Asking for It
Printz Award
O’Neill, L. (2016). Asking for it. NY: Hachette Book Group.
Emma O’Donovan is eighteen years old, beautiful and she
knows it. She comes from a small town in
Ireland where all the homes on her street are painted canary yellow with black
window frames and doors, sensible, boxy cars that line the paved driveways.
One summer night, Emma’s world is forever changed when she
is brutally gang raped at a party by members of the football team. Pictures
from the party go viral and are posted online thus causing a frizzy of mixed
emotions, opinions, sides taken, blame, confusion, and arrogance. Before she is
raped, by all accounts she is the definition of “mean girl, she is jealous of
her friends, flirty with the boys, drinks alcohol, does drugs and is a liar. Unfortunately, these negative behaviors come
back to haunt her. The boys/rapist are
portrayed as good boys who lives will be ruined by this horrific act. Everyone
wants a piece of her and thinks they know her.
Emma must fight for her voice and her dignity in the most unsettling of
ways by going against double standards, victim shaming, what is consent and
social media.
Reflection
There are so
many “Emma’s” in the world! This novel
raises a lot of questions still today on the taboo of sexual assault, lack of
support, stigma, and the part that the media plays in it. Louise O’Neill opens
a door for more education to teach girls that they have a choice, to teach boys
they are not entitled to a girl’s body, to teach what sexual consent is, to
teach the negative effects of rape-physically, mentally and emotionally. This
was not an easy but to read, but a necessary one to read. I think this book
should start a lot of conversations and should be read by everyone.
Louise O’Neill’s Novel ‘Asking
for It’ Set for World Premiere at the Everyman Theatre
YouTube Link: She Was
Asking for It-Women-one Word
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