Cappiello Katie - Slut: a play and guidebook for combating sexism and sexual violence

Published in 2015 by the Feminist Press

at the City University of New York

The Graduate Center

365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5406

New York, NY 10016

feministpress.org

Copyright 2015 by Katie Cappiello and Meg McInerney

Copyright information for the play is the next page, which constitutes a continuation of this copyright page.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, used, or stored in any information retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the Feminist Press at the City University of New York, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First printing February 2015

Cover and text design by Drew Stevens

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

SLUT : a play and guidebook for combating sexism and sexual violence / edited by Katie Cappiello and Meg McInerney ; introduction by Jennifer Baumgardner ; afterword with Carol Gilligan.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-55861-871-8 (ebook)

1. American dramaWomen authors. 2. SexismDrama. 3. Sex crimesDrama. 4. Sex roleDrama. 5. Young womenCrimes againstDrama. 6. Sex crimesUnited States. I. Cappiello, Katie, editor. II. McInerney, Meg, editor.

PS628.W6S58 2015

812'.60809287dc23

2014046270

SLUT: The Play

Copyright 2014 by Katie Cappiello and Meg McInerney

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this title.

CAUTION REGARDING EDUCATIONAL USE: Educational performances/presentations/readings at universities, colleges, high schools, middle schools, elementary schools, any educational institution (public, private, or not-for-profit) must LICENSE the rights to SLUT via The Feminist Press. No non-professional or professional educational performances of SLUT may be given without obtaining in advance the written permission of the Feminist Press, and paying the requisite fee. Inquiries concerning licensing for educational performances/presentations/readings should be addressed to: The Feminist Press, 365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5406, New York, NY 10016. (212) 817-7915 Attn: Jennifer Baumgardner; or

CAUTION TO ALL OTHER ENTITIES: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that performance of SLUT is subject to payment of a royalty. It is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America, and of all countries covered by the International Copyright Union (including the Dominion of Canada and the rest of the British Commonwealth), and of all countries covered by the Pan-American Copyright Convention, the Universal Copyright Convention, the Berne Convention, and of all countries with which the United States has reciprocal copyright relations. All rights including without limitation, professional/amateur stage rights, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, video or sound recording, all other forms of mechanical, electronic and digital reproduction, transmission and distribution, such as CD, DVD, the Internet, private and file-sharing networks, information storage and retrieval systems, photocopying, and the rights of translation into foreign languages are strictly reserved. Particular emphasis is placed upon the matter of readings, permission for which must be secured from the authors agent in writing.

The English language stock and amateur stage performance rights in the United States, its territories, possessions and Canada for SLUT are controlled exclusively by The Arts Effect. No professional or nonprofessional performance of SLUT may be given without obtaining in advance the written permission of The Arts Effect, and paying the requisite fee. Visit www.StopSlut.org for more details and to apply for stock and amateur performance rights.

Inquiries concerning all other rights should be addressed to The Gersh Agency, 41 Madison Avenue, 33rd Floor, New York, NY 10010; Attn: Scott Yoselow. (212) 997-1818.

SPECIAL NOTE: Anyone receiving permission to produce SLUT is required to give credit to Katie Cappiello as sole and exclusive author of the play, and give credit to The Arts Effect as sole and exclusive Development/Creative Company on the title page of all programs distributed in connection with performances of the play and in all instances in which the title of the play appears for purposes of advertising, publicizing or otherwise exploiting the play and/or a production thereof. The names of the author and development/creative company must appear on separate lines, in which no other names appear, immediately beneath the title and in size of type equal to 50 percent of the size of the largest, most prominent letter used for the title of the play. No person, firm or entity may receive credit larger or more prominent than the author. The billing must appear as follows:

SLUT by Katie Cappiello

In collaboration with The Arts Effect All-Girl Theater Company

For our loving parents Jane and Mike Cappiello and Claudia and Maury McInerney.

For our siblings, our students, and our teachers.

For Jamison and Jason.

And for Celia Rose T. Fitzgerald who inspires us every day to do fancy things for the world and whose life and memory, in so many ways, brought us here.

Every woman who appears wrestles with the forces that would have her disappear. She struggles with the forces that would tell her story for her, or write her out of the story, the genealogy, the rights of man, the rule of law. The ability to tell your own story, in words or images, is already a victory, already a revolt.

Rebecca Solnit, Men Explain Things to Me

Contents

JENNIFER BAUMGARDNER

I dont recall when I first heard the word slut, but by the time I was twelve, I knew intuitively and immediately what it connoted: a girl who was sexual and worthless. I remember I was running around the gym in a stinky polyester Agassiz Tigers gym suit. Another seventh grader ran up to me and said, Jenny, your sisters a slut. She had sex at Bobs party over the weekend.

Up until that moment, I had thought of my fourteen-year-old sister, Andrea, as basically like me, but with clearer skin and better curling iron skills. We were adolescent Baumgardnersmeaning tall, awkward, smart brace-faces. Suddenly, because of the sex, Andrea was mature, wanton, and trashy, ready to do it with anyone. Although it made no sense, I accepted this new version of reality.

As it turned out, the sex that branded Andrea a slut was not consensual. She was at the party trying alcohol for the first time. When she retreated to a bedroom to lie down and sober up, her boyfriends best friend followed her in and decided to have sex with her. Nauseous and reeling, she said no and pushed him away as best she could.