SLUT: A Play and Guidebook for Combating Sexism and Sexual Violence

by Katie Cappiello, Meg McInerney, Jennifer Baumgardner (Preface by), Carol Gilligan (Afterword)

Overview

The basis of the forthcoming NETFLIX series Grand Army.

Hailed by Gloria Steinem as “truthful, raw, and immediate,” SLUT examines sexual violence and rape culture through the eyes of high school students at a New York City high school.

"She's such a slut." Sound familiar?

When a sixteen-year-old Joey is sexually assaulted by three friends, her life is thrown into upheaval after she comes forward and realizes the extent of society’s deeply-rooted sexual double standards and rape culture. By turns heartbreaking and hilarious, the play SLUT captures the real lives of teens and young adults as they negotiate sex and the cruel scapegoating that still hobbles female sexuality and power. 

This groundbreaking play and guidebook, written in collaboration with New York City high school students, offers communities and individuals concrete tools to inspire change and disrupt rape culture. SLUT includes production notes, a guide for talk-backs, and provocative essays by Leora Tanenbaum, Jennifer Baumgardner, Farah Tanis, Jamia Wilson, among others, providing the resources to inspire change within our communities and ourselves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558618718
Publisher:	Feminist Press at CUNY, The
Publication date:	03/15/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	248
File size:	691 KB

About the Author

Katie Cappiello is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of The Arts where she studied a combination of Drama, Women's Studies, and Applied Theater. She has written several award-winning plays and taught theater to young people for the last decade.

Meg McInerney is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of The Arts. She has been honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the United States Congress for her pioneering work with theater and young people.

Table of Contents

Why StopSlut? Jennifer Baumgardner 13

Reality Check From Young Voices 21

Why SLUT? Theater as Activism Katie Cappiello Meg McInerney 69

SLUT: The Play Katie Cappiello 75

Production Notes 157

Discussion Questions 161

Slut in the Age of the Internet Leora Tanenbaum 167

Who Really Benefits from Slut Shaming? Duane de Four 175

My Story: Shaming and Assault in the Queer Community John Kelly 191

An Open Letter From Black Women to the SlutWalk Farah Tanis 205

Slut on the Latina Body Veronica Arreola 213

When Cyberbullies Attack, Teen Girls Will Fight Back: A Countermeme Jamia Wilson 221

Dress Codes or How Schools Skirt Around Sexism and Homophobia Soraya Chemaly 229

Decoding Title IX Sarah Rankin 237

The Global Slutting of Female Sexuality: An Interview with Yasmeen Hassan: The Arts Effect All-Girl Theater Company 243

Teaching SLUT: Empowering Students to Understand Slut Shaming and Rape Culture Ileana Jiménez 257

It's Time to StopSlut Katie Cappiello Meg McInerney 271

Vive La Girl Résistance! An Afterword with Carol Gilligan Jennifer Baumgardner 301

StopSlut Glossary 313

About the Editors 315

About the Contributors 317

Acknowledgments 323

Editorial Reviews

"Katie Cappiello’s powerhouse script examines the double standard that celebrates sexual activity by boys but denigrates it for girls." —Time Out New York

"Leading the charge to end slut shaming for good." —Teen Vogue

"A gutsy feminist play." —NYLON magazine

"The explicit link between slut-shaming, and the way it’s used as a weapon against girls and against women who’ve been sexually assaulted...is the most valuable part of [the] book." —DAME magazine

"First and foremost, SLUT takes direct aim at slut-shaming." —RH Reality Check

"SLUT is truthful, raw and immediate! Experience this play and witness what American young women live with every day." —Gloria Steinem, author of My Life on the Road

"SLUT resonates to the core. It’s a call to arms, a wake up call. It’s harrowing and terrifying but also steadying and inspiring. It reminds us that we have work to do.” —Elizabeth Cuthrell, producer of Meek’s Cutoff

"SLUT is a breathtakingly brave, honest and brutal look at the reality of violence against women.” —Kathy Najimy, Ms. Magazine’s 2005 Woman of the Year

From the Publisher