Real Girl Power

Patricia Pearson: “What interests White [...] is how 'key' the character of the slut is to girls' sexual coming of age. The dynamic is played out between girls, with boys as peripheral characters in the drama. 'Girls,' White argues, 'manifest a verbal and physical hostility toward the slut that is remarkable in its focused intensity. They ambush the slut in parking lots, whisper threats over telephone wires and wait for her in the bathroom with fists clenched.'”

And later...

“[Sharon Lamb] goes on to make the extremely cogent argument that girls are as volatile as they are in adolescence because their sexual desire is bottled up and repressed. If they weren't taught to feel ashamed of sexual desire, to fail, even, to recognize it in themselves, the 'slut' wouldn't be quite so threatening.”