Comments on: The Purity Myth: a review

By: Review: The Purity Myth « Book Addiction

Review: The Purity Myth « Book Addiction — Mon, 04 May 2009 12:03:33 +0000

[...] Renee at Global Comment [...]

By: whatsername

whatsername — Fri, 01 May 2009 06:07:04 +0000

a large part of the book is dedicated to the fact that the notion of virginity itself is limiting and heteronormative, which as you point out leads to those who don’t fit into the “pure” model as being punished. In fact, it’s the same (punishment) for anyone who doesn’t fall into what I call the “perfect virgin” model – young straight white women who look a certain way, are of a certain class, etc.

You mean like being gang raped when you’re gassing up your car because the guys think they can “fuck you straight”? As very recently happened to a lesbian with a rainbow sticker on her car here in California?

Because I’m fairly certain that’s the kind of punishment Renee is talking about.

By: a. brown

a. brown — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:36:45 +0000

Ok, just started reading TPM. I was wrong about the intro– instead she brings up WOC’s bodies frequently and is quick to point out the absence of them in virginity narratives. I think she’s writing a book about stuff she knows about. As a white, female, cis abled person, these virginity diatribes are directed at people like her. Why can’t she write a book about that? The “narrow understanding of ‘woman’” is discussed throughout the book, as she is dissecting why the white/female/non-poor body is labeled as the only one that fits the narrative.

By: Jo

Jo — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:29:16 +0000

Hi!

I think your critique is really interesting, but as a feminist scholar it poses some questions for me. Questions I don’t have answers to, I should point out up front.

If Jessica had written about women’s lives globally, wouldn’t she have run the risk of not knowing enough about the culture? And yes, she could certainly study another culture, but multiple cultures? Within the time frame of publishing a trade press book?

I ask this because I’m not a popular feminist in the way Ms. Vallenti is, and I am also trained in a specific non-US culture. However, I would like to write about women’s lives globally.

The impasse is that the level of knowledge required to do so without being racist/making assumptions/reading what already exists on even one specific culture is mindblowing.

Thoughts on how to be a responsible feminist globally in our writing with skimming the surface?

By: a. brown

a. brown — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:58:34 +0000

I’ve got The Purity Myth on order, so I’ve yet to read it. I thought Jessica’s appearance on the Today Show (hard to watch, yes) was great, and that she’s bringing to light how crazy the virginity-craze is. I am wondering if she addresses the problems you raise (narrow audience) in the introduction. She usually seems upfront about the perspective she is writing from.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:19:01 +0000

Hey Renee, thanks for the thoughtful review. I agree that a global perspective would be great on issues of virginity and “purity,” but for the purposes of scope I made the decision to stick with the U.S. If anyone has any ideas for texts that do look at this globally, I’d love to hear about them.

Valenti’s discussion of what is and is not considered sexual behaviour leads to the erasure and/or trivialization of certain people. For example, bisexual and lesbian women are often the focus of violence simply because they have rejected the heterosexual model of sexuality.

I was surprised to see this critique – because a large part of the book is dedicated to the fact that the notion of virginity itself is limiting and heteronormative, which as you point out leads to those who don’t fit into the “pure” model as being punished. In fact, it’s the same (punishment) for anyone who doesn’t fall into what I call the “perfect virgin” model – young straight white women who look a certain way, are of a certain class, etc. (The chapter on public punishments outlines how the consequences for being perceived as impure are disproportionately focused on those who don’t fit into this model) But I agree that because I’m writing about the political movements of certain conservative orgs and institutions – who center “perfect virgins” in their work – I don’t cover the entire breadth of ways that virginity and purity functions in women’s lives. Thanks again for the review!

By: cooper

cooper — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:50:43 +0000

I’m sorry, I read her first book only because someone gave it to me, and I can’t seem to care too much about this one. It’s not as if most educated women don’t already know what she is saying so I assume, maybe incorrectly, she doesn’t say much. She knows where her money comes from, the white upper middle class, of which I am a part, but sadly as I see it, and I don’t deal in feminism only public and international policy, not to be disrespectful to feminists, but this is exactly why this is useless, the world is so much larger than this. If some actually read this and learn something so much the better, but there are some very good books out there people might want to read instead starting with a decent freshman public policy and international policy textbook.

By: whatsername

whatsername — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:08:36 +0000

How disappointing, I was hoping she’d have learned by now on this score.

I’ll be very interested to hear what she says on the show.

By: Cheshire

Cheshire — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:06:14 +0000

This is a very good review, I have little faith in Jessica Valenti, but I am wondering do you know of any good resources which do a better job, that do not focus the needs and situations of rich white cis ab women when it comes to sexuality?