Jill Kargman’s BITTERSWEET SIXTEEN'S Salacious Prep Schoolers

Here’s the overview posted on Barnes & Noble for Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman’s Bittersweet Sixteen (HarperCollins, 2006):

Co-written by bestselling authors Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman, star of the Bravo series Odd Mom Out, Bittersweet Sixteen is a story of friendship, drama, and the hazards of turning sixteen.

A brand-new wardrobe from Saks, a private jet, and a red-carpet guest list: just your average Sweet Sixteen party.

At least it is for the teens who attend Tate, the posh all-girls high school in Manhattan. But Laura Finnegan—thrift store junkie and scholarship student at Tate—isn't like everyone else. And when her best friends Whitney and Sophie begin obsessing over their birthday bashes, tempers start to flare, Prada bags go flying, and guys are tossed around in vicious tug-of-war battles. Whose Sweet Sixteen will reign supreme?

It’s worth noting that, in addition to being a (former) Bravolebrity, Kargman, per the Wall Street Journal piece “Bullets and 'F-Bombs'” (October 11, 2011), is an Upper East Sider* who, like Gwyneth Paltrow, went to The Spence School, a tony all-girls prep school in Manhattan, which, per Harper Collins, is where Kargman met Karasyov; thus, Kargman and Karasyov may be the ideal co-authors for a novel like Bittersweet Sixteen. 

In preparation for a new book, From Gossip Girl to Pretty Little Liars: A Study of Age Gap Relationships in YA Novels, I’ve read a number of YA novels that are set in Manhattan prep schools, but the level of materialism in those novels ceases to amaze me. For example, here’s Bittersweet Sixteen’s opening paragraph:

There’s one thing you have to know. In the world of private schools, penthouses on Park Avenue, chauffeur-driven Bentleys, and $100-a-plate family dinners at Le Cirque, one thing reigns supreme as the pinnacle of a tenth-grade girl’s social calendar in New York: the almighty Sweet Sixteen birthday extravaganza. [Emphasis added]

The Plaza

As for the Sweet Sixteen extravaganzas, Sophie’s was held at The Plaza, where “Male models dressed as Tarzans swung from leafy vines [...] Thong-clad “tribal” waiters passed shish kebabs from flaming serving trays and little rawhide tents were scattered around the room”. 

Interestingly, Laura narrated that “most teens” used the little rawhide tents for “heavy petting sessions”. (Oxford Languages defined heav·y pet·ting (noun) as “erotic contact between two people involving stimulation of the genitals but stopping short of intercourse”.) The (teen) heavy petting that took place in the tents at Whitney’s Sweet Sixteen brings me to the next common theme slash motif that I’ve noted in YA novels that are set in Manhattan prep schools, which is self-sexualized (i.e., provocative) schoolgirls. 

For example, in Bittersweet Sixteen, Sophie was described as blond with “white teeth and very plump lips”. Like Gwyneth Paltrow and her classmates at Spence, Sophie tailored her schoolgirl uniform skirt “way above the knees”, and she pulled her “white oxford ever so tight around her suspiciously ample boobs”. (Was Laura implying by narrating “suspiciously ample” that Sophie may have had a (teen) boob job?)

Sophie didn’t understand why Tate’s headmistress didn’t approve of how tightly she wore her uniform shirt, which Sophie did to strategically accentuate her “boobs”.

“I can tell. The headmistress gave me daggers when she saw how tight my shirt was. Do they, like, want us to forget that we have boobs? Why don’t they just suit us up in nuns’ outfits and strap them down?” said Sophie.”

Even off campus, Sophie accentuated her boobs. For example, one day “buxom” Sophie wore a “too-tight V-neck black [Dolce & Gabbana] sweater.” In general, whether on or off campus, Sophie wore her clothes “short, tight, revealing, and [with] logos.” Consequently, Sophie was considered “a blond stick with knockers.” And despite Sophie being a mere 15-years-old, “She was sexy.” Consequently, “guys were going to lap [her] up with a spoon.” Whatever that sexual innuendo means.

