Speak Loudly

Author Laurie Halse Anderson talks about how someone is challenging her book Speak, a painfully realistic look at the mental state of a young woman after she’s raped and made into a social pariah, as being pornographic. Because there’s scenes depicting a rape.

His words on the book:

One such book is called “Speak.” They also watch the movie. This is a book about a very dysfunctional family. Schoolteachers are losers, adults are losers and the cheerleading squad scores more than the football team. They have sex on Saturday night and then are goddesses at church on Sunday morning. The cheer squad also gets their group-rate abortions at prom time. As the main character in the book is alone with a boy who is touching her female parts, she makes the statement that this is what high school is supposed to feel like. The boy then rapes her on the next page. Actually, the book and movie both contain two rape scenes.

Speak was powerful enough to move me to tears. I grabbed a copy of the novel one day on a whim in a library, mostly because I liked the cover art, and was amazed at how much of an impact it made. The movie is also powerful, and actually stars Kristen Stewart in her pre-Twilight days. To see someone claim it “should be classified as soft pornography” angers me in so many ways: as a reader, as an advocate, as a feminist and as a writer.

Go read what Anderson has to say, and if you haven’t read Speak, go get your hands on a copy ASAP.

And spread the word. Don’t be silenced.