The third stumbling block those raised as girls in the purity movement must overcome is the destruction of what author and cofounder of the popular online community Feministing, Jessica Valenti, refers to as “the purity myth.” In her book, The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession with Virginity Is Hurting Young Women, Valenti defines this term as the myth that girls’ “only real worth is their virginity and ability to remain ‘pure.’ ”
