Sex Object: A Memoir

"In Sex Object, Jessica Valenti testifies about a flood of harassment starting when she was 12: subway gropers, catcalls, teachers trading hugs for grades, being ejaculated on on the train. Sex Object offers little redemption, and none of the familiar bubblegummy positive-thinking strategies that place the onus on women to magically think their way out of being told, on a daily basis, that public spaces are not for them. Valenti realizes that, instead of pushing solutions and angles and strategies, there is power in saying, simply: This is how bad it is."