She also ties this into our culture/media’s tendency to blame the victim in rapes cases. Both assign value to women based on their sexuality. What is virginity really? Why is it so much of a focus for women (but not for men)? Why are girls defined as good or bad based on whether they’ve had sex rather than how they treat others and what they accomplish? Valenti lays out how the abstinence only education/purity movement and the porn industry are really just 2 sides of the same coin. Over the last few years I’ve really started to question how much of a woman’s value is based on her sexuality, but this book brought it all home for me. I think the above summary is pretty good. 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. 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. Morals are therefore linked purely to sexual behavior, rather than values like honesty, kindness, and altruism. 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.

In The Purity Myth Jessica Valenti argues that the country’s intense focus on chastity is damaging to young women. The United States is obsessed with virginity - from the media to schools to government agencies.

The purity myth by jessica valenti