UnSlut Project

[Kheldarson]

http://unslutproject.tumblr.com/

The blogger found her diaries from 6th grade, when she was designated the class slut. She's posting them in part to help show that it's not just the new tech that's causing slut shaming, it's our society itself.

There aren't that many entries yet, so it's a good time to follow the story if anybody's interested.

I'll just say: kudos to this woman for sharing.

[Panacea]

Wow.

This is scary stuff to read.

[Kheldarson]

What makes it kinda hit home for me is...she's obviously my age. I was in 6th grade the same time she was.

And I still remember how much it blew. And I wasn't sexually teased...just teased (I think my bullies knew that would be missing the mark entirely...)

[HYHYBT]

6th grade is too early...

[Kheldarson]

One would think but...while I was teaching, I would hear girls talking about how they wanted to sleep with their boyfriends (who were often in 8th or 9th grade).

We teachers worried about which one of them would actually end up pregnant. (Fortunately, none of them did)

[Canarr]

Okay, I have to ask... is this real? While I admittedly only skimmed the blog, it reads like every cliché I've ever read or seen about the life in Amercian schools. Personally, I always believed that Hollywood was exaggerating...

[Kheldarson]

I will assume it's real until otherwise shown otherwise. Because, honestly, Hollywood doesn't have to exaggerate too much.

I mentioned earlier I wasn't really teased on my sexuality but here are some of the things that I was teased about:

Being smart
Reading
Not shaving
Shaving (cuz now I'm just following the crowd)
Using a pad, not a tampon
Wearing a strapless dress to our 8th grade graduation

Middle school is...not a good time. At all.

[SkullKing]

I was criticized for liking to read.

I was a very advanced reader.

During an aggressive argument a jock actually looked at me and said "dude, you READ" like you say "dude you are a :expletive:"

[Duelist925]

I was criticized for liking to read.

I was a very advanced reader.

During an aggressive argument a jock actually looked at me and said "dude, you READ" like you say "dude you are a :expletive:"

I remember when someone hurled that particular bit of bile at me in...seventh grade?

Middle school was...stupid

[Andara Bledin]

Middle school was both the time when a kid stole my bike in order to force me to kiss him and also the time when I had a carton of creamer poured over my head while waiting for my ride after graduation.

Middle school is the time when kids are smart enough to figure out all sorts of vicious things to do to one another and still too unaware of consequences and morality for it to keep them from doing it.

[Panacea]

Okay, I have to ask... is this real? While I admittedly only skimmed the blog, it reads like every cliché I've ever read or seen about the life in Amercian schools. Personally, I always believed that Hollywood was exaggerating...

Unfortunately, no. Hollywood draws on real life, and there is a lot of it.

When I was in 6th grade I started getting an interest in guys. There was a guy who was interested in me and we started talking on the phone.

Unfortunately, neither of us was very mature yet. I started hearing rumors that it was all a set up to embarrass me. I overheard him confirming the rumor to some other kids. It really hurt me; I had trust issues and still have them. So when he asked me to a dance, I confronted him and refused. He got really upset, and a friend I trusted told me he'd been telling the kids who didn't like me what they wanted to hear so they wouldn't give him a hard time about liking me.

Confused yet? I know I sure was.

I mentioned earlier I wasn't really teased on my sexuality but here are some of the things that I was teased about:

Middle school is...not a good time. At all.

I was teased because I liked science fiction, because I wore glasses, because I was clumsy, and because I took everything so literally it was easy to set me up for pranks (I didn't know at the time I had Asperger's).

When I was in 7th grade, I was teased for "stuffing" my bra. I wasn't; I bloomed early and big and quickly filled into a C cup, later a D cup when most of my female peers were still flat as a board.

Middle school was the most miserable 3 years of my life. 8th grade was literally a dangerous year for me; I was beaten so badly in school that I should have gone to the hospital (instead the principal refused to call an ambulance and made me lie on a couch in the administrative office all day).

We should just take kids out of school for those three years. I don't know what we'd do with them, but anything has to be better than middle school.

[KabeRinnaul]

My little sister had so many threats made against her she had to transfer schools. I know she was actually attacked on two occasions - the first was slamming her head into a locker. The other was pushing her down a flight of stairs.

I've had books thrown at me, my things stolen, gotten dragged into fights... And once we got to the principal's office, I was informed that "fights don't start for no reason", and was asked what I had done to provoke them.

A friend of mine once had a bully start taking swings at him because said friend wouldn't give up his seat for the bully (for bonus horrible, friend was black and bully was white). My friend just curled up and covered his head because it was a week before graduation and he didn't want to risk suspension so close, so he was making sure nobody could say he fought back.

That last one happened outside the administrative office, in full view of the secretary and principal. As I recall, they still wanted to punish both of them.

[violiav]

I was criticized for liking to read.

I was a very advanced reader.

During an aggressive argument a jock actually looked at me and said "dude, you READ" like you say "dude you are a :expletive:"

Me too. I tell people that now and it sounds unreal, people don't really believe me. I thought I was the only one.

[MadMike]

I've had books thrown at me, my things stolen, gotten dragged into fights... And once we got to the principal's office, I was informed that "fights don't start for no reason", and was asked what I had done to provoke them.

Ugh. I was small for my age up until I was 12 or 13, and as a result, I got picked on a lot. And I used to get the same bullshit comments from the adults, including my own father. Thankfully, once my dad realized that I was being attacked completely without provocation, he taught me how to fight back. I took down a few people who were twice my size.

[Panacea]

And once we got to the principal's office, I was informed that "fights don't start for no reason", and was asked what I had done to provoke them.

That last one happened outside the administrative office, in full view of the secretary and principal. As I recall, they still wanted to punish both of them.

I had the opposite problem. The vice principal always believed me. He just couldn't punish the bullies. The principal was a pussy and wouldn't let the VP do his job of enforcing discipline. There was always some excuse for those kids: they were misunderstood, came from a disadvantaged background, I needed to learn not to be so sensitive . . . yeah, I was real sensitive when one kid broke my glasses and I burst into tears fearing my father's reaction (unfounded fears, Dad believed me, and he made the kids parents pay for the replacements). But that was small consolation when the bullies (girls) trapped me in the locker room and beat me to a pulp because I wouldn't smoke a cigarette, and the school would do NOTHING.

My brother got the same thing, though he was tougher and more willing to fight back. He got into a fight with a kid who SPIT in his food. The cafeteria monitor played favorites with kids, and that kid was 1) a favorite, and 2) gave Brother a hard time because he'd had me three years previous and already didn't like me.

When the principal tried to suspend Brother, Dad reminded him of the promise he'd made the principal about me and bruises: as in, if Dad saw me come home with another one, the principal would have one to match. The Principal backed off, Brother continued to fight back and the other kids learned not to fuck with him quick (Brother is a gentle guy, but don't fuck with him. You'll wake up in the hospital and wonder what the hell happened).

Me too. I tell people that now and it sounds unreal, people don't really believe me. I thought I was the only one.

I think a lot of us have stories to tell. At the time it seems like we're the only one, but in reality, the bullies pick on kids we don't even know about.

Ugh. I was small for my age up until I was 12 or 13, and as a result, I got picked on a lot. And I used to get the same bullshit comments from the adults, including my own father. Thankfully, once my dad realized that I was being attacked completely without provocation, he taught me how to fight back. I took down a few people who were twice my size.

I always got support from Dad. It was Mom I had trouble with; she would get so frustrated with how passive I was, with "being a crybaby." She would tell me to grow up and act my age. However, it turned around, she finally came to realize it wasn't a maturity issue. And when I did finally fight back, she backed me to the hilt.