Leora Tanenbaum's Slut! is a groundbreaking account of the lives of young women who stand up to the destructive power of name-calling, 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 labelling, Leora's own story, and her cogent analysis of the underlying problem of sexual stereotyping.
Girls may be labeled "sluts" for any number of reasons, including expressions of sexuality, but also for nonsexual expressions of independence or openness, or because they were raped. Tanenbaum herself was labeled a slut in high school. The confessional article she wrote about the experience caused a sensation after it was published in Seventeen and led her to write this book.
Leora Tanenbaum writes about women and girls and the unique problems they face. She is the author of Slut!: Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation, Catfight: Rivalries Among Women—From Diets to Dating, From the Boardroom to the Delivery Room, Bad Shoes and the Women Who Love Them, and Taking Back God: American Women Rising Up for Religious Equality. She lives in New York City.
