Great piece Lisa, thank you.

That original definition put me in mind of the short nonfiction book I've been reading, which is more an essay really, from the Wellcome Collection. Written by Irish author Eimear McBride, the book is titled 'Something Out of Place' - which comes from her subject.

From the intro:

"..what might be the origin of all this disgust that's so continually directed towards us?.....proceeds to pursue that body right through each stage of it's being, especially the later ones though, it should be said."

Then a little further on, writing about disgust and taboo, she compares with the disgust felt towards dirt, saying:

"It certainly carries with it the same concept of defilement and provokes a similar instinct" -

then referring to British anthropologist Mary Douglas writing:

"If we can abstract pathogenicity and hygiene from our notion of dirt, we are left with the old definition of dirt as matter out of place."

Douglas attributes the phrase 'matter out of place' to an "etiquette-fixated eighteenth century statesman" and often used as cities and industrialisation grew in the 19th C.

But back to what you're saying, that use of slut, which originally meant slovenly or dirty, just connected the two things in my mind. It's a good read, I think you might like it.