What Kristen Stewart & Monica Lewinsky Have In Common

I recently had a conversation with my 86 year-old mother about Kristen Stewart. I don't remember why it came up, but my mother who had probably never even heard of Twilight knew for sure Kristen Stewart was the homewrecker who had an affair with "that married man."  What she didn't know was who that married man was, because his name has been largely left out of the news coverage.

Note: My mother doesn't read gossip rags, or watch it online. She heard Kristen Stewart had an affair with a married man on the news! ... but it was not newsworthy that this man with a wife and children saw it fit to put everything on the line, despite his vows to his wife, for a fling. His name is Rupert Sanders, by the way. 5 Female Friendship Lessons I Learned From 'Bachelorette'

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Kristen Stewart, who has tried very hard to steer clear of the Hollywood hubbub, despite her megastar status, instantly became the center of a slut shaming controversy. Some might say it was because of that megastar status. 

I would say it's because she's a woman and this is why slut shaming should matter to all of us. Slut shaming is a damaging and glaring double standard of acceptable behavior. It's not acceptable for a married man to cheat, but it's somewhat expected and it's certainly not newsworthy.

But women are vilified and left with the proverbial scarlet letter on their lives when they have indiscretions with a married man, even when they are not the ones who are married themselves. All the while, in most cases the men, much like Bill Clinton, go on making jokes about it with very few long-term consequences. Our 5 Favorite Same-Sex Celebrity Couples

I once wrote an article about meeting my ex-husband's mistress.  In that article, I made a plea to all women to treat each other with more respect than to knowingly shag a married man.  However, on the other side of that is this, slut shaming is harmful to all women because double standards are harmful to all women.

Women should treat each other better than that. Period. Women will be treated better in society when they start treating each other better in society.

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Lisa Hayes is a Relationship Coach and Author of How to Escape from Relationship Hell and the Passion Plan. She is also co-founder of Good Vibe Coaching Academy, specializing in LOA Coach training. To get Lisa's FREE Audio, "How to Talk to a Man" Click here.