Slut shaming has been an intricate part of human society since thousands of years and there were good reason for that. Lack of contraceptives and medical technology meant sure death to the person affected by STDs. This also affected the institution of marriages. Marriages have always been relevant because pooling of resources and sharing responsibilities meant better survival of the offspring.
Humans have always been pervasive since the dawn of civilization. It is mathematically impossible to have 7 Billion humans without inbreeding. For thousands of years our ancestors lived in small, isolated populations, leaving them severely inbred, according to a new genetic analysis. The inbreeding may have caused a host of health problems, and it is likely that small populations were a barrier to the development of complex technologies. A 2010 study concluded that our ancestors 1.2 million years ago had a population of just 18,500 individuals, spread over a vast area.
We cannot judge the history through the standards of today. Those times had different moral structures and there was "group think". Being together was much more important for the survival than challenging the popular beliefs. Slut shaming was very relevant in those times because having the family together and keeping the society "pure" was important.
Stereotyping is another important factor in human thought process, it originate from tribalism. As there was a hostile environment and it would be hard to distinguish between people of own tribe and another tribe, human brain developed tribalism separating own people from other people. stereotyping saved humans from getting cheated/tricked by wrong people.
Slut shaming is a process of stereotyping where the "wrong people" were advertised. It really helped early humans because they lived by a code of conduct(religions) and anyone who contradicts the scriptures were essentially "shamed" in different ways. In Hinduism, even males were slut shamed. It all depends on the social evolution. Gossips have always been a part of our social structure.
I'll be posting about the sad effects of unchecked slut shamming in the next article.