How I Learned to Drive

Li’l Bit’s name, a reference to her genitalia as an infant, is the clearest example of the objectification of women. Her name diminishes her humanity by reducing her to her anatomy. Because characters address her by referring to her genitalia, we, too, are constantly reminded of her sexuality.  

In an early scene revolving around a family dinner, Mother, Grandmother, and Grandfather brazenly discuss Li’l Bit’s breasts; Grandfather makes crude, sexual remarks about them, at one point suggesting there’s no point in her studying Shakespeare because “[s]he’s got all the credentials she’ll need on her chest” (14) for lying “on her back in the dark” (14). The idea that Li’l Bit’s greatest “credentials” are her physicality is reaffirmed later at the Sock Hop, when a male classmate, Greg, is fixated on her breasts and nearly begs her to dance with him, telling her if she doesn’t want to dance they “could just sway a little” (39). Li’l Bit’s breasts are seen not only as the vehicle for sexual satisfaction for men but also fodder for jokes for her classmates. In the middle school hallway, Jerome makes a joke about her breasts as he grabs them. Later, female classmates joke about them as Li’l Bit steps into the shower. Li’l Bit is criticized for standing up for herself; she is told to “[g]et a Sense of Humor” (36) and to let herself be used and objectified for their entertainment.