Slut!: Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation [Hardcover]

Leora Tanenbaum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 1999

Leora Tanenbaum's Slut! is a groundbreaking account of the lives of young women who stand up to the destructive power of namecalling, written by one of the rising young talents of journalism today. Slut! seamlessly weaves together three narrative threads: powerful oral histories of girls and women who tell us their stories and how they finally overcame sexual labeling, Leora's own story, and her cogent analysis of the underlying problem of sexual stereotyping.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The statistics are daunting: "Two out of five girls nationwide have had sexual rumors spread about them," reports Leora Tanenbaum. "Three out of four girls have received sexual comments or looks, and one in five has had sexual messages written about her in public areas." The 50 women interviewed for this book differ greatly in ethnic background, age, and economic status, but they share one thing in common--each of them, along with Tanenbaum herself, was labeled a "slut" in junior high or high school. (And, as recent cases involving Anita Hill and Monica Lewinsky demonstrate, a woman can face such taunts no matter what her age or professional level.) As such, they became victims of a double standard that winks at sexual promiscuity among teenage boys but insists that young women remain virginal and pure. Even worse, the slut bashing is perpetuated in nearly every case by female classmates. In addition to insisting that schools get serious about combating sexual harassment, Tanenbaum urges the development of sex education programs that acknowledge responsible alternatives to abstinence, programs that would recognize the sexual desires of young women (and men) without condemnation. Her social critique is solid, but it's the personal accounts of emotional abuse--and, thankfully, perseverance--that will thoroughly convince you that the current tolerance of slut bashing is simply unacceptable. --Ron Hogan

From Kirkus Reviews

Absorbing first-person narratives from a wide range of women, including the author, alternate with a somewhat prosaic analysis of the ramifications of being labeled a slut in adolescence. Journalist Tanenbaums first book offers up striking images of the cruelty of teenagers, both male and, more significantly, female, toward the girls whom they have labeled ``sluts.'' The author indicts the school systems that ignore or even condone such behavior. Her allegations that humiliation of the perceived otherin these cases young women with bad reputationsis alive and well in the American school system may come as no surprise, but her depiction of its various manifestations, ranging from taunting in the cafeteria to rape in a stairwell, is shocking to anyone who thinks of school as a haven from violence. The strength of Tanenbaums book lies in the accounts of her interviewees, many of whom attribute their confidence today to what they suffered in their youth. As one woman recounts: ``Learning to be an outsider is important, because an awful lot of people in the world are outsiders. I learned to be alone. I learned to use my head in more complex ways than I would have been able to otherwise.'' The key point that the book illustrates is how little American society of the 20th century has changed when it comes to condemning women for attempting sexual parity with men. Though the definition of what constitutes sluttiness has shifted over the years, the similarities in the interviews of ``sluts'' of the 1950s and their contemporary counterparts are sobering and sad. Most often cogently written, the book bogs down toward the end when Tanenbaum abandons analysis for prescription, offering pablum like ``For real changes to occur, girls need to change the way they relate to one another.'' You havent come as far as you thought, baby. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press (May 4, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888363940
• ISBN-13: 978-1888363944
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,089,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A topic that needs exploration but in a more objective manne, May 28, 2000

By 

E. M. Carey "LGW" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Slut!: Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation (Hardcover)

I enjoyed reading Slut when a preview copy found its way into the office where I worked at the time. The personal stories were very touching and I feel that this is a topic - the labeling of women or girls who do not fit within traditional roles - definitely needs more exploration. But my main problem with the book was that the author, while admitting that the sample from which she worked was far from random, still extrapolates from it, making claims such as girls who were designated sluts seem to become more successful or driven or whatever. What about those she interviewed who didn't fit that mold? It left me wondering if she chose the stories that she did because they fit within her hypothesis. I was disappointed that, despite her own claim of subjectivity, she made conclusions that she extended to a larger group.

On the flip side, it's an interesting book to read, to learn of the personal experiences of girls who've been tormented by the label and how they have overcome it or moved on. If the author could have refrained from her generalizations, I think the stories would have been powerful enough to stand on their own.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a riveting read - close to heart, August 7, 2001

By 

Shannon B Davis "Nepenthe" (Arlington, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation (Paperback)

I have recommended this book to everyone I know, and I hope that I will be able to pass it onto my daughters. Or rather, I hope my daughters will not be in a society that encourages the sexual double standard and punishes young women for natural feelings.

The book is non-fiction, and the author interviewed many women and girls about their experiences. Some of the book is quite academic, quoting from various studies and going over the history of this kind of behaviour. Other parts are retellings of people's experiences, and analyses of those.

Reading this book brought back many memories and emotions. I realized that my experience as a teenager was not unique. I had already done my own thinking, but it was great to read that someone else had come to the same conclusions. That there still is a sexual double standard, despite the sexual revolution, and that women are punished by both men and women for having sexual urges.

One redeeming factor was that she definitely doesn't place all the blame for the harassment on teenage boys. She talks a lot about competitiveness between girls and how the girls are usually worse to each other. Kinda like the person who seems most homophobic is the gay one? Yeah, like that. And also about how often the adults don't report it, or stop it, or ignore complaints because they see it as correct behaviour that keeps girls in line even as it is damaging their self-esteem forever.

It's amazing, the more people I talk to about it, the more people bring up their own experiences. Everyone knows someone who experienced the phenomena, or they went through it themselves. Even so-called "good girls" will be able to relate to the book in that the ways in which they constrained themselves.

It's about time someone wrote a book about this.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Should Be Required Reading For Every Human!, April 15, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation (Paperback)

This book brought back some painful and unpretty memories. It felt good to see that I wasn't as alone as I thought. For guys, this book could help to bridge the gender gap in so many ways. I think that it could do so much helping and healing if every person had to read this book.