Is it a walk of shame if you didn’t actually shag?

The sun is shining, you’re walking down the road feeling proud that you got out of bed to get to your 9am lecture rather than the repeatedly hitting the snooze button. Suddenly, in the distance, something catches your eye…Something quite horrific is tottering up the road, think The Joker all dressed up and wearing heels with her panda eyes glued to the pavement. It is of course, the classic walk of shame.

From time to time I have seen these ladies (or men) bracing the morning walk, and thought to myself: ‘what a slag’, or ‘walking barefoot would at LEAST make you look less ridiculous and get your home quicker than those tacky heels’. But the truth is, I had no idea if this girl had just left the bed of a random guy, or if she had just innocently passed out in a friends bed.

On a very memorable night from my days as a naïve fresh, I once passed out after an Austin Power’s themed party on my friend’s bed. My long journey home was made that much worse by unexpectedly passing a bunch of rowdy builders and then a full congregation coming out of the Synagogue whilst I was wearing tiny hot-pants, peace signs all over my body and a flowery crop top. Walk of shame FAIL. I felt embarrassed despite having done nothing and apart from sleep alone in a bed.

I must stress that the walk of shame DOES NOT only apply to us females, yet we are more likely to be judged when completing the walk of shame. When guys embark on the walk of shame they usually go by undetected; the only thing to give him away might be his social sport get-up from the night before.

One friend explained to me that ‘The walk of shame’ means wearing the same outfit you wore the night before – something students regularly do when pulling an all-nighter in the library. But if someone spots you dragging yourself home, they’re going to judge you as ‘a slag’ by but just don’t give a shit. You know you’re something much more respectable: you’re just a very hung-over and semi-drunk person making their way home for food, their own bed and potentially a sick bowl.