262 Quotes by Jessica Valenti

Whether it’s repro rights, violence against women, or just plain old vanilla sexism, most issues affecting women have one thing in common – they exist to keep women ‘in their place.’ To make sure that we’re acting ‘appropriately,’ whatever that means.

Obviously Feministing is kind of a women’s space in a certain way, even though we have a lot of male readership and people who don’t identify as women.

As I grew up and began identifying myself as a feminist, there were plenty of issues that continued to make me question marriage: the father ‘giving’ the bride away, women taking their husband’s last name, the white dress, the vows promising to ‘obey’ the groom. And that only covers the wedding.

It’s become impossible to enjoy most quality television shows because the hurt or endangered women device is so frequently used.

Edgar Allan Poe once called the death of a beautiful woman “the most poetical topic in the world” and I’ve often found myself wondering how many woman writers who have killed themselves or let themselves be otherwise obliterated were trying, somehow, to fulfill this most popular of narratives. We’re most valuable when we’re smiling, dead, posing, our words hanging on the page with no real body behind them. I’m.

By fetishizing youth and virginity, we’re supporting a disturbing message: that really sexy women aren’t women at all- they’re girls.

I don’t find the wave model very productive, because I think it kind of serves to fan the flames of generational tension, or make it seem like there’s more generational tension than there actually is.

I hope that by modeling feminism in my own life, work and relationships that it will haut become an organic part of my daughter’s life. But I’m also fully prepared for her to become a Republican as a way to rebel as a teenager – that would be just my luck!

In fact, no group of parents – married, single, step, or even empty nest – reported significantly greater emotional well-being than people who never had children,” she said. “It’s such a counterintuitive finding because we have these cultural beliefs that children are the key to happiness and a healthy life, and they’re not.