The Purity Myth

Posted on by

The United States is obsessed with virginity from the media to schools to government agencies In The Purity Myth Jessica Valenti argues that the country s intense focus on chastity is damaging to young women Through in depth cultural and social analysis, Valenti reveals that powerful messaging on both extremes ranging from abstinence curriculum to Girls Gone Wild infomercials place a young woman s worth entirely on her sexuality Morals are therefore linked purely to sexual behavior, rather than values like honesty, kindness, and altruism Valenti sheds light on the value and hypocrisy around the notion that girls remain virgin until they re married by putting into context the historical question of purity, modern abstinence only education, pornography, and public punishments for those who dare to have sex The Purity Myth presents a revolutionary argument that girls and women are overly valued for their sexuality, as well as solutions for a future without a damaging emphasis on virginity. New Read The Purity Myth by Jessica Valenti For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr This past weekend I visited a theme park with some friends While I was strolling through said theme park, I overheard the conversation of two high school aged girls It went something like this Girl A Did you hear that Kathy slept with Rick Girl B That loser she s been seeing Girl A Yup Girl B God, that girl is such a slut Girl A I know, last year I heard she slept with Todd too Girl B Who s Todd Girl A That college guy she was dating That s right, in the context of these This past weekend I visited a theme park with some friends While I was strolling through said theme park, I overheard the conversation of two high school aged girls It went something like this Girl A Did you hear that Kathy slept with Rick Girl B That loser she s been seeing Girl A Yup Girl B God, that girl i...I m not a fan of all of Valenti s work but she gets it right with this one Valenti addresses many important issues in The Purity Myth and manages to effectively make the point that a woman s sexuality shouldn t matter She doesn t resort to virgin sh...Let me begin this review by professing my support for Jessica Valenti s overarching purpose in The Purity Myth to expose the trope of sexual purity as deeply entrenched in American culture and to demonstrate the harmfulness of this trope on young American women I agree with her assessment of the state and nature of purity indeed, race theorists and sexuality theoris...Reading the book was like being lifted of a burden because with every chapter I was SO relieved that what I felt helpless to argue about any was covered so succinctly and eloquently in this book I don t tend to like to read nonfiction books I agree with because what s the point I might as well sit in the bathroom and talk into the mirror but I ve never beenpleased to agree with a book in my life, if someone asked me what I felt about feminism and or sexuality I could hand them this Reading the book was like being lifted of a burden because with every chapter I was SO relieved that what I felt helpless to argue about any was covered so succinctly and eloquently in this book I don t tend to like to read nonfiction books I agree with because what s the point I might as well sit in the bathroom and talk into the mirror but I ve never beenpleased to agree with a book in my life,...No man s getting into my bed unless he puts a ring on my finger A neighbor of mine was in the habit of saying this It made me uncomfortable because, first of all, nobody had asked I mean, seriously, she would throw this into a pause in the conversation the way some people might make idle observations on the weather.Second, when she put it that way, it didn t sound like, I don t know about the rest of you gals, but I have standards, which I m sure is how she meant it It sounded uncomforta No man s getting i...Very interesting read The author puts forward the argument that defining women and labeling their morality by their sexual activity and choices is problematic Valenti argues that overvaluing virginity is on the same continuum and spectrum as labeling women sluts In the end, Valenti is not promoting promiscuousness She is not promoting prudishness She is not discouraging men from finding women attractive What she is arguing is for an identification of women that is separate from their app Very interesting read The author puts forward the argument that defining women and labeling their morality by their sexual activity and choices is problematic Valenti argues that overvaluing virginity is on the same continuum and spectrum as labelin...I want to start off my review by stating that I don t think this book is anti abstinence It is against the idea that being abstinence makes you amoral woman than those of us who did not wait till marriage to have sex This book frustrates me because proves to me how despite all the progress women have made around the world, we are till bound by archaic principles when it comes to our sexuality The examples that these abstinence only places are teaching is not only insulting, but de huma...Update March 3, 2014 I found the article I mention below that I couldn t find at the time of writing this review Because I m a rock star Silly rabbit, I didn t go back to look at The Toast Long story short On Not Having a Story About Losing Your Virginity Finally.Original Review Abstinence only sex education.There have been a couple articles I ve read lately on the interwebz about virginity that have really caught my attention, and now after reading this book, those articles have come ba Update March 3, 2014 I found the article I mention below that I couldn t find at the time of writing this review Because I m a rock star Silly rabbit, I didn t go back to look at The Toast Long story short On Not Having a Story About Losing Your Virginity Finally.Original Review Abstinence only sex education.There have been a couple articles I ve read lately on the interwebz about virginity that have really caught my attention, and now after reading this book, those articles have come back into my mind And now, because I can, I share them with you Living Myths About Virginity, The Atlantic, Feb 4, 2014The Word You Are Searching for Is Rape, slate.com, Feb 13, 2014There was also this great article I read somewhere about how we talk too much about first times in society, and how we shouldn t put so much attention on the topic because some or many first times were ...Another work of nonfiction with several quote worthy passages In The Purity Myth, Jessica Valenti argues that America s obsession with virginity hurts young women She focuses on the idea that if we teach girls to value themselves in terms of their bodies, they will fail to cultivate true virtues intelligence, assiduousness, and compassion The desirable virgin is sexy but not sexual She s young, white, and skinny She s a cheerleader, a baby sitter she s accessible and eager to please remem Another work of nonfiction with several quote worthy passages In The Purity Myth, Jessica Valenti argues that America s obsession with virginity hurts young women She focuses on the idea that if we teach girls to value themselves in terms of their bodies, they will fail to cultivate true virtues intelligence, assiduousness, and compassion The desirable virgin is sexy but not sexual She s young, white, and skinny She s a cheerleader, a baby sitter she s ac...UPDATE Bumping this up to 4 stars after reading Full Frontal Feminism A Young Woman s Guide to Why Feminism Matters, because this book is a lotbalanced and speaks withfacts.This isn t really a review,of a mish mash of my thoughts and feelings about this book So be warned it s messy and unorganized.I found the book very insightful, brimmed with thought provoking arguments and comprehensive research I appreciated a book that looked at the Virginity Myth from all aspects wha UPDATE Bumping this up to 4 stars after reading Full Frontal Feminism A Young Woman s Guide to Why Feminism Matters, because this book is a lotbalanced and speaks withfacts.This isn t really a review,of a mish mash of my thoughts and feelings about this book So be warned it s messy and unorganized.I found the book very insightful, brimmed with thought provoking arguments and comprehensive research I appreciated a book that looked at the Virginity Myth from all aspects what virginity was, how it affects women, where it is found, how pervasive it is, etc This topic is close to me, as I was one of those women raised under the Virginity Movement not so much by my parents, but by my church and by Focus on the Family s Brio magazine and Boundless.org website two places that ...

The Purity Myth
  • English
  • 27 September 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 263 pages
  • Jessica Valenti
  • The Purity Myth