Jessica Valenti: The Purity Myth

The Purity Myth - The Virginity Movement's War Against Women

March 6, 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm
The University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue,
Eckhardt-Gramatte Hall, 3rd floor of Centennial Hall

Panel Discussion & Reception with light snacks to follow

This screening is a partnership with Hollaback Winnipeg, The U of W Womyn's Centre, 

and The UWSA.

In this video adaptation of her bestselling book, pioneering feminist blogger Jessica Valenti trains her sights on "the virginity movement", an unholy alliance of evangelical Christians, right-wing politicians, and conservative policy intellectuals who have been exploiting irrational fears about women's sexuality to roll back women's rights. 

From dad-and-daughter "purity balls," taxpayer-funded abstinence-only curricula, and political attacks on Planned Parenthood, to recent attempts by legislators to de-fund women's reproductive health care and narrow the legal definition of rape, Valenti 

identifies a single, unifying assumption: 

the myth that the worth of a woman depends on what she does, or does not do, sexually. 

Valenti argues that the health and well-being of women are too important to be left to ideologues bent on vilifying feminism and undermining women's autonomy.

Jessica Valenti, called the "poster girl for third-wave feminism" by Salon and one of the Top 100 Inspiring Women in the world by The Guardian, is the author of three books: 

Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman's Guide to Why Feminism Matters, He's a Stud, She's a Slut... and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know, and The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women. 

She is the editor of the anthology Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape, which was named one of the Top 100 Books of 2009 by Publishers Weekly. Jessica is also the founder of Feministing.com.  Jessica won the 2011 Hillman Journalism Prize for her work with Feministing.

She has appeared on The Colbert Report and the Today show, and was recently profiled in The New York Times Magazine under the headline "Fourth Wave Feminism."

She received her Masters degree in Women's and Gender Studies from Rutgers University, where she is a part-time lecturer.