Reviews
The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women by Jessica Valenti
erinsanson's review
4.0
My first Valenti—really enjoyed it! I didn’t always think that her humor was appropriate but I thought this was very educational and eye-opening even to a seasoned feminist.
caedocyon's review
3.0
Lightweight, nothing really new or surprising, but not bad as far as preaching to the choir goes. I was kind of embarrassed to read this in public.
azn_trang's review
4.0
Starts off a little White Feminist(TM) at first but then it acknowledges WOC and their experiences later on
annakmeyer's review
3.0
Though I agreed with most of the author's points, she was way too condescending for almost the whole book.
moadore's review against another edition
3.0
Agreed with everything in it, but don't feel it brought up anything I wasn't already aware of.
kellylynnthomas's review against another edition
3.0
Valenti's book The Purity Myth takes a hard look at the virgin/whore dichotomy in our culture and really takes the virginity movement to task. She exposes much of the rhetoric the movement uses to appear feminist and forward-thinking.
What she doesn't do that disappoints me is correct much of the movement's lies. She talks many times about the lies and false statistics abstinence only education feeds our children, but does not provide the actual facts.
The book is a call to action, and a compelling one, but it fails to deliver a good counter-argument that its readers can use against the virginity movement and the lies and false statistics about pre-marital sex.
She also talks about the "hook up culture" in a tangential way. The virginity movement argues that the hook up culture hurts young women and that casual sex can lead to depression. Valenti argues that it doesn't, but she doesn't touch on the fact that the college "hook up culture" relies on a double standard that does, in fact, label girls who have casual sex as whores, and therefore DOES have a negative emotional impact on young women. NOT because they are having casual sex, but because they are punished for having casual sex. I would highly recommend reading "Hooking Up: Sex, Dating and Relationships on Campus" by Kathleen Bogle for a very in-depth study of this to supplement the brief mentions Valenti gives it.
Despite its flaws, this is an excellent book and all young women should read it, if only so they know that they are not who they have sex with!!
What she doesn't do that disappoints me is correct much of the movement's lies. She talks many times about the lies and false statistics abstinence only education feeds our children, but does not provide the actual facts.
The book is a call to action, and a compelling one, but it fails to deliver a good counter-argument that its readers can use against the virginity movement and the lies and false statistics about pre-marital sex.
She also talks about the "hook up culture" in a tangential way. The virginity movement argues that the hook up culture hurts young women and that casual sex can lead to depression. Valenti argues that it doesn't, but she doesn't touch on the fact that the college "hook up culture" relies on a double standard that does, in fact, label girls who have casual sex as whores, and therefore DOES have a negative emotional impact on young women. NOT because they are having casual sex, but because they are punished for having casual sex. I would highly recommend reading "Hooking Up: Sex, Dating and Relationships on Campus" by Kathleen Bogle for a very in-depth study of this to supplement the brief mentions Valenti gives it.
Despite its flaws, this is an excellent book and all young women should read it, if only so they know that they are not who they have sex with!!
kng_writes's review
informative
sad
slow-paced
3.0
Middle of the road for me, honestly. I think I’m coming to this book too late, because it all felt fairly obvious and repetitive to me. But I’m certain that this book made waves when it was published over a decade ago. It’s disheartening to see we’re moving backwards, though.
daggerheart's review against another edition
1.5
A serious topic written about poorly. Felt more like I was reading an extended, rant-like blog post. It was jarring and unpleasant to read a section about something dire only to find a footnote leading to some obnoxiously pithy sardonic comment needlessly added to the bottom of the page.
Not to mention it was very surface-level and doesn't dig deep into the topic presented. I feel like I didn't learn anything new and was just reading Basic Feminism 101. Most things she says will be basic facts that anyone who identifies as a feminist already knows about and will at least mostly agree with.
And were this book WANT to be an entry point to feminism I would definitely say it did not achieve that as there's no way a book this childishly written would convince anyone of anything. It is written for people who already agree with the author and just want sarcastic validation that they're correct and superior for already knowing that.
Not to mention it was very surface-level and doesn't dig deep into the topic presented. I feel like I didn't learn anything new and was just reading Basic Feminism 101. Most things she says will be basic facts that anyone who identifies as a feminist already knows about and will at least mostly agree with.
And were this book WANT to be an entry point to feminism I would definitely say it did not achieve that as there's no way a book this childishly written would convince anyone of anything. It is written for people who already agree with the author and just want sarcastic validation that they're correct and superior for already knowing that.
ljjohnson8's review
4.0
Wow. I was very impressed with this book and believe it's required reading for anyone with even the smallest interest or concern with feminist issues. Valenti is an excellent writer who makes her points persuasively but also entertainingly and with style. She is in no way a screeching alarmist, but presents her insights on the continuing restrictions of women's rights and independence in such a way that the world of The Handmaid's Tale feels terrifying possible. As a mother of 2 teenaged daughters, I highly recommend this to anyone raising girls today. I like to think of myself as fairly enlightened, but I had my eyes opened several times throughout my reading. I didn't agree with all of Valenti's points, particularly some of her views on pornography which I will always see as criminal activity with real victims.
I will be reading more by this author. Thanks to my daughter Victoria for recommending this.
I will be reading more by this author. Thanks to my daughter Victoria for recommending this.