I Am Not a Slut: Slut-Shaming in the Age of the Internet (41 page)

EQUAL RIGHTS ADVOCATES (ERA)

www.equalrights.org

180 Howard Street, Suite 300

San Francisco, CA 94105

415-621-0672

ERA is a legal organization dedicated to protecting and expanding economic and educational access and opportunities for women and girls. The organization enforces Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in schools.

GAY, LESBIAN AND STRAIGHT EDUCATION NETWORK (GLSEN)

www.glsen.org

90 Broad Street, 2nd Floor

New York, NY 10004

212-727-0135

GLSEN is an organization that seeks to end discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in K-12 schools.

HOLLABACK!

www.ihollaback.org/

30 Third Avenue, #800B

Brooklyn, NY 11217

347-889-5510

Hollaback! is a movement to end street harassment powered by a network of local activists around the world. According to Hollaback!, the real motive of street harassment is to make its target scared or uncomfortable, and to make the harasser feel powerful. Hollaback! encourages targets to expose harassers with their smartphones by documenting, mapping, and sharing incidents of street harassment.

NATIONAL CENTER FOR TRANSGENDER EQUALITY

www.transequality.org

1325 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 700

Washington, DC 20005

202-903-0112

The National Center for Transgender Equality is a social justice organization devoted to ending discrimination and violence against transgender people through education and advocacy.

NATIONAL WOMEN’S LAW CENTER

www.nwlc.org

11 Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 800

Washington, DC 20036

202-588-5180

The Center litigates, gets new laws passed, and educates the public about laws affecting women’s lives in education, employment, family and economic security, and health and reproductive rights, with special attention given to the needs of low-income women and their families.

OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS (OCR)

US Department of Education

www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/index.html

400 Maryland Avenue, SW

Washington, DC 20202

1-800-872-5327

The Office for Civil Rights works to ensure equal access to education through enforcement of students’ civil rights. The OCR addresses gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and bullying.

RAPE, ABUSE & INCEST NATIONAL NETWORK (RAINN)

www.rainn.org

1220 L Street, NW, Suite 505

Washington, DC 20005

202-544-3064

RAINN is the largest anti–sexual assault organization in the United States. It operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline and carries out programs to prevent sexual assault, help victims, and ensure that rapists are brought to justice.

THE WOMEN’S LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND

www.legalmomentum.org

5 Hanover Square, Suite 1502

New York, NY 10004

212-925-6635

The Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund expands the legal rights and services of girls and women who have been victimized by harassment and violence.

Material Written by People Who Believe That Slut-Shaming Must Be Eliminated

Bitch
(bitchmagazine.org)

Bust
(bust.com)

Colorlines
(colorlines.com)

Crunk Feminist Collective
(crunkfeministcollective.com)

Feministing
(feministing.com)

Jezebel
(jezebel.com)

RH Reality Check
(rhrealitycheck.org)

Feminist Communities

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN

www.aauw.org

1111 Sixteenth Street, NW

Washington, DC 20036

1-800-326-2289

The American Association of University Women (AAUW)
is the nation’s leading voice promoting equity and education for women and girls.

EQUALITY NOW

www.equalitynow.org

PO Box 20646

Columbus Circle Station

New York, NY 10023

212-586-0906

Equality Now advocates for the human rights of women and girls around the world by raising international visibility of individual cases of abuse, mobilizing public support, and wielding political pressure to ensure that governments enact or enforce laws and policies that uphold the rights of women and girls.

GIRLS INC.

www.girlsinc.org/

120 Wall Street

New York, NY 10005

212-509-2000

Girls Inc. focuses on giving confidence to girls. The oldest Girls Incorporated affiliate was formed in 1864 in Connecticut to provide programs for young working women as well as young daughters of mill families. The organization’s tagline today is that it “inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold.”

HOW TO LOSE YOUR VIRGINITY PROJECT

www.virginitymovie.com/resources

The website for this excellent documentary by Therese
Schechter includes a comprehensive list of online resources, a blog, and other entry points to help make discussion about female sexuality sane and reasonable.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD ACTION FUND

www.plannedparenthoodaction.org

1110 Vermont Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20005

202-973-4800

The advocacy and political arm of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Action Fund engages in electoral activity including legislative advocacy, voter education, and grassroots organizing to promote the Planned Parenthood mission. These efforts include advocating for changes in public policy with a sharp focus on ensuring access to comprehensive, affordable reproductive health care for all.

STOPSLUT

http://sluttheplay.com/stopslut-movement/

Visit this site to sign up to join the Girl Coalition or to apply to become a mentor.

THIRD WAVE FOUNDATION

www.thirdwavefoundation.org

220 East 23rd Street, Suite 509

New York, NY 10010

212-2288311

This foundation is a feminist activist philanthropic organization supporting young women and transgender youth ages fifteen through thirty. Third Wave has given nearly
$2 million to more than one thousand individuals through scholarships and more than one hundred young women–led and transgender youth–led organizations, often as the first national funder.

WOMEN, ACTION, & THE MEDIA (WAM!)

http://www.womenactionmedia.org/

7 Temple Street

Cambridge, MA 02139

617-876-5310

WAM! is dedicated to building a robust, effective, inclusive movement for gender justice in media. It is also a strong, growing community of people engaged with media who are learning and sharing skills needed to build a media ecosystem that represents the diversity of women’s lives and stories.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to Jennifer Lyons for twisting my arm to write this book. Jennifer, I had thought I’d said everything I wanted to say about slut-shaming, but I was wrong—and you were right. Clearly, you are a superb agent. More important, you are a precious confidante and ally.

