Let's Speak about the Unspeakable : Using Anderson's Speak in the Swedish Upper Secondary Classroom to discuss Sexism and Sexual Assault

Abstract: This essay examines how Anderson’s Speak can be used in the Swedish Upper Secondary classroom to talk about the difficult topics ‘sexism’ and ‘sexual assault’. The paper discusses several examples of where the power structures between the genders affect the main character of Speak. The novel contains a connection to Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, which is also discussed in this essay, focusing on the timelessness of the issues discussed. The conclusion is that the difficult topics in Speak are important to discuss in the classroom, because a functional way of battling sexism is through vocalizing the problem.