Abstinence in the new millenium: shiny new packaging for old, sexist ideas

It surprises me that we still talk as much about virginity as we do. Oh let me clarifiy - girls' virginity that is. Few pay attention to boys' virginity and when they 'lose it'. It's rarely on our radar. And when boys do 'go all the way' they are seen as real men, as gaining something.

Valenti's new book gives a much-needed critique of our obsession with virginity 

But for women we still use the vocabulary of loss. And the virginity (or potential virginity) of girls still often finds itself at the center of social, political, and cultural life. Take what writer/blogger Jessica Valenti calls the "virginity movement" - today's incarnation of the anti-choice purity pushers who view abstinence as the only solution to teen pregnancy, stds, and just about every other evil the nation faces. In her article "The Virginity Movement, Rebranded" in The Nation, Vallenti chronicals how this group is "rebranding", trading in descriptions like "abstinence only" to "abstinence centered", adopting pseudo-scientific claims about the ineffectiveness of birth control, and appealing to progressives by using feminist-oriented langauge like, girls should "respect themselves" by not having premarital sex and that girls who have sex are "limiting their choices."  Bristol Palin is now paraded out as living proof of the doldrums of motherhood, inevitable according to the viginity movement and Bristol, if a girl has sex.

On a side note, this isn't the first time that an anti-feminist group has co-opted feminist language for their own gains, picked up some phony scientific statistics, and tweaked their vocab. A few years ago pro-life groups began to rebrand their anti-abortion movement as being on the side of women (rather than being onside with merely the fetus, their former plan of attack). Check out "Is their a post abortion syndrome?" for an interesting discussion of this.

And if you want to read further about the virginity movement, check out Valenti's new book, The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women. I also recommend this article published in Glamour Magazine by Jennifer Baumgardner for an insider's look into the world of purity balls. Scary!

xo, jessalynn