Jessica Valenti held nothing back in her talk on feminism Monday, regaling attendees with tales of purity balls, “boobgate” and the real reasons feminism is still important — and she did it all with the salty language that colored her Queens, N.Y., upbringing.
Valenti, founder of the feminist Web site feministing.com, spent a chunk of her time talking about how she came to be a feminist herself, and how the word “feminist” — while it can describe probably a majority of women — still comes tainted with a negative vibe that conjures images of “man haters.”
She blamed the Bush Administration for putting the feminist movement back eight years, but at the same time said more and more women are discovering feminisim, and discovering “the F word” has nothing to do with hating men.
Not all is perfect, however, and she told a story about something called “boobgate” to illustrate her point.
As Hilary Clinton’s campaign prepared to launch, they invited a gathering of bloggers to meet with Bill Clinton, and at the end they took a photograph of the bloggers.
In that photograph, Valenti happened to be wearing a form-fitting sweater from The Gap, and she happened to be standing near the former president.
Fellow bloggers, writing about the gathering, published the photo and mentioned Valenti and how she looked. One blogger in particular compared her to Monica Lewinsky, opining that all she needed was a beret and a blue dress to complete the metaphor.
As blogs discussed her clothing, as well as her possible motivation for wearing it, Valenti pondered the bigger picture.
“I decided, ‘This is why feminism is important,’” she said. “No matter what I publish ... I’m there to be looked at, I’m there to be judged.”
Valenti said she uses her feministing.com blog site to champion feminist issues. Sometimes they’re weighty issues, such as pay equity, and sometimes they’re more on the silly side, such as the YouTube.com video posted on her site featuring the Candice Bergen episode of the Muppet Show.
“Writing about issues in a fun way makes it more accessible to everyone,” she said.
Valenti is a graduate of the Women’s Studies master’s program at Rutgers University. She co-founded the REAL 100 listing of important works by young women.
She has worked for NARAL Pro-choice America, Planned Parenthood, Women’s Environment and Development Organization and Ms. Magazine.
She’s been published in Ms. Magazine, Bitch, The Guardian, Alternet, the Scholar and Feminist and Guernica. Valenti won an award from Choice USA for her efforts in reproductive rights.
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