Week seven

Taking Charge and Being Empowered To Be Ourselves

I was really surprised with some of the information in the The Purity Myth. I never gave much thought to the definition of virginity. I would define virginity as abstinence from oral, anal or penetration of the penis into the vagina with a partner. I like the way Blank defines virginity (pg20) I feel we need to get back to the basics and empower girls with honesty, self-worth, integrity, purity and love. I personally think the girl scouts do an excellent job at empowering young girls. I do not have children, but from what I observe in my neighborhood parents are the primary source of information for youth. I can only assume discussing these types of topics can be challenging especially for single parents. Parents must have open communication with their children. I was brought up to ask questions no matter how silly the questions may seem. The fact that I lived so many places growing up and being physically challenged forced me to be more outgoing. My family never made a big deal about female sexuality. Both my parents had live in partners before their marriages. I was open minded I knew from my grandmother and going to church that you should be married, not live together which was considered taboo.
I think the conservatives especially, see girls the way Laura Kipnis In The Female Thing (pg42) “Recall the unhappy fact that throughout history there’s been the universal con-viction that women are somehow dirtier than men. The male body is regarded, or is symbolically, cleaner than the female body…Possibly it’s that outjutting parts of the body, like a penis, are regarded as somehow cleaner than holes and cavities….The vagina is frequently associated with rot and decay….” The media still portrays girls and women as degraded. Media makes girls dirty by reporting girls gone wild” (pg43) topless girls at spring break. Instead of reporting on how many women are attending college and performing at the top in fortune five companies. History always portrayed the women as the home caretaker. The men were the breadwinners and the women were to be at home cooking, cleaning and ready for procreation.
I am really shocked by the writings (pg47) of the “five popular books, all arguing that sexual activity hurts young women that were released in 2007.” In Liebau’s Prude “it theorizes that women’s sexual activity is not only harmful to them, but also detrimental to society as a whole.”(pg55)
Another shocking example by Dawn Eden she writes women who have premarital sex aren’t fully women: “Only through chastity can all the graces that are part of being women come to full flower in you.”(pg55) The virginity movement really puts women back in the Stone Age. I am appalled that federal funding is used to promote abstinence only education $178 million a year. (pg32)
I think we need to teach sex education in school, but we must teach it without being biased one way or another. We must prepare youth and give them the tools they need to make the right choices. Sex education has to be taught from a medical standpoint, given all the straight facts. I feel the youth of today are a lot smarter than given credit. They need to be trusted and treated like young adults and given all the facts about pornography. It is like the old saying “you can lead the horse to the water, but you can’t make it drink. If we starting presenting all the facts to our youth we will be surprised by the decisions they will make. Citizens fought for the segregation of church and state. Parents have to continue to fight for sex education to be separate and unbiased.
Just as women’s rights were fought for and passed. I believe women in the porn industry will fight to make it better for those women in the industry not to be devalued.

By Elizabeth Nesbitt

Comments

Kristen said…
I was also brought up to ask questions no matter how silly they seem. I think that it is a very important atmosphere that girls should grow up in. Most of the time girls become misinformed because they are afraid to ask questions. They don't want to be judged on the fact that they don't know the answers, and they must be reminded that all women learned some how.

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