Marquee

Like Gywneth, Sophie, and some of her classmates sneaked out of the house. Sometimes they sneaked out to meet up with schoolboys (e.g., at the San Gennaro festival), and sometimes they went to clubs too (e.g., Marquee). 

In reference to sneaking out of the house, Sophie exclaimed that parents, in general, are clueless, but that her parents, in particular, didn’t even realize that she was not a virgin. 

“Parents are clueless!” Sophie laughed. “Mine still think I’m a virgin!”

Sophie considered it a badge of honor that she wasn’t a virgin. So much so that she referred to Whitney as a “Waspy repressed virgin”. However, Karasyov and Kargman did not disclose exactly at what age Sophie began to have sex and to whom she lost her virginity. 

Another common theme slash motif that I’ve noted in YA novels that are set in Manhattan prep schools is age-gap relationships. Specifically, student-teacher relationships. For example, in Bittersweet Sixteen, Laura narrated that Sophie flirted with Mr. Everwood, whom Laura described as a “hottie teacher”. And Laura shared that there was a rumor on Tate’s campus that Mr. Everwood “had banged a senior”. Laura narrated:

Then, in the science lab, Whit’s eyebrow arched ever so slightly as Sophie giggled flirtatiously with Mr. Everwood, the hottie teacher (who, rumor had it, had banged a senior the year before). 

Note that Karasyov and Kargman strategically made the schoolgirl whom Mr. Everwood “banged” a senior (i.e., over 17-years-old), and I find it intriguing that Karasyov and Kargman used banged to describe the way the hottie teacher had sex with his student. 

(In addition to the rumor about the hottie teacher, there was a “whole scandal with the previous piano teacher.”)

Not only did Sophie flirt with her hot teacher, but she flirted with the “guy in the deli” and “the guy who plays the piano in chorus”, which was no big deal, because it was “Sophie’s nature to flirt. Laura said,

“I think it’s just in Sophie’s nature to flirt. I mean, come on, she flirts with the guy in the deli, she flirts with the guy who plays the piano in chorus, she’s just that way [...]” 

(Note that Sophie’s father was “like thirty years” older than her mother. )

Sophie had a “mini-soiree” at her UES residence, where Sophie and Kaitlin wore “[...] ubershort cutoff jean skirts. If they bent over, you could literally see their thong.” And after “several wine coolers” at Sophie’s, the prep schoolers played Spin the Bottle slash Three Minutes in Heaven, which reminded me of Julia Fox.

In Down the Drain (Simon & Schuster, 2023), Julia Fox’s memoir, she shared that when she was 11-years-old, she started 6th grade in the fall of 2001 at East Side Middle School on the UES, where, like Gywneth, she smoked a “cigarette here and there”, and she started “wearing dark lipstick to class”. (p. 28-29)

Ella, Julia’s straight-A student classmate, introduced Julia to marijuana. Julia wrote that before her first hit in Ella’s bedroom, her heart pounded through her Playboy tank top. [Emphasis added] Ella taught Julia how to “roll joints with a filter, ‘like the French’”. And Julia and Ella kissed each other “like the French”. Ella, who had “beautiful thick auburn hair and big green eyes”, insisted that their pre-teen girl-on-girl kissing was “practice for the real deal”, but Julia sensed that Ella liked kissing girls. Julia wrote:

“We play[ed] games like spin the bottle and seven minutes in heaven [i.e., in the closet kissing], and then we pretend[ed] like it didn’t happen.” 

Back to Sophie, ever the model friend, she volunteered to find Laura “a real man”, which was doable for the well-connected Sophie who had the contact information for a number of celebrity men. Although Sophie had access to Matt Damon, whom was 36 when Bittersweet Sixteen was published, Sophie settled on hooking Laura up with Elijah Wood, whom was 25 when Bittersweet Sixteen was published. 

“Yeah, as if,” I [i.e., Laura] said, dejected.

“You never know,” said Sophie. “It will be my mission to hook you up.”

The Pierre

In terms of over-the-top materialism, Whitney’s Sweet Sixteen was held in the ballroom of The Pierre, where “Peter Duchin’s famed orchestra” played, “David Copperfield performed”, “Oscar de la Renta toasted Brooke Astor”, and the “New York Times’ Bill Cunningham snapped away”.