I had told Jennifer that there was only one editor I wanted to work with—Denise Oswald—and that I wouldn’t go forward with anyone else. I was thrilled when Denise said yes—even though that meant I had run out of excuses: I had to go write the book. Denise, I knew I’d made the right decision a year later when you gave me your extensive editorial comments. Rather than telling me what you thought was best, or making the changes yourself in the manuscript, you asked me sharp questions that forced me to think more deeply. On every darned page. When I wasn’t cursing you, I was grateful. You challenged me not only to rewrite but to rethink.

I’m especially indebted to the stellar HarperCollins team: Cal Morgan, Amy Baker, Julie Hersh, Trish Daly, Mary Sasso, Kathryn Ratcliffe-Lee, Gregory Henry, Amanda Pelletier, William Ruoto, and Nina LoSchiavo. To Douglas Johnson, I am exceedingly thankful to you for whipping the copy into shape.

To Jaclyn Geller, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my proposal and my first draft—and for being
gentle in your precise suggested revisions. Thank you to Patricia Dunn not only for your excellent critique of my proposal but also for twisting my other arm to join twenty-first-century digital culture. To Jennifer Baumgardner, I am grateful for your support and energized by your exceptional feminist commitment. Thank you to those who persuaded me that an updated analysis of the slut label was necessary: Jean Halley, Suzanne Rumph, and Justin Matthew Smith. Your encouragement helped to move this project forward. To Diana Cage, Harriet Luria, Amy Moorman Robbins, and Shira Tarrant, thank you for introducing me to your thoughtful students and igniting discussion about slut-shaming in your classroom.

I am galvanized by the brilliant work of Meg McInerney and Katie Cappiello. Thank you for offering me your critiques, welcoming me into your movement, and guiding the next generation of young women grappling with meanings of “slut.”

I am fortunate to work for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund with smart, dedicated, fearless colleagues. They push every day to ensure that American women have access to affordable, safe, legal health care—no matter where they live or who they are—and that no one is shamed for using birth control or having an abortion. I am honored to work alongside you.

Finally, I am humbled by everyone who spoke with me about their personal experiences with slut-bashing and slut-shaming. For many, our conversations were emotional and difficult. Please know that your contribution helps raise awareness that the sexual double standard is sexist, unjust, and immoral. By speaking up, you are fighting the good fight, and for that I am forever grateful.

NOTES

1
         Felicity Barringer, “School Hallways as Gantlets of Sexual Taunts,”
New York Times
, June 2, 1993, B7, www.nytimes.com/1993/06/02/education/school-hallways-as-gantlets-of-sexual-taunts.html. An accompanying bar graph appeared in the print edition of the newspaper; it is not included in the online version of the article. The study upon which this article was based was published as a booklet,
Hostile Hallways: The AAUW Survey on Sexual Harassment in America’s Schools
(Washington, DC: American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, 1993). The bar graph that appeared in the
New York Times
also appears on page 9 of this booklet.

2
         Through my travels as a guest lecturer to college campuses, and with the assistance of several academic colleagues, I was fortunate to speak with clusters of college students from five universities—four in Northeast and Middle Atlantic states, and one on the West Coast. I was able to meet with a group of adolescent actors from New York City with the help of the leaders of a theater program called the Arts Effect. I placed an announcement on my website, as well as an advertisement in the feminist magazine
Bust
, both of which led to additional interviews. Several girls and women approached me after a sister or a friend had already spoken with me; they wanted in, too. Whenever possible, I met with these girls and women in person; in other cases, we spoke on the phone or via Skype. On average, each interview lasted an hour. In several instances, the interviewee and I spoke and met multiple times.

3
         For an excellent historical overview, see the first two chapters of Joseph Allen Boone,
Tradition Counter Tradition: Love and the Form of Fiction
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987).

4
         Jaclyn Geller, “Critical Reflections on the Push for Same Sex Marriage,”
Connecticut Review
33, no. 1 (Spring 2011): 47–55.

5
         Nancy F. Cott, “Passionlessness: An Interpretation of Victorian Sexual Ideology, 1790–1850,”
Signs
4, no. 2 (Winter 1978): 220.

6
         Harriet Jacobs,
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 45.

7
         Shabiki Crane, “Pride from Behind,” in
Feminism for Real: Deconstructing the Academic Industrial Complex of Feminism
, ed. Jessica Yee (Ottawa, Canada: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2011), 78.

8
         Jessica Ringrose,
Postfeminist Education? Girls and the Sexual Politics of Schooling
(New York: Routledge, 2013), 94.

9
         
Oxford English Dictionary
Online, s.v. “slut, n.,” accessed August 14, 2013, www.oed.com/view/Entry/182346?rskey=L0N1dO&result=1&isAdvanced=false.

10
       Frances S. Foster, “Ultimate Victims: Black Women in Slave Narratives.”
Journal of American Culture
1, no. 4 (December 1978): 846.

11
       Ibid., 852–3.

12
       Ibid., 852.

13
       Ibid., 853.

14
       
Oxford English Dictionary
Online, s.v. “ho, n. 7.,” accessed August 10, 2014, http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/248633?result=6&rskey=LxtlZ8&.

15
       Simon Reynolds and Joy Press,
The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion and Rock n’ Roll
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996), 325.

16
       Dossie Easton and Catherine A. Liszt [Janet Hardy],
The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Possibilities
(Emeryville, CA: Greenery Press, 1997).