11/16 The Scarlet Letter

Whether you watched the movie solely to see Demi Moore in the nude, or were forced to read the novel for class in high school, the majority of college students are familiar with the novel The Scarlet Letter.

                Although The Scarlet Letter is considered a classic to most, the film Easy A in my opinion is far more relevant to our generation, and more entertaining at that. The concepts of the two pieces, The Scarlet Letter and Easy A are generally the same. The Scarlet Letter punishes a female for committing adultery by forcing her to wear a scarlet “A” on all of her clothing. She is humiliated and harassed through public ridicule. In the film Easy A, Olive (Emma Stone) pretends to sleep with boys in school so that they can become popular and accepted. Olive willingly puts a scarlet “A” on her clothing and starts to dress provocatively. Although Olive is not actually doing anything obscene with these boys, but all of her classmates believe that she is. Olive quickly becomes a victim of slut shaming and sexual harassment in her school. 

Olive (Emma Stone): “Ironically, we were studying “The Scarlet Letter,” but isn’t that always the way? The books you read in class always seems to have a strong connection with whatever angsty adolescent drama is being recounted. I consider this. Except for “Huckleberry Finn,” because I don’t know any teenage boys who have ever run away with a big, hulking black guy.”

Both pieces give great examples of how we see slut shaming not only today, but in the seventeenth century as well. One would think by the year 2015 society would be more accepting and realize there are larger issues in the world than how females dress or behave in their free time but then again we are a society fighting over the color of a Starbucks cup.

                The Scarlet Letter and Easy A both demonstrate the effects on those who are victims of slut shaming and sexual harassment. For a study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, researchers from Cornell University asked college women to read a vignette describing a hypothetical female peer, “Joan,” then rate their feelings about her personality. To one group of women, Joan was described as having two lifetime sexual partners; to another group, she’d bedded 20. The study found that women—even women who were more promiscuous themselves—rated the Joan with 20 partners as less competent, emotionally stable, warm, and dominant than the Joan who’d only boasted two (Slate). Not only are examples of slut shaming found in the films we watch and the books we read, but in everyday life as well.  Through media and research, one can see how evident it is that something needs to be done about how women are treated solely based off of their theoretical actions.

                

         Make a difference to this issue. Stand up for a victim of slut shaming or sexual harassment if possible. Instead of calling a woman out based off of an action from hearsay, tell her something positive about herself. Not only are women victims of slut shaming, but men can be as well. It is time our society puts judgment aside and accepts one another for who we are, not what we do (no pun intended).

               

                                                                Works Cited

"35 'Easy A' Quotes That Make Everyday Life Worth Living." Thought Catalog. N.p., 14 Aug. 2013. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.

Hess, Amanda. "Slut-Shaming Isn't Just a "Girl-On-Girl Crime"" N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.