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A review by willwork4airfare
Unslut: A Diary and a Memoir by Emily Lindin
5.0
I can obviously see how this book might not appeal to some people, but bear in mind that it is a memoir/biography and not an academic discussion. That said, I loved it. I had to remind myself several times that this diary takes place in the 90s in Boston because I felt like it could've been written by myself or someone I knew. Middle school is the weirdest time.
I do wish that there had been more commentary or a more thorough afterword discussing the ramifications or the feminist context for the events of the diaries, but as I said, it's a memoir. The comments were short and mostly contextual, but so many had me laughing out loud, while others had my heart breaking. I relate to so much of what she wrote here and this book prompted so many memories and so much reflection about my own life. I couldn't wait to take out my middle school diaries and see what came up for me.
In these diaries, I saw myself and many of the girls I knew and some I only heard rumors about. I felt ashamed at how the memory of some 12 year old who had "stolen my boyfriend" could still make my stomach twist. I wondered about how many rumors I'd heard about other girls' sluttiness were the result of complete fiction, or nonconsensual acts. It's scary to think of how young we were. That this is how we learned to experiment with flirting and romance and sexuality. I definitely related to the melodrama and the volatility of emotions and of course the bad 11-13 year old poetry. Although she didn't spend much time on it, it made me think of how we as adults and teachers and religious institutions who interact with children every day need to do a better job of teaching them how to navigate relationships and emotional vocabulary. And of course, I love how clear this makes it that even before cellphones and social media, sexual bullying was just as prevalent.
I will definitely be looking into The Unslut Project because this book is pretty amazing. I was lucky enough to stumble upon it in my local library's Women's History Month display.
I do wish that there had been more commentary or a more thorough afterword discussing the ramifications or the feminist context for the events of the diaries, but as I said, it's a memoir. The comments were short and mostly contextual, but so many had me laughing out loud, while others had my heart breaking. I relate to so much of what she wrote here and this book prompted so many memories and so much reflection about my own life. I couldn't wait to take out my middle school diaries and see what came up for me.
In these diaries, I saw myself and many of the girls I knew and some I only heard rumors about. I felt ashamed at how the memory of some 12 year old who had "stolen my boyfriend" could still make my stomach twist. I wondered about how many rumors I'd heard about other girls' sluttiness were the result of complete fiction, or nonconsensual acts. It's scary to think of how young we were. That this is how we learned to experiment with flirting and romance and sexuality. I definitely related to the melodrama and the volatility of emotions and of course the bad 11-13 year old poetry. Although she didn't spend much time on it, it made me think of how we as adults and teachers and religious institutions who interact with children every day need to do a better job of teaching them how to navigate relationships and emotional vocabulary. And of course, I love how clear this makes it that even before cellphones and social media, sexual bullying was just as prevalent.
I will definitely be looking into The Unslut Project because this book is pretty amazing. I was lucky enough to stumble upon it in my local library's Women's History Month display.