In Monterey last weekend, I had the sincere pleasure of meeting Abigail Jones, co-writer of Restless Virgins, a book about how young American girls are being prematurely and inappropriately sexualized and objectified. While using a Milton Academy sex scandal as its source, Restless Virgins expands the issue into a non-fiction look at how girls are being hyper-sexualized in most every American school today. If you’re interested, buy Restless Virgins: Love, Sex, and Survival at a New England Prep School today.
Restless Virgins is about fitting in, taking risks, hooking up, and breaking up. It’s about best friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, and parents. It’s about settling and survival, and always the search for love. It’s about girls: Annie, Whitney, Jillian, and Isabel. And it’s about guys: Reed, Josh, and Brady.* Their stories are laugh-out-loud funny, uplifting, heartbreaking, over the top, and outrageous. While many scenes may seem possible only in fiction, everything that happens here is true.
Established in 1798, Milton Academy has a proud history of achievement. It has educated artists and CEOs; it has produced a long line of distinguished scholars and dignitaries; and it has shepherded students through the world of high-pressure academics for generations. Since its founding, the public face of Milton had always been one of integrity and pride . . . until a sex scandal rocked the campus and made headlines in the winter of 2005. The offense? Teenagers doing no more than what others had done before them-except this time they got caught. Restless Virgins is the riveting real-life story of a group of seniors who were there as the “incident” (as it came to be called) unfolded. From “friends with benefits” to STDs, these girls and boys reveal the changing landscape of teenage sexuality today.
*Names and certain characteristics and details have been changed.
Abigail Jones is a writer living in Boston, Massachusetts. She worked, most recently, at the Atlantic as a staff editor and an editorial assistant. She has a Masters in creative writing, with Distinction, from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. She graduated from Dartmouth College in 2003, cum laude with Honors in English, and was a member of the cum laude society at Milton Academy, class of 1999. She has a novel in progress, tentatively titled Virgin Territory. Restless Virgins is her first book.
Marissa Miley graduated from Milton Academy in 1998. Before working on Restless Virgins, she was the content writer for Harvard University’s Initiative on Global Health, and an intern at the Atlantic. She graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2003, with degrees in English (with Distinction) and Economics. Marissa currently lives in New York City. Restless Virgins is her first book.
“Prep School Confidential,” O, the Oprah Magazine, September 2007
“Abigail Jones and Marissa Miley conduct an exhaustive series of interviews with students about life at the elite Milton Academy in an attempt to understand the sex scandal that rocked the school… What [the authors] discover-the power plays, harassment, and all-consuming pressure to be “the best”-is not exactly news, but as they chip away at the pervasive climate of unrelenting promiscuity and out-of-control partying, it is clear that something is very wrong in the life of contemporary teens…As Jones and Miley expertly document, today’s teens have come a long way from simply worrying about a date for the prom.”
“Notes on a Scandal,” the Boston Globe, August 20, 2007
“There are startling scenes in “Restless Virgins” that are bound to — and meant to — shock readers…
[Jones and Miley] acknowledge that the highly sexualized nature of the book does not represent the entire campus, but that the main issue — casual and sometimes hardcore teen sex — is a nationwide phenomenon. “For parents, it’s a window into this world. If your child isn’t engaging in this behavior, their friends are, or their classmates are,” says Jones. “We asked questions parents don’t ask.”
“Restless Virgins” takes the reader into the locker room, dorms, parked cars, basement parties, hotel rooms, bars, and on spring break. The boys’ demands and the girls’ deference is a common theme; of the 28 interviewees, only one girl was in a healthy relationship, the authors say. They write in a highly personal, omniscient “we-were-there” style, reconstructing racy scenes — and interior thoughts — that they said they pieced together from multiple interviews and sources.”
“After-School Special,” Boston Magazine, August 2007
The first-time authors chronicle the experiences of seven anonymous Milton kids, revealing a bawdy world of casual sex that suggests the headline-grabbing escapade was no isolated incident.
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What’s really interesting is that someone took on this “hot potato” taboo subject that most parents would like to ignore — but shouldn’t. As someone who has taught HS age kids (and college), I have seen things that were so totally outrageous that you would wonder — what are these kids thinking and why aren’t the parents aware
? is would this be as good for the teens to read as it is essential for adults/parents and other extended family members..
Stevie