Slut: The Play is about sixteen-year-old Joey Del Marco who has a life-altering Friday night out after having been raped by her high school friends.
Joey speaks up after being assaulted in the back of a cab on the way to a party. Since Joey is perceived by her school community as a “slut,” she is not the “perfect victim” and is therefore not believed or supported by many who learn about her rape.
Personally, I was able to relate to this character, Joey, in how we are both perceived by the world. We are of the same race (white) and probably similar in socio-economic status (middle class). The social situations that Joey is in throughout the play were also candidly depicted and reflected my particular reality as a white, middle class teenager in New York City. But I know it’s not the reality of all teens in New York.
Joey’s whole story was completely heartbreaking, especially because of the fact that the boys who attacked her she had once considered her friends. This detail is really terrifying to me because I’d like to think that my guy friends would never be capable of doing such a thing to anyone, but clearly it does happen.
For me, I have always heard the word “slut” being used in really casual ways. I can recall many times hanging out with my girlfriends where we joke around and call each other “sluts,” or the word is used as a defense, as in: “I was just being slutty.” It has been extremely eye-opening for me to realize the serious attack this word has on female sexuality. There has always been a clear distinction between a female and a male’s sexuality in my mind, in terms of the ways we are “allowed” to act, in public and in private. These differences are taught to us at a very early age and have an impact on who we become later in life.
Now, I’ve begun to think of the word “slut” as a trap. There’s really nothing else it can be. Men are allowed, even encouraged, to be sexual beings but when a woman “acts like a man” she is labeled a “slut” because we are held to different standards than men are, which I find simply not fair.
In order to break down these specific gender expectations we, as women, have to stop attacking each other with these words, we have to all be on the same side, otherwise we’ll just go in circles. I’ve become increasingly aware of girls’ incessant need to tear each other down, which I think is the first thing that needs to stop in order for us to gain confidence and actually be able to be viewed as equals.
Girls have been told to not dress or act like “sluts” because our society is constantly looking for ways to blame the victims. As a result, we are not having real conversations about girls’ sexuality. However, through protests and organizations such as SlutWalk and StopSlut: Girl Coalition, girls and young women are learning to find their voices and realizing that they do matter, and more importantly, learning that they are not alone.
The StopSlut Movement is a mainly youth led revolution that is being led by girls (and boys) standing up and voicing their anger. I have learned that activism does not have an age requirement. The earlier we teach girls to notice how they are oppressed and how it is wrong the earlier they can get involved in taking action towards a more equal future.
I attended my first conference with StopSlut on September 28, and found myself shocked at what some of these girls had been going through. Listening to personal stories from these young girls really hit me and made me realize that the issue can be closer to home than hollers from random men on the street or sexual attacks from strangers. Gender-based violence can be done by the people that you know.
Rape and assault perpetuated by intimate partners and friends is a theme that emerges in Slut: The Play with Joey’s attack coming from three guys she clearly trusted. It is so much worse to feel like you’ve been fooled and screwed over by people you once cared about. It makes the situation a million times more sickening.
Recently, the majority of my high school feminism class had the honor to attend the second annual International Day of the Girl at the UN. It was said that 1 out of 3 girls experiences sexual violence at some point in her life. This statistic is shocking and unacceptable. It is apparent that the only action that has been taken to change this has been informing girls and women of these dangers and how we can take precautions, when in reality the people that need to be targeted and informed are boys and men to get involved in a solution.
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