It is important for a conservative woman to be a lady both in the real world and on the internet. In our social-network-obsessed society, all it takes is a single compromising picture to ruin one’s social and professional reputations. It has become commonplace for young women’s Facebook profiles to be littered with pictures of themselves scantily clad in compromising situations, partying, inebriated, and even kissing other girls. Party girls are a dime a dozen and these profiles damage reputations far more than they help them. A conservative woman should be conservative at all times, especially when the cameras are rolling.

Lately, young women have taken to denigrating themselves and each other as “sluts” and “hos.” When women playfully call each other these things they make it okay for men to do it too. Much like the way Eve Ensler and her Vagina Monologues “reclaimed” the c-word, women on college campuses are reclaiming “slut.” I have seen many young women sporting “slut” backpack patches, and drinking from party cups with “slut” scribbled across the side. “Reclaiming” demeaning words does not empower women, and it certainly does not dilute their original meaning. With all of these self-proclaimed “sluts” on college campuses, conservative women should refrain from partaking in this trend and insist on calling themselves, and acting, like ladies.

As a teenager when I left my parents’ house to go out with friends, the last thing my dad always told me was, “Act like a lady!” At the time, I saw those parting words as a lack of trust, but I now recognize that his words were meant to be in the back of my head the whole night—and they always were. My dad no longer has to remind me to act like a lady whenever I am out; his words are engraved in my heart and mind and constantly keep me in check. It is about time that somebody told all conservative young women to “act like ladies.”