Whitney, who “sampled her first potato galette with caviar at age seven”, was described as “pretty much perfect” with “buttery blond” hair, “blue-eyes”, and with “Waspy facial architecture”. The summer before her 10th grade at Tate, Whitney, in addition to beachside clambakes and tennis lessons, indulged in “heavy petting [i.e., erotic contact] with the Greystone Country Club lifeguard.” The lifeguard was recruited by “Abercrombie’s scouts”, he was “ripped and stuff” and, unsurprisingly, he was “older”. 

The exact age of Whitney’s lifeguard wasn’t shared with readers, but it’s safe to assume that he was approximately 20-years-old, because, per the Us Weekly piece “Celebs Who Were Abercrombie & Fitch Models Before They Were Famous” (April 22, 2022), Channing Tatum was 21 when he modeled for Abercrombie in 2001. 

As for Laura, she admitted that she had participated in “minor hookups and stuff”. For example, she “hung out” with a “guy” (i.e., not a boy) at camp, and they “kissed twice”. (It’s unclear if the kissing is considered part of the minor hookup or the stuff.) However, due to her “un-Barbie looks (brown hair, brown eyes, kinda pale, and oh yeah, small boobs), Laura narrated that she was “hardly schoolboy drool material.” Thereby, Laura implied that if she were a blond with large boobs, like Sophia, she would have participated in major hookups and stuff. 

Laura was the most studious in her friend group. She even took art class very seriously, where at Tate the art teacher provided the schoolgirls with “a male ‘model’ [...] posing buck naked” to draw at their easels. 

Laura shared that she participated in “minor hookups and stuff”, but after Sophie’s exclamation, Laura related that Whitney participated in a lot of hookups, and that Kaitlin, with her strawberry blond hair, Chanel quilted tote, and cashmere sweater-coat, was considered “the sluttiest” of the gang. However, although Kaitlin considered “giving it up to Max”,  she, Whitney, and Laura were still virgins.

I looked at Whitney, who appeared floored. Even with all her hookups, she had not gone there. I mean, Kaitlin, the sluttiest of our gang, had just started talking about maybe giving it up to Max [...]

But if Laura engaged in hookups, although minor, they were plural, and if Whitney participated in a lot of hookups, what in the world did Kaitlin do to be considered the sluttiest of the gang?

Lastly, make no mistake, Karasyov and Kargman are not misogynistic, because some of the schoolboys in Bittersweet Sixteen were provocative as well. For example, Bobby, with his “blond hair and blue eyes”, was referred to as a “male slut” who had “laid more pipe than Con Edison. Total player.” Consequently, Whitney opined, “Bobby is a total babe.” And despite being a prep schooler, Bobby kept a flask for doing shots. 

*Based on the New York Times piece “Mamdani’s Success Spotlights a Deepening Rupture Among U.S. Jews”, due to the election of Mayor Mamdani, Kargman may have left Manhattan.

From the NY TIMES to Netflix: Schoolgirl Sleepover Sex Stories (Part 1): Becca Moore, Miley Cyrus, Jessica Simpson and Julia Fox

In the New York Times THE ETHICIST piece “My Daughter Is Having Sex with Her Best Friend. Must I Tell Her Mom?” (March 22, 2022), a mother needed advice, because her mid-teen daughter was having girl-on-girl sex during sleepovers with her best friend. 

