You know, people ask me a lot, well, can you be pro-life and be feminist? Can you be conservative and be feminist? And I think that yeah, maybe personally you can be those things. But I think if you're advocating for legislation, or if you're fighting to limit other women's rights, then you can't really call yourself a feminist.
Jessica ValentiI think people resist feminism because they're scared. I think for women, they're scared of being picked on or of being called out.
Jessica ValentiIf feminism wasn't powerful, if feminism wasn't influential, people wouldn't spend so much time putting it down.
Jessica ValentiI certainly wouldn't be writing books if it hadn't been for the feminist blogosphere, and I think that's a really amazing thing.
Jessica ValentiI'm really aware of how feminism and feminist rhetoric has been appropriated by the right.
Jessica ValentiPeople seem to think, because of the way that the media has appropriated third-wave feminism or young feminism, that all young feminists are about is like pole dancing and girls gone wild and how empowering it is. Like they'll start calling anything feminist.
Jessica ValentiNow, should we treat women as independent agents, responsible for themselves? Of course. But being responsible has nothing to do with being raped. Women donโt get raped because they were drinking or took drugs. Women do not get raped because they werenโt careful enough. Women get raped because someone raped them.
Jessica Valenti