Revenge of the Sluts is the debut novel by Natalie Walton. Published in February 2021 by Wattpad Books, ROTS is a YA contemporary thriller that examines the digital age and privacy. Eden Jeong is an editor at her school newspaper when the biggest story ever hits. The administration wants the story to disappear and does what they can to make it. But should they? What about the whole story being heard?
Alternate Title: Those Kinds of Girls
CW/TW: teen alcohol use, drugs off-page, revenge porn, violence, toxic misogyny, digital sexual assault, cyberbullying
Synopsis from Goodreads
Double standards are about to get singled out.
As a lead reporter for The Warrior Weekly, Eden has covered her fair share of stories at St. Joseph’s High School. And when intimate pictures of seven female students are anonymously emailed to the entire school, Eden is determined to get to the bottom of it.
In tracking down leads, Eden is shocked to discover not everyone agrees the students are victims. Some people feel the girls “brought it on themselves.” Even worse, the school’s administration seems more concerned about protecting its reputation than its students.
With the anonymous sender threatening more emails, Eden finds an unlikely ally: the seven young women themselves. Banding together to find the perpetrator, the tables are about to be turned. The Slut Squad is fighting back!
Positives
This topic needs to be discussed with all teens, no matter their gender, especially in the current tense environment. The book’s critical issue is that these 7 girls (and probably many others in their school) felt secure in sending photos to their boyfriends. Little did they know, the boys were sharing these images with their buddies either in person or through text messages.
Sloane was the main target in the email attack. Her reputation in school for being into casual sex is to be shamed by her fellow students. Sloane had the attitude that it’s her body; she could do what she wanted with it, with whoever she chose. Once the attack started, she still had that confidence and decided to own her reputation. She fought for what she believed to be the right- thing to bring the attacker to light so they could be punished by both the school and the legal system.
Negatives
I did find a few errors in the book that the editors should have picked up. Or even a good grammar checker (looking at you Grammarly).
Another issue I have with the book, but without it, the book wouldn’t exist, is the treatment of the Slut Squad by students, staff, and parents alike. How often is this happening, and no one says anything?
My Opinions
I want to say thank you to Natalie Walton for bringing this subject to light. It is something that, with more and more technology in our lives, is going to happen more often. While not a victim of revenge porn or cyberbullying, I am grateful for the chance to be enlightened.
I’m not sure if digital sexual assault is the proper way to describe what happens in this book. But it should be. The girls all sent private photographs of themselves to people they trusted. That trust was broken when the images were shared with others through group texts. Those images were then gathered and sent to the entire student body in an email. The girls will have to deal with those images being online in some way, shape, or form for the rest of their lives. To me, that sounds like digital sexual assault.
The way the school handled the email was horrible. Honestly, though, I could see this being the way a school would really want to handle such a situation. A couple of years ago, a private school near me had an issue with a sports team hazing players during the season. The only way it came to light was by a recorded video being leaked to the media. The police didn’t know about it until the media contacted them for a comment. Once the police were involved, the school tried to downplay everything and say that it was a school issue and they were handling it. This was after several students had complained.
It’s scary what our kids have to deal with in this new, tech-savvy world we have created for them. No one should ever feel pressured to send text messages they aren’t comfortable with, whether words or images. And if you receive such messages, you should not share them with anyone. Those kinds of messages are private and not for public consumption without permission.
I found Revenge of the Sluts to be entertaining and informative. Especially as the parent of 2 teen daughters. Read this book if you have teens or even pre-teens. That way, as a parent, you can better arm yourself and your child against some of the evil that lurks behind technology.
Looking for some more books to read? Check out my other book reviews and my monthly reading wrap-ups.
Nice review. This sounds like a book every parent of teens need to read.