Jessica at Feministing reports that the I-phone now has an app that helps people make purity pledges: "For just 59p, consumers can download an application that allows them to take a purity pledge and then display a silver ring on their phone to prove their commitment to abstinence." The good thing is that purity is pretty cheap. In the bad news department, however, purity pledges notoriously achieve nothing good. At least, in the opinion of those who don't see the rise in teenage pregnancies and STD rates as a positive thing.
As somebody said, the virtue that needs to be guarded isn't worth guarding.
Here is one of my previous posts on Jessica's great book The Purity Myth.
Showing posts with label virginity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label virginity. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Valenti's The Purity Myth
As I have said, Jessica Valenti's The Purity Myth is a very good book. Its main idea is the following:
"The lie of virginity - the idea that such a thing even exists - is ensuring that young women's perception of themselves is inextricable from their bodies, and that their ability to be moral actors is absolutely dependent on their sexuality. . . While boys are taught that the things that make them men - good men - are universally accepted ethical ideals, women are led to believe that our moral compass lies somewhere between our legs."
Everything that Valenti says here is certainly true. It does, however, sound extremely dated. How sad is it that in the XXI century a developed society would still need a book-long discussion that virginity is a patriarchal myth.
Although I agree with the central message of Valenti's book, I do have a criticism to offer. On several occasions, she refers to "our sex-saturated culture" and "our porned culture." One of the chapters is even titled "A Porned America." Valenti insists that "pornography is pervasive in America. . . we're simply inundated with it." It is sad that a generally lucid feminist writer would slip into these tired puritanical cliches. I don't know where Valenti manages to see all this sex and porn around her. I somehow never see it unless I specifically search for it. As for being "simply inundated with porn," this is just wishful thinking.
"The lie of virginity - the idea that such a thing even exists - is ensuring that young women's perception of themselves is inextricable from their bodies, and that their ability to be moral actors is absolutely dependent on their sexuality. . . While boys are taught that the things that make them men - good men - are universally accepted ethical ideals, women are led to believe that our moral compass lies somewhere between our legs."
Everything that Valenti says here is certainly true. It does, however, sound extremely dated. How sad is it that in the XXI century a developed society would still need a book-long discussion that virginity is a patriarchal myth.
Although I agree with the central message of Valenti's book, I do have a criticism to offer. On several occasions, she refers to "our sex-saturated culture" and "our porned culture." One of the chapters is even titled "A Porned America." Valenti insists that "pornography is pervasive in America. . . we're simply inundated with it." It is sad that a generally lucid feminist writer would slip into these tired puritanical cliches. I don't know where Valenti manages to see all this sex and porn around her. I somehow never see it unless I specifically search for it. As for being "simply inundated with porn," this is just wishful thinking.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)