I heard about this book some time ago and was pretty excited when it came in amongst my holds at the library. can we just take a minute to talk about how fantastic the Calgary Public Library is? I rarely have issues with them, they make it pretty damn easy to do everything online, and whenever I haven't been able to find a book through them I have had access to the TAL system and have gotten it via the CPL through Interlibrary Loans. I heart the library. I am going to go out on a limb and say it is possibly one of the best inventions of the industrial revolution. Yay for Libraries!
So, back to this book. I loved the concept, regarding the commodification and obsession with virginity, with a focus on the American neo-con movement. It certainly delivered what it advertised, which was a very critical look at not only the neo-con movement but our ideas of virginity in general.
I thought Valenti made some really interesting points throughout the book, although at first I did find her writing style a bit bizarre. She both uses end notes and a form of footnotes, but her footnotes were primarily just her commentary on the subject matter. While I would have a difficult time taking this as someone using it for an academic source, as a general reader I was pretty entertained.
That said, Valenti's organization was a bit lacking, and I found she both repeated herself in her subject matter and contradicted herself as well. Specifically, her chapter on porn was a bit confusing - is she for or against?
All in all, it was an interesting book that I enjoyed, on subject matter that I feel passionate about. That said, I would have enjoyed some more detailed info on the subjects she was accosting, such as the Purity Balls. It's an interesting topic that is spoken of, but not delved into in any great depth. Perhaps I was just looking for more of a journalistic approach to the information and not such a feminist discourse style, but it is what it is.
3.5 misunderstood concepts of virginity out of 5.
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