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A review by fictionesque
The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity Is Hurting Young Women by Jessica Valenti
2.0
This was fine if you're looking for a very moderate explanation of the purity myth in America. It is probably best for audiences that are not super familiar with feminism, but even then, I could see it potentially turning that kind of reader off (if you'll forgive the pun lol); the author is very clearly biased towards pornography, what she calls "sex work," and things like sado-masochism in sex. Her bias towards these things weakens her argument and I found myself wondering how she could criticize Christian organizations for being against these things just because they are also anti-choice. How can you spend a chapter talking about consent and ignore the coercive role of money in a sexual situation? How can you talk about rape culture and then just blandly state we need to be "critical" of pornography, when you are not critical of it yourself? The author has massive Cool Girl vibes, taking shots at Dworkin (I'm not like the stinky, unsexy feminists! I'm fun! I think anal sex is cool!) and bemoaning the ways men are harmed by patriarchy. Oh, also, that anal comment is not me being ~femphobic~ or whatever this author calls it...she seriously makes a few comments that anal is fine and safe for young girls, criticizing a quote from a purity organization that states that the "rectum is an exit, not an entrance." Like??? Perhaps they were right about that? It's different for anal sex between men but women are smaller, and we don't get pleasure out of it generally...idk champ that whole thing was weird.
Oh also there are a shit ton of "citation needed" moments in this where I really wanted her to give a statistic or something to prove her point. She just picked and chose when to provide a citation, and we have to take her at her word the rest of the time, which isn't easy when she has a (proudly, she says so herself in the book) "snarky" writing voice. Constantly making little haha funny funny poo poo pee pee jokes at the expense of your opposition is not great for convincing me you're mature enough in the first place to be handling this topic of discussion. Like you are no better than the "hello fellow kids" abstinence educators if your argument relies on zesty zingers instead of facts.
Anyway this book is kind of a meme. It might be good if you want like a kindergarden level introduction to this issue but if you are a serious feminist just skip it. I do appreciate all the organizational resources she mentions, however, I think that is actually pretty rad and valuable. So it has that going for it, I will definitely be keeping this book around for that reference alone.
Oh also there are a shit ton of "citation needed" moments in this where I really wanted her to give a statistic or something to prove her point. She just picked and chose when to provide a citation, and we have to take her at her word the rest of the time, which isn't easy when she has a (proudly, she says so herself in the book) "snarky" writing voice. Constantly making little haha funny funny poo poo pee pee jokes at the expense of your opposition is not great for convincing me you're mature enough in the first place to be handling this topic of discussion. Like you are no better than the "hello fellow kids" abstinence educators if your argument relies on zesty zingers instead of facts.
Anyway this book is kind of a meme. It might be good if you want like a kindergarden level introduction to this issue but if you are a serious feminist just skip it. I do appreciate all the organizational resources she mentions, however, I think that is actually pretty rad and valuable. So it has that going for it, I will definitely be keeping this book around for that reference alone.