I Am Not a Slut: Slut-Shaming in the Age of the Internet (48 page)
Read I Am Not a Slut: Slut-Shaming in the Age of the Internet Online
Authors: Leora Tanenbaum
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PRAISE FOR LEORA TANENBAUM AND
I AM
NOT
A SLUT
“This thoroughly researched, galvanizing book will serve as a crucial tool for young women and their families. Tanenbaum navigates the perilous waters young women are swimming in—filled with sexual objectification, double standards, self-exposure, and social censure—and offers them a guide to make it safely to shore.”
—Rebecca Traister, author of
Big Girls Don’t Cry
“Girls and young women are inundated with images and messages that teach them sex is the only currency that matters in our culture. But when they follow those cues, they are shamed and excoriated for it. The Internet has made slut-shaming more effective, wide ranging, and deeply damaging. We have a right to own and express our sexuality, on our own terms, without apology or repercussion. I recommend this book to anyone who cares about girls and young women and wants to understand the heartbreaking challenges they face as they grow into their sexuality.”
—Aisha Tyler, comedian, actress, and author
“Get out your highlighters: For parents, for educators, and—most important—for girls themselves,
I Am Not a Slut
is an absolutely crucial read. In a time when high school and college are social battlefields for young women, understanding the nuances of sex and shame can literally be a life-or-death project. Tanenbaum’s empathetic look at how today’s expectations of performative identity can undermine real, healthy sexuality is heartbreaking. With any luck, it will also galvanize a much needed shift, challenging each of us to consider how we participate in creating the world these girls navigate.”
—Andi Zeisler, cofounder and editorial director, Bitch Media
“As we see every day at Planned Parenthood health centers across the country, slut-shaming is a harmful—and, at worst, lethal—barrier to sexual health care and information for women and girls.
I Am Not a Slut
offers both a wake-up call about the dangerous impact of the word ‘slut’ and a path forward to talk about sex and sexuality in an open, positive, and nonjudgmental way.”
—Cecile Richards, president, Planned Parenthood Federation of America
“
I Am Not a Slut
is a profoundly eye-opening book about the dangerous world young women are forced to negotiate and the blind eye all too often turned toward it by their peers, adults, and even the media. It should be required reading for anyone who has ever called someone a slut or been called one themselves. It has the power to help young women who are suffering through this kind of shaming to feel less alone and provides a powerful education for those who care about them.”
—Elissa Schappell, author of
Blueprints for Building Better Girls
Bad Shoes and the Women Who Love Them
Taking Back God: American Women Rising Up for Religious Equality
Catfight: Women and Competition
Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation
COVER DESIGN by NINA LOSCHIAVO
COVER ILLUSTRATION © CSAIMAGES.COM
I AM NOT A SLUT.
Copyright © 2015 by Leora Tanenbaum. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
ISBN 978-0-06-228259-0
EPub Edition February 2015 ISBN 9780062282606
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An act of “sexual assualt” or “sexual abuse” is any type of unwanted sexual activity, including inappropriate touching. “Rape” is an act of bodily penetration—vaginal, anal, or oral—which does not necessarily involve force. Most rape occurs through pinning, coercion, and threat rather than actual violence.