Here's part of the question submitted to THE ETHICIST:

My daughter is in a newly romantic relationship with her best friend, who is also female. Both are in their midteens. My daughter recently confided in me that they have had sex. She insists, however, that I am not allowed to tell the friend’s mother, because the mother wouldn’t let them have sleepovers or hang out as much. My ex-husband is the one who hosts the sleepovers, and he looks the other way when they are in the bedroom, reasoning that (or so my daughter tells me), “It’s OK because there are no penises involved.” [...] Are my ex-husband’s actions egregious? Name Withheld

The mother’s question reminded me of Ariel Levy’s Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture (Free Press\Simon & Schuster, 2005). Levy related in the book that on the thirtieth anniversary of Nancy Friday’s “international bestselling collection” My Secret Garden: Women’s Sexual Fantasies (Trident Press, 1973), a panel discussion titled “Sex and What Women Want Now” was held at the 92nd Street YMHA in Manhattan. The panel discussion, which included Candace Bushnell - the author of Sex and the City, was moderated by Norman Pearlstein, Friday’s husband and the editor-in-chief of Time Inc. Levy related that during the panel, Friday opined that as long as a [young] woman reaches orgasm, it doesn’t matter whom she thinks about while masturbating or during sex. Friday asked the panel discussion attendees,

“Doesn’t everyone here agree that it doesn’t really matter? If it takes you where you want to go, if it helps you reach orgasm, does it matter who you’re thinking about?” 

In My Secret Garden, a variety of fantasies were shared, which began when most of the fantasizers were between the ages of 7 and 11. For example, Alexandra fantasized about having an affair with her high school teacher. She stated emphatically: "[...] I'm sure it would not be a fantasy if I gave him a little encouragement." And Stephanie fantasized about very young girls being raped "by a mad professor". In Stephanie’s fantasy, the professor decided whom he was going to rape by examining "their sexual apparatus". However, in addition to their fantasies, some women shared what they brought to life during schoolgirl sleepovers. 

Clarissa recalled that she and her friend were caught masturbating with candles - when they were 12. Marina shared that she began to be aware of men at the age of 9 or 10 and thought about them while she masturbated; however, Marina only had "a vague idea of what lovemaking was" until she met her friend, a 10-year-old Mediterranean girl. Marina and the Mediterranean used to sit at opposite ends of the bathtub and pour warm water from a Russian silver teapot over their clitorises while caressing their bodies "with infallible, instinctive verve." Celia confessed that when she was about 8, she used to bully her: "[...] friend into playing games where we had to pretend to take off our clothes and the 'wicked man' would make us walk in the street [...]" In addition, Celia said that when she was 10, she wanted to be a stripper and that she had "intimate contact" with her girlfriend. And when Alison was 14, she had an "[...] unusual relationship with a close girlfriend". In the unusual relationship, Alison's girlfriend would dress Alison in a sexy bikini made of chiffon scarves. Then Alison's girlfriend pretended that she was a "rowdy seaman" before she “raped” Allison.

Since reading that THE ETHICIST piece and My Secret Garden, while doing research for a second edition and a new book, I’ve come across a number of actresses, singers, and influencers, whom, just like the women in  My Secret Garden, have shared their schoolgirl sleepover sexual exploits via Youtube podcasts, memoirs, (non-fiction) books, and even via a Netflix comedy special. 

Becca Moore

Becca Moore is a podcaster and influencer with over one million followers on TikTok. On the “My First Time (with a woman)” episode of her Becca Moore podcast (YouTube, August 27, 2024), Becca shared that during middle school sleepovers, she and her friends would “sit in a circle and all make out with each other.” Becca,

“Like, honestly, in middle school we used to, like, sit in a circle and all make out with each other. And no boys would be around. I don't really know why we were doing that, but I did love those sleepovers. That was fun.”

By high school, Becca was still making out with girls during sleepovers, but schoolboys attended the sleepovers too. Becca, 

“And then when I got to high school, we would have sleepovers and make out, like, play spin the bottle, but boys would be there. And it was kind of, like, a little bit, I will say, the high school one, was a little bit performative.”

“I think that we were not really, like, turned on. We were only doing it because boys were watching, and I think we thought that it was hot for them to watch - at least from my perspective. I think, I was more so thinking about the boys than the girls.”

Thus, at least for Becca, making out with other high school girls during sleepovers wasn’t (only) for pleasure, it was additionally done to provide entertainment for the schoolboys. 

Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus, the Grammy award-winning singer and actress, shared with Alex Cooper on the Call Her Daddy podcast “Miley Cyrus-Call Her Daddy Interview” (YouTube, August 13, 2020) that when she was a pre-teen, she had a girl-on-girl orgy, which Cooper referred to as “amazing”.

