Book-It '10! Book #13
The Fifty Books Challenge, year two! This was a library request.
Title: The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity Is Hurting Young Women by Jessica Valenti
Details: Copyright 2009, Seal Press
Synopsis (By Way of Inside Flap): "The United States is obsessed with virginity from the media to schools to government agencies. The Purity Myth is an important and timely critique of about why this is so, and why it’s problematic for girls and women. Analyzing cultural stereotypes and media messages, Jessica Valenti reveals the overt and hidden ways our society links a woman’s worth to her sexuality rather than to values like honesty, kindness, and altruism. Valenti takes on issues ranging from abstinence-only education to pornography and exposes the legal and social punishments that women who dare to have sex endure. Importantly, she also offers solutions that pave the way for a future without a damaging emphasis on virginity, including a call to rethink male sexuality and reframe the idea of “losing it.” With Valenti’s usual balance of intelligence and wit, The Purity Myth presents a powerful and revolutionary argument that valuing girls and women for their sexuality needs to stop-and outlines a new vision for how it can happen."
Why I Wanted to Read It: I'm a fan of Valenti's previous work, Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman's Guide to Why Feminism Matters, and He's a Stud, She's a Slut, and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know.
How I Liked It: Valenti tackles America's obsession with purity in a concise and easy-to-read format. Her sources are spotlessly cited (therefore kicking down the argument of "bending the facts") as well for each chapter.
Unfortunately, The Purity Myth is not without some of the flaws that dogged her first two books. Valenti can have an overly familiar style (she tend to prefer the word "slutty" over the word "promiscuous") and the slightly distracting asterisks with further information that appears at the bottom of several pages are distracting and most could have easily been including into the text by way of parenthesis. She also inserts a lot of stories that, while clearly meant to inspire a sense of humor and of her own experience, are wholly unnecessary. Do we really need to know that Valenti once dressed up as a slutty nurse for Halloween during her freshman year of college? There's no point to the story other than Valenti, whilst discussing the "sexy costume" phenomenon, is admitting (by her words) that she once succumbed to said phenomenon. She adds that some guy shouted that she was a "bloody hot nurse" which she took to mean he was British but actually meant she had gotten her period early that month. An amusing anecdote, sure, but in the context of this book, it's just distracting.
Recalling the glory days of raves in the '90s, Valenti discusses her memories in particular of the "girlification" of women, including trendy accessories such as baby barrettes and pacifiers. Valenti recalling her memories and participation in said trends is fine in this case: a personal memory of an example of girlification (and how she was unwittingly sucked in) doesn't break from the narrative. However, the footnote she adds does:
"I know, the idea of your feminist author dancing around with glowsticks doesn't inspire confidence or gravitas, but it is what it is." (pg 72)
Again, it's meant to be endearing, but it just comes off as distracting and unnecessary. Also, her self-deprecating aside seems to take away from the validity of her testimony as a witness/participant to a particular aspect of pop culture.
Valenti also has an unfortunate habit of divisive speech, something that can only work to her (and our) detriment. She uses the phrase "the conservative agenda" and talks about "the opposition". To her credit, she offers a chapter wherein she asks those supportive of the Purity moment to take time to consider what the book is saying and attempting to accomplish and urges them to be honest and clear about their own goals and to truly respond to the points the book is making, rather than relying on "some hackneyed talking point".
That aside, Valenti does a typically excellent job of dismantling pop culture in the book, naming names of various celebrities and their treatment in the media, famous mags and their focus, a deeper message behind television advertisements and much more. Essentially, what Valenti is doing is making the unfamiliar and unrelatable familiar and relatable. Lastly, she offers practical suggestions and actions to counteract the negative, thereby turning the justified rage the injustices related in the book inspire to a motivation for immediate action.
Another must-read for any feminist and/or parent, particularly one with a child in his/her teens or younger.
