“If being premenstrual is “innocence,” does that make those of us with periods guilty? And this really gets to the heart of the matter: These concerns aren't about lost innocence; they're about lost girlhood. The virginity movement doesn't want women to be adults. Despite the movement's protestations about how this focus on innocence or preserving virginity is just a way of protecting girls, the truth is, it isn't a way to desexualize them. It simply positions their sexuality as “good”— worth talking about, protecting, and valuing—and women's sexuality, adult sexuality, as bad and wrong. The (perhaps) unintended consequences of this focus is that girl's sexuality is sexualized and fetishized even further.”

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About Jessica Valenti

American feminist writer

Jessica Valenti is an American feminist writer. She co-founded the blog Feministing and wrote for it from 2004 to 2011. She has 91 quotes on the site. Valenti is the author of six books, including Full Frontal Feminism, The Purity Myth, Why Have Kids?, and Sex Object: A Memoir. She has also co-edited Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power, A World Without Rape, and Believe Me: How Trusting Women Can Change the World. From 2014 to 2018, she was a columnist for The Guardian, and she now runs the Abortion, Every Day newsletter. Michelle Goldberg described her as “one of the most successful and visible feminists of her generation.”

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Books by Jessica Valenti

Sex object

2016

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Believe Me

2020

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The purity myth

2009

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Full Frontal Feminism

2014

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