Miley, "Yeah, when I was like 11 or 12 [...] I got most of my girlfriends to hook up with me."

Alex, "That is such an amazing [thing]. That's amazing!"

Miley, "The first time I ever hooked up with anyone was with a girl. Two of them."

Alex, "And did you go past first base?"

Miley, "Yeah! Oh yeah!"

Alex, "Miley's like, 'Of course. Oh my God. Absolutely.'"

Since Miley admitted that she went “past first base” during sleepovers, we can confidently infer that Miley’s hookups were more involved than Becca’s ( i.e., Miley and her girlfriends did more than kiss during sleepovers).

Jessica Simpson

Jessica Simpson, the singer, actress, and fashion designer, wrote in her memoir, Open Book (Dey Street Books\ HarperCollins, 2020), that when she was between the ages of 6 and 12, she and a family friend would have girl-on-girl sex during sleepovers. Jessica wrote that, like Miley Cyrus, her family friend would initiate sex. For example, during the night, foreplay consisted of tickling Jessica’s back. Eventually, they started having sex during the daytime while using a closet for privacy. Jessica’s friend would even watch Jessica shower. Jessica wrote:

It would start with tickling my back [...] Eventually, it wasn't just at nighttime. She would get me to go into a closet with her, or just find a way to linger until we were alone. It got to the point that she would sneak into the bathroom to watch me shower.

In an interview with People “Jessica Simpson on Confronting Her Abuser: 'It Was Extremely Painful and Still Is'” (January 29, 2020), Jessica clarified that even though her family friend initiated the sex, Jessica admitted that she “allowed it to happen”; thus, Jessica felt “very shameful”, because she was complicit. Jessica confessed to People, 

“I allowed it to happen, so I felt that I was as much of the abuser as the abused. So I was very shameful during that time, from 6 to 12 years old.”

Curiously, Jessca is the only celebrity slash influencer who expressed shame about her girl-on-girl sleepover activities and considered it to be sexual abuse. But just as curiously, out of all the words in her 416-page memoir, Jessca used the schoolgirl sleepover sex imagery to promote the book. 

Julia Fox

Julia Fox, the actress (Uncut Gems, 2019 [A24]) and model, related in her memoir, Down the Drain (Simon & Schuster, 2023), that in 2001, when she was an 11-year-old 6th grader at East Side Middle School in Manhattan, she and Ella, whom Julia described as a straight A student with “beautiful thick auburn hair and big green eyes”, would “roll joints with a filter, ‘like the French’” and they would kiss “like the French too.” As an excuse to kiss, Julia and Ella played spin the bottle and seven minutes in heaven. Julia wrote: 

We play[ed] games like spin the bottle and seven minutes in heaven [i.e., in the closet kissing], and then we pretend[ed] like it didn’t happen.

Unlike Jessica Simpson, Julia and Ella didn’t appear to be ashamed of their pre-teen sexual exploits; however, Julia wrote that Ella insisted that their girl-on-girl kissing was “practice for the real deal”. In other words, Ella assured Julia that they were not middle school lesbians or bisexual. Consequently, Julia wrote that she sensed that Ella simply enjoyed kissing girls. 

Eventually, Julia befriended Rose - a rich classmate. “Penthouse on Fifth Avenue rich.” Julia loved sneaking into Rose’s penthouse after hours, where the schoolgirls would: “[...] sit cross-legged, facing each other on her floor, and pass each other love poems.” Sometimes Julia and Rose would: “[...] massage each other with oils”, “dribble hot wax over each other’s bodies’ or, like Marina and the Mediterranean girl in My Secret Garden, Julia and Rose would take “baths together”. While the schoolgirls bathed, Julia wrote that she couldn't stop staring at Rose's “enormous double-D breasts, covered in thick purple stretch marks.” 

