Girls & Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape

The chapter opens at a large, California high school’s welcome-back assembly. Camila Ortiz and Izzy Lang, two seniors, listened as the dean of students spoke about the need for girls to dress in ways that showed they “respected” themselves and their families. Camila challenged the dean, who invited her to take the microphone. She told the audience the dean was promoting “rape culture” by blaming victims for what they wear.

Orenstein says that while boys are chided for dressing in ways that disobey authority, girls’ dress code violations concern sex; girls are charged with representing modesty and policing boys’ sexual feelings and behaviors. Camila was catcalled, touched, stared at, and received unwelcome comments about her body almost every day in school, and she was angry the dean tried to make her responsible for her harassment. In her high school, boys downloaded girls’ photos from social media and reposted them with claims about their alleged sexual histories. Camila was one of the victims, but when she reported it she was put in a room with four male security guards who asked her about the sexual acts.

Orenstein notes that these sorts of instances happen everywhere. In one nearby school, boys harassed female athletes by yelling out sexual comments while they played.