Speak was first published in 1999. During this time, teen girls throughout the United States often struggled to tell others about their experiences with sexual assault. Approximately 285,000 children and teens were victims of rape in 1999, 89% of which were females. Of these female victims, 95% were raped by a male, and 29% of these victims were raped by a male under the age of 18 (National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART), www.ojp.gov). Anderson sought to address an issue that was rarely discussed at the time and that permeated the lives of far too many girls. She wanted to create an honest depiction of the results of rape and how deeply it can traumatize and alter the victim. Furthermore, she tried to shed light on how severe depression can grip a person with no one to help them (taken from the back of the novel).

Speak also touches on the suffragette movement and the ideologies of feminism. It promotes the importance of female voices and empowerment and aims to illustrate the necessity of supporting women so they may have dignity and strong self-esteem. Melinda spends most of the year with no one by her side; she is abandoned and rejected after the worst experience of her life.