The Purity Myth: More than just a silver ring thing?

Valenti's book, The Purity MythGo to Silver Ring Thing and it might take you a minute to realize you're on an abstinence website. There's cool graphics, a twitter feed, and an ad for something called the iTour (alas, a click on it reveals it has nothing to do with music). Visits to abstinence sites like these are apparently on the rise thanks to a recent pop culture boost from teen purity proponents like The Jonas Brothers, Jordin Sparks, and Miley Cyrus. Perhaps not necessarily a new trend (remember Britney and Jessica as the virgins du jour in the earlier part of the decade?), but an ongoing part of American culture. And according to Jessica Valenti, it's time for us to start regarding this dangerous take on female sexuality for what it is - detrimental to the health and well being of girls and young women.

Jessica ValentiValenti, feminist blogger extrordinaire on Feministing.com and author of Full Frontal Feminism tackles purity culture in her new (ish) book The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession with Virginity Is Hurting Young Women, which was released earlier this year. I’ve always been interested in the “idea” of virginity – especially the language of it, girls “losing it” while guys supposedly gain by “taking” someone’s virginity – so I was excited to (finally!) pick up this book and see what Valenti’s research uncovered.

The premise of the book is rather simple. Namely, that restricting girls' sexuality to either virgin or not (a kickback to the old virgin/whore dichotmy) and judging them on thier sexual status is severly disadvantaging girls. Early on in the book Valenti writes:

The idea that virginity (or loss thereof) can profoundly affect women’s lives is certainly nothing new. But what virginity is, what it was, and how it’s being used now to punish women and roll back their rights is at the core of the purity myth. Because today, in a world where porn culture and reenergized abstinence movements collide, the moral panic myth about young women’s supposed promiscuity is diverting attention from the real problem – that women are still being judged (sometimes to death) on something that doesn’t really exist: virginity.

If you agree with Valenti there’s nothing too surprising in this book. But while her arguments aren’t necessarily new per se – especially for those schooled in feminist thought – she does a good job of providing a feminist critique of the concept of virginity that is accessible to a mainstream audience. A diversity of contemporary “hot topics” like the HPV shot, vaginal rejuvenation, and moral panics about girls' rampant sexuality are all addressed and used to build upon Valenti's arguement that the virginity movement is really not concerned with the well-being of girls at all, and instead more obsessed with maintaining the status quo by keeping old patriarchal bedrocks (like marriage!) intact.

Valenti goes to great lengths to argue her points, meticulously going through research studies, pop culture references, and media articles to prove the harmful consequences that purity pushers have on girls and to debunk the irony embedded in the virginity movement. (My favorite example comes on page 38: the Heritage Foundation's attempt to use sex to sell their anti-sex message, emblazoned on a shirt for sale on their site that says "Virgins Are Hot"!) Nice!

One of the more powerful points Valenti makes is the connection between the purity myth, race, and nation – and she successfully demonstreates how the purity myth places certain girls – primarily poor girls of color – outside of it’s boundaries. In this sense, there is more than sexism informing the purity myth but also racist attitudes that regard non-white girls as being born "tainted", never quite being able to achieve the sought pure status of white virgins. Viewed within the context of violence we see how the dangerous assumption of "worthy" victims (remember Natalee Holloway?) and "unworthy" victims (what about Crystal Gail Mangum and the Duke lacrosse palyers?) comes about.

But what does this mean for Canadians? Arguably we don’t have the same purity culture here as our neighbours to the south. I did a quick internet search and found no indication that purity balls are a regular part of teens’ (even those that come from evangelical families) social calendars, and we (supposedly) get comprehensive sex ed in most parts of the country. (Yes, abstinence education exists, no doubt, but it is not sponsored extensively by our federal government like in the US). So does the purity myth live in Canada too then?

Of course it does, and this idea leads me to what I think is Valenti's most important point. What interested me most about her discussion is not the overt ways that the concept of purity functions – the purity balls or the chastity rings – but the covert ways it functions to control women. It is easy to dismiss the most obvious and extreme examples, but it’s the way the purity myth lives everyday in society that is the most damaging to girls and women.

To wit: Within the past decade over 60 women have gone missing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood and most of you know what happened to these women. (You can read further about Vancouver’s missing women here for those needing background information.) These missing went unnoticed by authorities and the general public for a long time because many of these women worked in the sex trade, used drugs, and /or were women of color. Using Valenti’s analysis, they fell well outside of the purity boundaries (white, middle-class, young, heterosexual) and thus, their worth was diminished in the public eye. It’s hardly the only example, but just one of the most public examples of the purity myth at work in Canada.

So while purity culture may look different in Canada, Valenti’s main point holds true for us too. If we continue to allow conceptions of purity to sneak into our culture women and girls will never be able to reach their full potential as active, engaged citizens. Valenti’s biggest contribution with this book lies in her ability to link purity culture to many of the other issues affecting girls and women – including violence, the sexualization of girls, health issues, racism, and more - demonstrating that the purity myth is much more complicated, far-reaching, and dangerous than a chasity ring or purity ball would suggest. 

xo, jessalynn