My problem with the wedding industry started when I studied in college and liked to have the television on in the background, and ‘A Wedding Story’ on TLC always came on, and I’d get irritated that the story of two people making a lifelong commitment to each other could be encapsulated in a half-hour show about the party they throw. Jessica Valenti Read Quote
In ‘The Purity Myth,’ I not only discuss what the purity myth is and reveal its consequences for women, but also outline a new way for us to think about young women as moral actors, one that doesn’t include their bodies. Jessica Valenti Read Quote
I think day care is terrific. Kids get to be around other kids, and they’re playing, and they’re teaching each other. When I was in college, my summer job was being a preschool teacher. I loved it, and after that experience, I said I can’t wait to put my kid in day care because I could see how much they loved it. Jessica Valenti Read Quote
The only purpose of an engagement ring is to show you ‘belong’ to someone, and your man makes bank. Jessica Valenti Read Quote
The truth about parenting is that the reality of our lives needs to be enough. Jessica Valenti Read Quote
You come to a point where you give up on holding yourself to a perfect feminist ideal – it just feels stifling. Jessica Valenti Read Quote
When I started blogging in 2004, I responded to every comment no matter how nasty the reader was. I was generally polite, believing that these critics would be so charmed by my professionalism that they would see the error of their misogynist ways and swiftly run out to read a bell hooks book. Ha! Jessica Valenti Read Quote
Wanting to be liked means being a supporting character in your own life, using the cues of the actors around you to determine your next line rather than your own script. It means that your self-worth will always be tied to what someone else thinks about you, forever out of your control. Jessica Valenti Read Quote
I’ve seen straight, partnered women explain their decision to stay at home by noting that childcare would have taken too much out of their paycheck – as if this cost was just theirs to bear! Jessica Valenti Read Quote
Dismissing socialization and gender roles as piddling compared to this amorphous idea of ‘maternal imperative’ is part of the reason progress is stalled for family-friendly policies. Jessica Valenti Read Quote
