Jessica Valenti’s book boils the new feminism down to its basics
By Ashwini Hardikar
Monday May 21, 2007
“Is Feminism Dead?” screamed the cover of Time magazine in 1998. Featuring a pictorial timeline of feminist talking heads from Susan B. Anthony to Betty Friedan to Gloria Steinem—and culminating in Ally McBeal—the media latched on to the notion that women at the turn of the millennium had decided that feminism was no longer relevant to their lives. According to prominent feminist theorist bell hooks, feminism is “a movement to end sexist oppression.” Millions of women heard the pop-culture assertion that women were “over” feminism, but looked at their own lives and saw that sexist oppression was decidedly not over. There was still work to be done, but could feminism really provide an avenue to social change?
As Jessica Valenti, founding editor of the blog Feministing.com would say, “Hells yeah!” In her new book, Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Women’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters, Valenti makes the argument that feminism is relevant and can significantly improve the lives of young women in the United States. She touches on common topics relating to feminism: reproductive freedom, masculinity, standards of beauty, sexuality, and violence against women. It’s a typical grab-bag of some of the most popular and well-known issues that are brought up in mainstream feminism today. Valenti’s prose is reader-friendly and fast paced, and she seems to model her style after the type of colloquial language found in a women’s magazine like Cosmopolitan—and that makes sense, since many in her audience probably read Cosmo. But what she says is exceedingly more worthwhile than almost anything in a so-called “women’s magazine.”
Full Frontal Feminism is a good introduction to some key concepts of feminism and includes plenty of real-life examples, personal anecdotes, and other illustrations to demonstrate the importance of feminism to American society, culture, and politics. From pharmacists who refuse to fill contraceptive prescriptions to sexual assault and harassment on college campuses and in the workplace to abstinence-only sex education in public schools, young women encounter sexism every day. Valenti makes the case that feminism is the proper response. But you don’t need to be well-versed in theory to understand feminism. Rather, you only need to examine the obstacles and concerns you have in your own life, analyze their causes, and think of potential solutions. And that can be done by just about anyone.
But Full Frontal Feminism might be more useful to some young women than others. The most glaring flaw in Valenti’s book is its failure to probe the issues facing some of the most vulnerable, exploited, and disfranchised women in our society today—those who may be in need of feminist liberation the most. Valenti does make an effort to point out historical racism and classism within the feminist movement, at times even including specific examples of marginalized women’s feminist strivings. But these issues are never fully probed.
This narrow perspective is most apparent in her chapter on political participation, cutely titled “Sex and the City Voters, My Ass.” Valenti discusses two methods for participating in politics: voting and running for elected office. These methods are indeed important, and more women should be encouraged to actively vote and hold elected office. But what about immigrants, undocumented workers, and currently or formerly incarcerated women who are ineligible to vote or run for office? How can they participate in the political process? Surely, there are countless ways to be politically engaged: speaking at town hall meetings, writing to your representative, forming an organization that lobbies a city council or Congress, or organizing a door-to-door canvassing operation. But by failing to mention any of these tactics, and instead focusing on privileges that only certain women have, Valenti provides a myopic view of feminist political activism and overlooks the potential political power of many marginalized women.
In the section on taking feminist action titled “Get To It!” Valenti offers vague affirmations and commands instead of concrete tools and tactics. She writes, “Don’t stay with a person who hits you, emotionally abuses you, or threatens you in any way.” And that’s it, end of bullet point. For someone who is or knows someone experiencing intimate partner violence, this imperative statement provides no helpful information or resources on how to safely deal with such a situation. Many of the suggestions on feminist action are similarly imprecise. This section would have been much more useful had it offered more concrete ideas for taking action in one’s community, perhaps even including narratives of successful feminist action young people have taken that could serve as a model for the fired-up reader.
The topics that Full Frontal Feminism does cover are of course significant, and it would be nearly impossible for any author to tackle every issue in the spectrum of feminism. But had Valenti strayed from the usual laundry list of “women’s issues,” such as beauty and working outside of the home, she could have brought more depth and analysis of women’s intersecting identities, especially in terms of race and class. Although Valenti’s focus is on women in the United States, many young women living in the United States are originally from other countries and many have arrived here as a result of policies of militarism or economic subjugation, either directly or indirectly. The challenges marginalized young women confront are therefore a vital part of a feminist movement, and any movement affirming the dignity of all people.
For all of its shortcomings, Valenti’s book has many merits, and could be very helpful for the budding young feminist. Above all, Full Frontal Feminism encourages the reader to critically examine the expectations and conventions of the society we live in from a perspective that challenges sexism. Valenti argues that once you start looking at the world from a feminist viewpoint, you realize that you have the right to resist much of the injustice you feel personally—and this can be very empowering, even life-changing. Feminism can give you the power to leave your abusive partner, demand an end to sexual harassment in your workplace, or challenge standards of beauty that may be destroying your self-esteem and your body. Feminism is relevant to your life. You might already know all of this, in which case, as Valenti says, “Chances are, you’ve already done things that make you a feminist.” Now it’s time to call yourself one.
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Comments
Good review. I just have one comment, though. Why should illegal immigrants and undocumented workers be allowed to vote or run for office? That would cause utter mayheim to erupt. Terrorists would not even have to high jack airplanes to attack the U.S. if they were our mayor or governor. These immigrants are reffered to as illegal for a reason. I do think that immigrants should be allowed into our country, but they need proper identification and they DO NOT need to be able to vote or run for office.
— Lacy - May 23, 01:08 AM - #Great review, Ashwini. I think I may go out and get this. Seems worthwhile.
— Atasi - May 26, 03:27 PM - #Lacy,
I think you misread that bit. The point here isn’t that they should or should not be allowed to vote & run for office, but that there are other ways to participate in the political process if those options are not open to you.
The fact that you pulled “they oughht to be able to vote and hold office” from that bit makes me think you’re a reactionary racist looking to start a fight.
Try working on your reading comprehension and then maybe your beliefs could be coherent and logical.
— Nat - May 30, 05:21 PM - #I think it is a very good point that this book is meant for mainstream, white American women, and excludes others. I know too many stories from my Asian, Indian, etc. friends, and how they might as well still be living in their home countries- not allowed outside the house, arranged marriages, no dating, no knowledge about their own body, etc. There needs to be a real discussion about how feminism can balance respecting other cultures with basic human rights for all women.
— Claire - Jun 2, 04:05 AM - #Being a legal U.S. citizen gives you the privilege of participating in the democratic process. I can’t imagine going to Germany, England, France, etc and expect to be allowed to vote or run for office. Yes minorities are ignored in our society and in feminism and that truly needs to change. Women of color feminism is getting more attention in the feminist movement after being ignored for so many years. White feminists need to begin these difficult conversations about white privilege and internalized racism.
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