The Purity Myth Analysis

In a society that is heavily influenced by mass media, women are repeatedly compartmentalized into unrealistic, and often degrading standards of appearance and sexuality. Doris Bazzini’s research on magazines and Caroline Heldman’s blog explores themes related to a woman’s appearance, while Jessica Valenti elaborates on the concept of virginity in her essay titled, “The Purity Myth”. Despite the diversity in scope when it comes to womanhood, there is a numerous set of expectations that a female must fit in order to be “ideal”. However, this checklist is so specific and debasing that it renders the criteria useless. The three main pre-requisites in being the ideal woman include physical attractiveness, sexual accessibility, and purity. The pressure

One of the categories in being the ideal woman is being conventionally beautiful because, according to the media, a significant portion of a woman’s self-worth rests in appearance. This can be seen through women’s magazines in particular, which promote altering one’s appearance leads to the significant improvement of one’s “love life and relationships, and ultimately, life in general” (Bazzini 199). Therefore, the media presents a direct relationship with beauty and success: the more attractive a woman is, the better her life will be. Thus, a woman must the take initiative to look beautiful in order to be successful. Through the repetitive exposure of the same type of image in the media, what society considers beautiful often resembles a definitive checklist. Thus, beauty, a concept that is assumed to be subjective, now morphs into something objective. Valenti notes that in popular culture, for instance, the most desirable woman is depicted as one

Similar to how value is assigned based on appearance and sexual accessibility, virginal status is the third method of evaluation for women. Although there is no set medical definition for the term, virginity it is still used as a gauge to measure a woman’s self-worth (Valenti 182). For instance, numerous Christian-affiliated, conservative institutions equate virginity to morality and weave this comparison into their abstinence-only educational programs (Valenti 183). This standard also completely narrows the field of what it means to be moral. Thus, a woman is only of good moral standing (or in other words, pure) if she remains a virgin. Moreover, this restriction on expressing sexuality encourages passive behavior amongst women. In addition, linking a woman’s ethics to her body reinforces the double standard related to sexuality between men and women. Ultimately, being sexual is “stigmatized in women, but encouraged in men” (Heldman, Part 2). This double standard, combined with the expectations of passivity, reinforces the concept of rape culture. Women are expected to refrain from sex in order to embody purity and thus, are defined by what they do not do. Meanwhile, men are encouraged to express their sexuality and therefore serve as the actors in society. Furthermore, rape culture is reinforced through the media’s images of sexual objectification. As seen on a Duncan Quin