Virginity and Value

So much time has passed since I posted anything here. Blogging is something I always tell myself I am going to cultivate, and yet I always seem to become so caught up in the day to day happenings and responsibilities. I suppose school is a decent excuse, but still!

I am very excited to embark on some new research over the course of the summer and into the new school year. First I plan on delving into the concept of virginity as dictated within several coming of age television series that aired during the mid to late 90s: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, My So Called Life, Felicity, and Dawson's Creek. These series contributed a great deal to the dominant scripts concerning youth and sexuality within my generation. Largely heteronormative and female focused, the plot lines weave tales with many common threads. Virginity becomes reified, positioned as a tangible object, something that one can save and/or give away, i.e. "losing your virginity."

Embarking on some preliminary research, I've picked up Jessica Valenti's The Purity Myth: How America's Obsession with Virginity is Hurting Young Women So far it has proved to be a quick, informative read. Valenti writes in a way that is very accessible, which I appreciate and provides an analysis of virginity spanning the past 20+ years within the U.S. I especially enjoy her discussion of how the purity myth functions within rape and abortion discourse amongst anti-choice/pro-choice activists, within pop culture, and the resulting policy decisions. The "Woman's Right to Know" or informed consent laws that make it mandatory for doctor's to degrade women who seek an abortion, seeks to remind women of what an abortion means through forced ultrasounds and paternalistic counseling. Apparently within the states of Texas and Mississippi doctors are required by law to tell women that abortion and an increased risk for breast cancer are directly correlated (Valenti, 134). This completely erroneous statement assumes that women do not have the mental capacity to fully understand their decision as well as the ability to decipher the bogus from the truth. This is just one example that Valenti gives in her book of the ways that the purity myth attempts to control women's bodies. I look forward to finishing The Purity Myth in hopes to have a better understanding of how virginity discourse continues to shape our sexual realities.

Everywhere I turn, I hear and view examples of this myth at work. I find the usage of these misconceptions particularly insidious when utilized in television, film, and print media geared towards adolescent girls. At a time when accurate and inclusive information about sex is needed the most,instead, we see it denied to the majority of America's youth. We still receive messages that men have uncontrollable, biological urges for sex, while simultaneously denying sexual agency to women, especially teenage girls. I am looking forward to further examining these messages as I continue with my research.

Please feel free to comment with messages you may have received about sexuality and virginity growing up, as well as examples of these discourses functioning within pop culture and current events. I love feedback peeps!