Description: From the acclaimed author of Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation and I Am Not a Slut: Slut-Shaming in the Age of the Internet, an incisive exploration of why young women wear body-revealing outfits and share sexy selfies and what these choices say about claiming bodily autonomy in our toxic, sexist culture.
Brief description: Leora Tanenbaum began researching and writing about slut-shaming before the term even existed. Her first book, Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputation, is regarded as a significant contribution to feminist thought and the foundational text on slut-shaming. She has written for The New York Times, Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, New York Daily News, The Nation, and U.S. News & World Report and has been a guest on Oprah, The Today Show, Nightline, Bill Maher, Fox News, MSNBC, and National Public Radio.
Review Quotes:
"Tanenbaum brings vulnerable and nuanced discussions to complicated topics such as autonomy, non-consensual and consensual sexualization, and both the empowerment and objectification that come with posting sexy selfies." --Choice Reviews
"Tanenbaum brings depth and empathy to the conversation." --Peace, Love, and .... "Tanenbaum is a careful and thorough listener, committed to accurately rendering the voices of young women and non-binary folks when they talk to her about the intricacies of their lives, online and otherwise . . . The author has done us all a service, adding another must-read book for those who want to understand a new generation's anxieties around appearance and self-image." --Lilith Magazine "In Sexy Selfie Nation, Leora Tanenbaum deftly wades into the objectification of young women's bodies on social media and the conditions that produce it. Spoiler alert: the problem is not young women posting selfies! People want easy answers, but Tanenbaum considers complex questions: Is the sexy selfie an act of empowerment? Is it a clap back? Is it an imperfect response to an imperfect system? This is a must-read for anyone figuring out how to understand this new moment and how to navigate it as a parent or a young person." --Samhita Mukhopadhyay, author of The Myth of Making It and former executive editor of Teen Vogue "Leora Tanenbaum's gift is speaking directly to young women without judgment or shame about the trickiest of topics-objectification, sexual agency, bodily autonomy--and what and where those lines might be. Sexy Selfie Nation is an indispensable guide to helping them define and make their choices in a culture that sexualizes them from childhood and then blames them when they fight back." --Peggy Orenstein, author of Girls & Sex "Finally, teen girls get the respect they deserve from someone who truly cares. In Sexy Selfie Nation, Leora Tanenbaum acts as a mediator between these girls and their disapproving adults, offering impressive empathy to both sides. This book is an essential account of what teens are thinking when they show off their bodies, and a reminder that a safer, shame-free world is possible." --Nona Willis Aronowitz, author of Bad Sex and former sex columnist for Teen Vogue "Tanenbaum tackles an immensely important subject with this enlightening, surprising, and thoroughly researched consideration of young women, clothing, and sexual objectification ...Tanenbaum's work is great in scope but intimate in execution. Outstanding." --Booklist "A must-read for young women and their parents. Tanenbaum brings an essential feminist lens to the crisis in youth mental health, diagnosing systemic causes while remaining fiercely respectful and protective of young people doing their best in a sexist, screwed up world." --Alexandra Brodsky, author of Sexual Justice "Leora Tanenbaum called out "slut-shaming" 25 years ago. She was right then, and she's right today. The book's most important insight is that when girls and women decide to stand up for themselves, this decision can come at a cost. Tanenbaum explains this challenge and offers advice for girls and women, mothers and fathers, on how to handle the sexist culture that remains a threat to girls and women everywhere. Read this book, and then buy another copy for the young person in your life." --Karen Hinton, author of Penis Politics: A Memoir of Women, Men, and Power "Looking at women's engagements with sexy clothing, racy selfies, and OnlyFans accounts, Leora Tanenbaum explains in this thoughtful, sensitive, and highly captivating book the benefits and dangers of sexualizing women's bodies. Using both historical examples and numerous interviews, it offers a map and advice on how to navigate today's toxic culture of social media, commercial objectification, and slut-shaming. Sexy Selfie Nation is a must and timely read to all those who want to understand the increasingly complicated reality where sex and sexuality can be empowering and a feminist means of resistance, while also pointing to the social dangers these practices entail." --Einav Rabinovitch-Fox, PhD, author of Dressed for Freedom: The Fashionable Politics of American Feminism "Have you ever wondered why a young person that you care about dresses like that or posts a selfie with cleavage, bedroom eyes, and tousled hair? I was gripped by Tanenbaum's powerful argument about sexy selfies as an act of resistance against gender-unequal dress coding, image-based sexual abuse, and other forms of unwanted sexualization ... I could not put this book down and highlighted probably ever other sentence. "Remember that sexuality is not the problem; violation of consent is the problem." One of this year's must-reads." --Jennifer S. Hirsch, PhD, coauthor of Sexual Citizens: Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus "A crucial book for this moment. Young people and those who care for them need to read this book! We need to stop criminalizing and shaming kids and find ways to respect, support, and empower them as they come of age in their digital world." --Devorah Heitner, PhD, author of Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World "The diversity of expertise included, centering of survivors, and foregrounding of nuance make this book an educational and engaging read for anyone trying to make sense of the paradoxical pressures placed on women expected to be 'sexy, just not slutty.'" --Carrie Goldberg, victims' rights lawyer and author of Nobody's Victim: Fighting Psychos, Stalkers, Pervs, and Trolls "Anyone who picks up this book will walk away with a clear sense of how complicated it is to walk the world in a woman's body-and even more so as each day passes. Best of all, Tanenbaum has practical solutions and advice that will cross generations. This is a book for anyone who cares about women and girls-which is to say, this is a book for everyone." --Donna Freitas, author of Consent: A Memoir of Unwanted Attention and Consent on Campus: A Manifesto