She recounts discussions with other young actresses who got typecast and told to lose weight, be more sexy, or told they were not seen as sexually desirable. Sheedy talks about being a young actress in Hollywood and being told she was “fat.” I grew up watching Sheedy in films, I am gobsmacked that a director would even think this. Stasis by Ally Sheedy (5 stars)-Yup that Ally Sheedy. I just died a little inside while reading this essay. I just hated how everyone kept telling her that what happened to her wasn’t as bad as what happened to her mother. Martir ties in her mother’s own history of rape with her history of rape which happened when she was 6 years old. What I Told Myself by Vanessa Martir (4.5 stars)-A hard story to read. A woman at a Yankee swap gets a vibrator and somehow it signifies something about her marriage. Only the Lonely by Lisa Mecham (2 stars)-This was confusing. I just couldn’t understand when the person this essay was written for was in McKenna’s life and also the other people who were named after. I felt for McKenna and loved the essay overall. Sixty-Three Days by AJ McKenna (3.5 stars)-I was confused by the timeline in this one which took me out of the story. I think at this point I took another break from the book. She chose one in order to not be raped by all and was called “whore” and “slut” at school. And then the story gets even scarier if possible when she tells how she got invited to a party with 5 other teen boys (she was the only girl) while they watched porn.
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The Sun by Emma Smith-Stevens (5 stars)-Stevens recounts tales of being objectified at an early age (13) by older men her whole life. The story flits around a bit though with Taylor remembering their mother who also died and seems to segue into how Taylor is judgey towards his brother who is judgey towards them. Recounting memories of their rapist (who was also their uncle). Spectator by Brandon Taylor (3 stars)-this was hard to read. At the end of the essay I don’t know if she doesn’t get that is not all she has to offer. Melnick tells how she started giving blowjobs for attention and was led to believe that her body was her only thing to offer the world. The Luckiest MILF in Brooklyn by Lynn Melnick (1 star)-I loathe the word MILF and this story was about catcall culture which is still a form of rape culture. Which I imagine was done to show how confused and separate a person feels after being raped. I just found the whole essay to be more spoken poetry and it just jumped around a lot. We have Schwartz telling her about everything “after” which I assumed to be her rape. & The Truth Is, I Have No Story by Claire Schwartz (2 stars)-This one was so weird after reading Slaughterhouse Island.
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At this point I put the book down and went to the gym to work out. Nope, the outcome the second time is him attempting to rape her. She sees him again because part of you hopes for a different outcome. A young girl meets a guy she feels meh towards, but still keeps hanging out with and one night things get ugly and he rapes her. Slaughterhouse Island by Jill Christman (5 stars)-Christman tells what sounds like a typical college story (which makes me sad). Hirsch begins telling stories about her time in college and the one disturbing story is about how after a night of drinking too much she woke up in a friend’s room (where he put her to keep her safe) and took out her contacts while she was unconscious. Apparently birth control equals putting out a certain signal (blech). A few times I went wait what happened when we had someone recounting their story.įragments by Aubrey Hirsch (4 stars)-the story begins when she is being harassed for taking birth control by her supposed friend James. Also I wish that things were not left vague in a few stories. I think also that looking at rape culture is a huge undertaking, and so the stories could have flowed a bit better between them to the next story. I ended up just feeling sad while reading and finally finishing this book off with some wine. It was just hard to get through and some of the stories didn’t really move me one way or the other.
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I feel like a bad person for not totally loving this book.