When Rose was grounded, Julian befriended Alice, whom “lost a bunch of weight using diet pills [...] [and] started tanning and wearing makeup.” Julia and Alice had a crush on Tommy, whom invited them to his house for a sleepover via AIM: “My mom is out of town, you guys should come over!” After a “few beers”, Tommy handed Julia and Alice a pair of boxers, and they squeezed into Tommy’s “tiny twin bed”, where, after Julia put Tommy’s penis into her mouth, he immediately ejaculated all over her hair. Consequently, Julia was “half thrilled, [and] half horrified.” Julia:

I quietly slide under the blanket until I’m face-to-face with IT. Wow, it’s beautiful. I put my hands around it and grip it tightly with my sweaty palms. I move my hands up and down, his body twitching at my every move. I stick my tongue out and taste the tip, as if sampling an ice cream cone. It doesn’t taste bad! I put my mouth over it, and before I can even start sucking, he ejaculates all over my hair. I shoot up from under the covers and run to the bathroom. I begin scrubbing the gelatinous goop out of my hair, half thrilled, half horrified.

Days later, Julia graduated from middle school; however, before she started elementary school, she lost her virginity to 23-year-old Giovanni - in the middle of the street in Italy. But that story is for another post. 

• From the NY TIMES to Netflix: Schoolgirl Sleepover Sex Stories (Part 2): Lola Kirke, Chelsea Handler, and Lena Dunham

• From the NY TIMES to Netflix: Schoolgirl Sleepover Sex Stories (Part 3): Restless Virgins | Zoe, Isabel, Annie, and Whitney

• From the NY TIMES to Netflix: Schoolgirl Sleepover Sex Stories (Part 4): Camp Cabins

• NY TIMES to Netflix: Schoolgirl Sleepover Sex Stories (Part 5): Sleepover Sexting and (Virtual) Sleepover Sex

Julia Fox: A Teen Sex Worker Praying for Sugar Daddy (Part 3) | Elementary and High School

The summer before Julia began elementary school, she went to Italy. Chiara, Julia’s 15-year-old cousin, “smokes like a chimney, drinks like a sailor, and curses like a truck driver.” But, unlike 14-year-old Julia, Chiara doesn’t wear makeup, thongs, and padded bras. (p. 60) [Later, Chiara informed Julia that their classmates were keeping track of the color of Jullia’s thongs in their notebooks. (p. 70)]

At the local bar down the mountain, Julia and Chiara downed “shots of vodka back-to-back” where Julia flirted with “hot older guys who ride motorcycles and drive muscle cars.” The boys in town didn’t “excite” Julia. Plus, Julia got a “rush” when she “succeed[ed] at the art of seduction.” Julia wrote that most of the men didn’t care that she was 14, which is not surprising since the age of consent in Italy is 14. (p. 60) 

Julia described 23-year-old Giovanni as the most beautiful man she had ever seen with an “Irresistible”, “Venetian drawl” and long eyelashes. (p. 61) And it didn’t hurt that Giovanni drove a purple Porsche Cayenne. 

After some Anima Nera and red wine, Giovanni kissed Julia with his “soft and succulent” lips. Giovanni unhooked her bra, lifted her skirt and kissed her breasts. Julia pulled down Giovanni’s pants, admired his penis, and she “suck[ed] it for a few seconds” before she squatted over Giovanni and sat on his uncircumcised yet “pretty” penis - “in the middle of the cobblestone road.” Thus, Julia lost her virginity at 14 in the middle of the street in Italy. (p. 62) 

Unsurprisingly, Julia and Giovanni were seen by a voyeur. However, days later, Julia and Giovanni had age-gap sex again - behind a “desolate church” “under the stars”. (p. 64)

Julia returned to New York, but, days later, she asked to go back to Italy whItaere she texted Giovanni: “Hi G. It’s Julia. I live in Italy now. If you're ever in Como, we should meet up.” G never replied. (p. 68)

In a basement café, while they all “chain-smoked cigarettes”, Julia showed some schoolmates her nipple ring. Consequently, they lost their minds! However, Julia's Italian classmates were “experienced too”. For example: “They wear heels every day to class. They wear layers of bronzer and their highlighted hair is always perfectly coiffed.” And Tatiana shared that she “has a thing for fucking married men”. For instance: “She’s been dating the butcher in secret for the past two years.” (i.e., Tatiana started dating the (married) butcher when she was 13.) (p. 74)

