Jessica Valenti Quotes

18 Sourced Quotes

Idea at play here is that of morality. When young women are taught about morality, there's not often talk of compassion, kindness, courage, or integrity. There is, however, a lot of talk about hymens

Jessica Valenti
The less obvious hurdle is that of preparing parents emotionally and putting forward realistic images of parenthood and motherhood. There also needs to be some sort of acknowledgement that not everyone should parent - when parenting is a given, it's not fully considered or thought out, and it gives way too easily to parental ambivalence and unhappiness.

Jessica Valenti
According to the virginity movement, men have no self-control when it comes to anything sexual.

Jessica Valenti
The only purpose of an engagement ring is to show you 'belong' to someone, and your man makes bank.

Jessica Valenti
You're not too fat. You're not too loud. You're not too smart. You're not unladylike. There is nothing wrong with you.

Jessica Valenti
The truth about parenting is that the reality of our lives needs to be enough.

Jessica Valenti
Value yourself for what the media doesn't - your intelligence, your street smarts, your ability to play a kick-ass game of pool, whatever. So long as it's not just valuing yourself for your ability to look hot in a bikini and be available to men, it's an improvement.

Jessica Valenti
When are we going to realize that hating other women - no matter how much money they have or how far they've fallen - is just as bad for ourselves as it is for anyone else?

Jessica Valenti
There were a WHOLE LOTTA us not having sex at Harvard... but none of us thought that that was special enough to start a club about it, for pete's sake.

Jessica Valenti
Sex for pleasure, for fun, or even for building relationships is completely absent from our national conversation. Yet taking the joy out of sexuality is a surefire way to ensure not that young women won't have sex, but rather that they'll have it without pleasure.

Jessica Valenti
While falling in love is fun, it's not everything, and it's not the antidote to an unfulfilled life, despite what Reese Witherspoon movies may tell you.

Jessica Valenti
At the end of the day, though, the entire basis for consent laws doesn't make sense. We're not old enough to decide if we don't want a baby, but we are old enough to have one?

Jessica Valenti
If your husband is cheating on you, it doesn't mean that you need to get prettier — it means he's a scumbag.

Jessica Valenti
Making women the sexual gatekeepers and telling men they just can't help themselves not only drives home the point that women's sexuality is unnatural, but also sets up a disturbing dynamic in which women are expected to be responsible for men's sexual behavior.

Jessica Valenti
Now, should we treat women as independent agents, responsible for themselves? Of course. But being responsible has nothing to do with being raped. Women don't get raped because they were drinking or took drugs. Women do not get raped because they weren't careful enough. Women get raped because someone raped them.

Jessica Valenti
Present-day American society-whether through pop culture, religion, or institutions-conflates sexuality and morality constantly. Idolizing virginity as a stand-in for women's morality means that nothing else matters-not what we accomplish, not what we think, not what we care about and work for. Just if/how/whom we have sex with. That's all.

Jessica Valenti
Be as pissed off as you want to be. Don't hold back because you think it's unladylike or some such nonsense. We shouldn't be shamed out of our anger. We should be using it. Using it to make change in our own lives, and using it to make change in the lives around us. (I know, I'm cheesy.) So the next time someone calls you emotional, or asks if you're PMSing, call them on their bullshit.

Jessica Valenti
It's time to teach our daughters that their ability to be good people depends on their being good people, not on whether or not they're sexually active.

Jessica Valenti