. One superlative in the past has been used, just for girls, as a euphemism for school slut.

Yearbook editors did not include the superlative this year, while some classmates were adamant about adding it.

There is a clear double standard between genders when one is accused of having multiple partners. When a guy gets around, he is called a player, or at worst, he is jokingly called a man-whore. His behavior is excused or even lauded, while when a girl is called a slut, she becomes someone who is looked down upon or a joke.

Read the full article here.

One student responded in the comments section, “From a girl: enough. we don’t have some sort of right as women to pick and choose which superlatives offend us and which don’t. Also, while it may offend you..like you said many of the seniors (girls included) want the superlative back. What gives you the right as someone who handles the yearbook to take away something that is clearly wanted by BOTH genders? If anything, there should be a vote.”

Another student, Rachel, writes, “To everyone defending the superlative with some argument along the lines of “but it’s not a big deal, it’s just a superlative, calm down!”, consider the flipside of the argument. Would you not say that it is more important to stand up against slut shaming than to maintain a stupid superlative?”