Julia returned to New York during Christmas break where she accompanied Trish to Trish’s “dealer’s apartment”, which is where Julia met Ace. Not one for pleasantries, Ace, with his “milky” skin and “jet-black hair”, simply dropped a white pill, which Julia popped. (p. 83-84)

Minutes later, in front of everyone in the dealer’s apartment, 16-year-old Julia climbed on top of Ace and rode him until she felt “fireworks” in her vagina. She wrote that she was “overwhelmed by the euphoric bomb that exploded” between them. Interestingly, Julia shared that that was her first penetrative orgasm, but she did not share when she had her first non-penetrative orgasm. (p. 85) 

Subsequently, Julia ran to the bathroom, in the nude, followed by Ace where she asked for more ecstasy. Moments after showering, dressing and popping another white pill, Julia rode Ace “hard and fast and soft and slow” in the back seat of a Honda while Dougies drove through midtown. (p. 85)

Days later, after Julia inhaled cocaine off Ace’s fist, she felt a “lightning bolt” strike that went from her spine to her panties and caused a “tingling sensation” in her vagina.  Consequently, in the bathroom, Julia ripped off her top, got on her knees, devoured Ace’s penis, and slurped on his “salty sweat juice.”  (p. 92)

Before her flight back to Italy, Ace gave Julia a Xanax, so she could, “[...] sleep on the flight.” However, after arriving in Italy, Julia told her grandfather that she needed money for an abortion. She lied. Julia used the money to buy a plane ticket back to New York. (p. 94-95)

Julia was back in New York, but she hadn’t been home in weeks. Consequently, Julia’s family posted a “missings persons poster on 59th Street”.  (p. 108)

Ace was abusive. For example, once, after he “chucked” a porcelain lamp at Julia, he dangled her “upper body out an open window.” (p. 112) It appears that Julia didn’t share Ace’s age, but he was at least 21, because the police threatened to arrest him for “kidnapping and statutory rap.” (p. 117) 

Unsurprisingly, Julia wasn’t the only elementary school girl whom had sex with Ace. Julia found “an entire collection of X-rated photographs” on Ace’s computer. For example, among the “endless photographs”, Julia found a photograph of “a petite girl with long chestnut hair, a spray tan, and the biggest boobs”. (p. 120-121)

A judge sent Ace “back to Rikers. No bail” (p. 122) where he threatened to murder Julia and her entire family. (p. 126) Consequently, while on the phone with Ace from Rikers, Julia attempted suicide and was admitted to the “psych ward” at New York-Presbyterian where she stayed for weeks. (p. 127-135)

After Julia was discharged from the “psych ward”, her father enrolled her “in a public high school downtown” where she “smoked so much weed and pop[ped] so many pills”, and where she was called the “weird white girl with a fat ass.” (p. 139) 

(Interestingly, Veronica, Julia’s wealthy “beautiful blond Italian” friend, visited New York. Consequently, to Julia’s shock, Veronica began an age-gap affair with Julia’s father. (p. 146-147) 

During high school, Julia became a teen it-girl after she “pose[d] semi-nude for a prominent street artist.” At night, Julia would “bounce around nightclubs all over the Meatpacking District” and she would wake up the next day with her “pockets and bra stuffed with crumpled-up dollar bills and” her “purse overflowing with cash”. However, Julia didn’t share how she got the cash. (p. 140) Subsequently, Julia applied for the (teen) dominatrix job and prayed for a Sugar Daddy.

Julia Fox: A Teen Sex Worker Praying for Sugar Daddy (Part 1) 

Julia Fox: A Teen Sex Worker Praying for Sugar Daddy (Part 2) | Middle School

[In addition to Down the Drain being a New York Times Bestseller, per Simon & Shuster, New York magazine opined that Julia Fox is “one of the all-time pop-culture greats”. Per Amazon, Elle named Down the Drain one of the "Best Books of 2023". And Elle’s Juliana Ukiomogbe opined that Down the Drain is a “masterpiece”.]