Notable: Valenti notes the concept and goals of "strict father morality", meaning the unquestioned assumption that men, rather than women themselves, know what's best for women. Valenti, after asserting the desperate need to overturn this mindset, confides
"I'd call our new model of morality 'wise mother morality' if it didn't reek so badly of cheesy goddess feminism!" (pg 201)
Now in fairness, Valenti did add the modifier "cheesy" meaning that she's not necessarily disregarding ALL Goddess feminism (for those curious, Goddess feminism is a branch of Paganism that focuses on female deity more than or to the exclusion of male deity citing the reason that female deity has been repressed and vilified for so long).
Another complaint that similar to the one I had about her first book is the same quote credited to writer Jennifer Baumgardner that Valenti used in Full Frontal Feminism:
"If pressed, I'd venture that at least half of my sexual experiences make me cringe when I think about them today. Taking top honors is the many times I made out with female friends in bars when I was in my early 20s... I'm embarrassed about the kiss-around-the-circles, but if I didn't have those moments, I'm not sure I ever would have found my way to the real long-term relationship I have today. If all my sexual behavior had to be evolved and reciprocal and totally revolutionary before I had it, I'd never have had sex."
Once again, no note is made of Baumgardner's bisexuality, therefore putting the "kissing a female friend for male attention" (if that's truly what she's describing doing) in a different light than it would be for a straight woman. Also, and while this isn't as much of an issue as in her previous two books, bisexual women don't exist, only straight and lesbian women do (unless you make the leap that by describing, say, "queer youth", Valenti is including bisexuals in the term, but she mentions lesbians by name in other parts of the book(s), something that never occurs with bisexuality).
Lastly, Valenti has consistently raged against the exhalation of looks over brains when valuing women, mentioning repeatedly "The Real Hot 100", a list composed of women who have made notable contributions in their communities, academia, and other fields of intelligentsia.
It seems curious then that in the opening pages of The Purity Myth wherein praise for Valenti and her other works are quoted, a quote from BUST magazine appears:
"It's hard not to love Jessica Valenti. The Brooklyn-based founder of Feministing.com-- the uncompromising, balls-out, feminist blog-- is brilliant, beautiful, and not even 30 years old."
It can be taken as progress that at least Valenti's intellect is praised before her physical appearance, but it still feels like an off-quote to have for an author who so rightfully denounces lookism.
Title: The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity Is Hurting Young Women by Jessica Valenti
Details: Copyright 2009, Seal Press
Synopsis (By Way of Inside Flap): "The United States is obsessed with virginity from the media to schools to government agencies. The Purity Myth is an important and timely critique of about why this is so, and why it’s problematic for girls and women. Analyzing cultural stereotypes and media messages, Jessica Valenti reveals the overt and hidden ways our society links a woman’s worth to her sexuality rather than to values like honesty, kindness, and altruism. Valenti takes on issues ranging from abstinence-only education to pornography and exposes the legal and social punishments that women who dare to have sex endure. Importantly, she also offers solutions that pave the way for a future without a damaging emphasis on virginity, including a call to rethink male sexuality and reframe the idea of “losing it.” With Valenti’s usual balance of intelligence and wit, The Purity Myth presents a powerful and revolutionary argument that valuing girls and women for their sexuality needs to stop-and outlines a new vision for how it can happen."
Why I Wanted to Read It: I'm a fan of Valenti's previous work, Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman's Guide to Why Feminism Matters, and He's a Stud, She's a Slut, and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know.
How I Liked It: Valenti tackles America's obsession with purity in a concise and easy-to-read format. Her sources are spotlessly cited (therefore kicking down the argument of "bending the facts") as well for each chapter.
Unfortunately, The Purity Myth is not without some of the flaws that dogged her first two books. Valenti can have an overly familiar style (she tend to prefer the word "slutty" over the word "promiscuous") and the slightly distracting asterisks with further information that appears at the bottom of several pages are distracting and most could have easily been including into the text by way of parenthesis. She also inserts a lot of stories that, while clearly meant to inspire a sense of humor and of her own experience, are wholly unnecessary. Do we really need to know that Valenti once dressed up as a slutty nurse for Halloween during her freshman year of college? There's no point to the story other than Valenti, whilst discussing the "sexy costume" phenomenon, is admitting (by her words) that she once succumbed to said phenomenon. She adds that some guy shouted that she was a "bloody hot nurse" which she took to mean he was British but actually meant she had gotten her period early that month. An amusing anecdote, sure, but in the context of this book, it's just distracting.
