Book Review The Purity Myth

subtitle: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women by Jessica Valenti. Many of you, I'm sure, can guess why I picked this one up. As a refresher for others; I was raised in a highly conservative Christian patriarchal household. My father talked about sex constantly, in the thou-shalt-not way, and had several lovely analogies to convince me to stay 'pure.' Let me give you a few. 1) Your virginity is like a rose. Every time you make out with a guy, or kiss him, you're tearing... read more

The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women By Jessica Valenti "This book is solidly researched, candidly personal, and smartly political. Valenti skewers sexism from abstinence campaigns to pop culture. Every young woman should read The Purity Myth - and it sure as hell would help if every young man read it as well!" -Robin Morgan Morgan hits it right on the head. Valenti pushes through a very important message: The truth about how America is causing...

So my last read of the few months away from my hectic school life has been The Purity Myth by Jessica Valenti.  Her very strong thesis - that young women are harmed by the cultural script that values them for what they have (or, more appropriately, have not) done sexually - is backed up by a decent book. I got the same feeling as I read The Purity Myth as I did reading FFF.  It's not so much disagreement with JV's arguments, or dissatisfaction with her scope of argument, but rather the feeling...

What (if any) books would you ban from a high school library? Are there certain subjects that you feel are inappropriate for teenagers regardless of literary merit? View 990 Answers Perhaps Twilight. But then too, I would make sure to replace the Twilight series books with the following four titles (and including number 5 to replace Midnight Sun): 1. Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World without Rape 2. Female Chauvinist Pigs 3. The Purity Myth 4. Fear of...

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before? It's a secret. *nudge nudge wink wink* Got a security clearance. Worked for the government. 2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't think I made one...I'm going to keep track of my finances. 3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope. 4. Did anyone close to you die? Emotionally. 5. What countries did you visit? None :( 6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009...

I am full of rage already this morning after stumbling into an ontd_political   post about an article written by Jessica Valenti. So many kinds of fail. I shall go through them in an orderly fashion despite my anger. 1) The article itself is terrible. She's such a bad writer, she makes me insane. I KNOW I am the queen of too many commas but COME ON. Get a freaking editor. Not only are her punctuation choices tedious, but I'm tired of listening to her make the same self-centered argument...