THE LEORA LETTER

Slut-shaming matters because when people are dismissed as sluts, hoes, and thots, they are denied care and compassion as human beings and in a variety of situations, including when they are sexually harassed, sexually assaulted, and need an abortion.

As the film adaptation of Judy Blume’s 1970 novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret reminds us, girls on the cusp of adolescence have long walked around wearing a bikini top as a shirt, posed suggestively and lied about being more sexually developed and experienced than they truly are. They also have a history of singling out the early-developing classmate and fabricating stories about her to smear her as a “slut.”

Girls in 1970—they’re just like girls in 2023!

But with one enormous difference: Whether they were sexualizing themselves or others, girls’ reputations could travel far, but not that far.

If Margaret were transported to 2023, she likely would have access to a smartphone (you can envision her grandmother secretly getting her one, her parents none the wiser) and would consider signing up for a period-tracking app. In the department store dressing room, trying on bras, she might take selfies to share with friends to ask which bra she should get, or just to savor the moment that marks becoming an adult. She might send one to someone she likes—because they asked for it, or because she just wants to.

And through these actions, she would be risking humiliation exponentially more dignity-crushing than anything her 1970 self could possibly imagine, with her selfies shared nonconsensually to everyone she knows. She may even jeopardize her own well-being, since data from her period-tracking app could become evidence against her if she seeks an abortion in a state in which it is outlawed.

Meanwhile, the early-developing classmate rumored to let boys “feel her up” behind the A&P might very well find her phone hacked, her private images sold to porn sites and published along with her name and address.

Learn more about how girls today face unique challenges by continuing to read this article at Ms. Magazine.

Key takeaway: By normalizing the behavior of pre-adolescent girls obsessed with sexuality that they don’t yet comprehend, Are You There God? is an excellent reminder that girls—like all of us—need space to act foolishly, sometimes cruelly and then grow up—without being treated like a sexual object and without the whole world knowing all about it.