Recalling the glory days of raves in the '90s, Valenti discusses her memories in particular of the "girlification" of women, including trendy accessories such as baby barrettes and pacifiers. Valenti recalling her memories and participation in said trends is fine in this case: a personal memory of an example of girlification (and how she was unwittingly sucked in) doesn't break from the narrative. However, the footnote she adds does:
"I know, the idea of your feminist author dancing around with glowsticks doesn't inspire confidence or gravitas, but it is what it is." (pg 72)
Again, it's meant to be endearing, but it just comes off as distracting and unnecessary. Also, her self-deprecating aside seems to take away from the validity of her testimony as a witness/participant to a particular aspect of pop culture.
Valenti also has an unfortunate habit of divisive speech, something that can only work to her (and our) detriment. She uses the phrase "the conservative agenda" and talks about "the opposition". To her credit, she offers a chapter wherein she asks those supportive of the Purity moment to take time to consider what the book is saying and attempting to accomplish and urges them to be honest and clear about their own goals and to truly respond to the points the book is making, rather than relying on "some hackneyed talking point".
That aside, Valenti does a typically excellent job of dismantling pop culture in the book, naming names of various celebrities and their treatment in the media, famous mags and their focus, a deeper message behind television advertisements and much more. Essentially, what Valenti is doing is making the unfamiliar and unrelatable familiar and relatable. Lastly, she offers practical suggestions and actions to counteract the negative, thereby turning the justified rage the injustices related in the book inspire to a motivation for immediate action.
Another must-read for any feminist and/or parent, particularly one with a child in his/her teens or younger.
Notable: Valenti notes the concept and goals of "strict father morality", meaning the unquestioned assumption that men, rather than women themselves, know what's best for women. Valenti, after asserting the desperate need to overturn this mindset, confides
"I'd call our new model of morality 'wise mother morality' if it didn't reek so badly of cheesy goddess feminism!" (pg 201)
Now in fairness, Valenti did add the modifier "cheesy" meaning that she's not necessarily disregarding ALL Goddess feminism (for those curious, Goddess feminism is a branch of Paganism that focuses on female deity more than or to the exclusion of male deity citing the reason that female deity has been repressed and vilified for so long).
Another complaint that similar to the one I had about her first book is the same quote credited to writer Jennifer Baumgardner that Valenti used in Full Frontal Feminism:
"If pressed, I'd venture that at least half of my sexual experiences make me cringe when I think about them today. Taking top honors is the many times I made out with female friends in bars when I was in my early 20s... I'm embarrassed about the kiss-around-the-circles, but if I didn't have those moments, I'm not sure I ever would have found my way to the real long-term relationship I have today. If all my sexual behavior had to be evolved and reciprocal and totally revolutionary before I had it, I'd never have had sex."
Once again, no note is made of Baumgardner's bisexuality, therefore putting the "kissing a female friend for male attention" (if that's truly what she's describing doing) in a different light than it would be for a straight woman. Also, and while this isn't as much of an issue as in her previous two books, bisexual women don't exist, only straight and lesbian women do (unless you make the leap that by describing, say, "queer youth", Valenti is including bisexuals in the term, but she mentions lesbians by name in other parts of the book(s), something that never occurs with bisexuality).
Lastly, Valenti has consistently raged against the exhalation of looks over brains when valuing women, mentioning repeatedly "The Real Hot 100", a list composed of women who have made notable contributions in their communities, academia, and other fields of intelligentsia.
It seems curious then that in the opening pages of The Purity Myth wherein praise for Valenti and her other works are quoted, a quote from BUST magazine appears:
"It's hard not to love Jessica Valenti. The Brooklyn-based founder of Feministing.com-- the uncompromising, balls-out, feminist blog-- is brilliant, beautiful, and not even 30 years old."
It can be taken as progress that at least Valenti's intellect is praised before her physical appearance, but it still feels like an off-quote to have for an author who so rightfully denounces lookism.