Jessica Valenti visits SDSU
March 11, 2010 2:21:14
by Ashlee
South Dakota Public Affairs Intern
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund
Speaker Jessica Valenti caused quite a stir across the campus of SDSU last Tuesday. Whether the comments were positive or negative, Valenti definitely raised some serious debate about the subjugation of women. But let’s focus on the positive: a male who had no choice but to go to the speaker for class credit sat next to me. When we left, he had nothing but good things to say. He had never even thought about the discrimination in different fashions, literally. Jessica displayed some alarming graphics including t-shirts targeted at young girls boasting messages like “no means no, well unless I’m drunk” and “who needs brains when you’ve got these” written across the bust.
Valenti spent most of the night discussing her latest book, The Purity Myth. She explained the concept of Purity Balls, where girls pledge their virginity to their father until they are married. Barf.
The Q and A session of the night was interesting. One woman stated that she was 24, Catholic, a virgin, and disease free and she is proud of it. “So why is that so bad?” she asked. Valenti again tried to explain her point: It is not bad in any way, but why is not being a virgin so bad?
One of Valenti’s visuals included a bouquet of roses with a card describing the problem with pre-marital sex: every time you engage in sexual activity before marriage a petal falls from your rose. “Don’t leave your husband holding a bare stem.” One of the fraternities on campus took this explanation literally by handing out roses to women on Wednesday with notes that claimed You’re worth the wait. The implication that non-virgins are not worth the wait is damaging and particularly irritating coming from fraternity brothers who notoriously celebrate precisely the kinds of attitudes embodied in the shirts that Valenti finds problematic.
I think Valenti broke some ground in our conservative little bubble that is SDSU. Liz Jeppesen, President of the Campus Women’s Coalition wrote that “It takes a lot for most people in South Dakota to start a serious, intelligent discussion about feminism and media images.” Valenti was hilarious yet strong on all of her points. Women are worth respecting no matter what decision they make and you can still be a great person even if you are not “Pure.”
Check out more of Jessica Valenti's work on Feministing.
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