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Friday, April 24, 2009
Wild Girl, Virgin, or Something Inbetween?
Jessica Valenti, founder of the kick-ass feminist blog, Feministing.com, was recently featured on the Today Show. Check out the video - the women are chatting about young women's sexuality and the abstinence movement. I think some of the points that Jessica makes are really important - especially her point that when it comes to women and sexuality, there seems to be only two options: you're either the promiscuous girl gone wild, or the chaste virgin. In reality, most women fall somewhere inbetween the extremes of wild girl and virgin, yet those are the only two options for female sexuality that we are presented.
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Phew! Hot discussion! Props to Ms. Valenti for highlighting the importance of having "room for more complex conversation[s] around sexuality" and for pointing out that focusing on virginity is another way of focusing on young women 's sexuality.
ReplyDeleteAbstinence is a fabulous thing to commit to, as is frivolous, casual sex with multiple partners... What we need to look at is that sex education won't do shit for any one if it doesn't offer the ability to make I.N.F.O.R.M.E.D. choices!
Now, while prosti-tots is quite undoubtedly a laughable term, the arrogance and insensitivity of Lakita's argument just gives me more reason to oppose the whole "stay pure" movement.
I don't like how she states that most women screen their male employees more thoroughly than they screen their partners. The statement is obviously based on her own opinions. Even if it is true, it doesn't mean that one who remains a long-time virgin is any better off than one who is sexually active earlier on in life. In fact, the opposite seems much closer to the truth, the way I see it.