So this morning, around 10am EST, Jessica will be appearing on the Today show with Kathy Lee Gifford to talk about her new book, The Purity Myth. Unfortunately, as the mainstream shows tend to do, they've decided to turn it into a debate with this woman, Lakita Garth, who is regarded as an "abstinence champion."
If you're near a TV, check it out, and send Jessica some positive feminist vibes for what's likely to be a difficult conversation.
If we can find a video of it, we'll post that after.
UPDATE: You can live stream the show here.
Sorry, that link seems to have old segments from yesterday--I'll post the link to the actual segment once I find it.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Jessica on the Today show.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/13245
You can do it Jessica! Like you said in your book, you have the truth on your side!
Exactly. Facts and pragmatic thinking over ill-fitting traditional values, kthx.
I'll check to see if it's at 10am but I think it's at 11 am here...on the east coast.
oh god. Let me guess, she got pregnant as a teen, got an abortion, regretted it and now she's soooo against teens having perfectly normal sex?
I'm waiting for it to come on, hopefully I won't be in the shower or in class when it finally comes on.
Jessica, you will totally win!
It's about to come on, in the next few minutes it seems.
I just saw it. Wow, Jessica hardly got a chance to speak. It was so clear that Kathy Lee and Hoda (spelling?) were so pro-abstinence. And it seemed that they couldnt talk about sex without slut-shaming. 'prostitots'??? Come on!!!
Yeah, it seemed like they were more interested in a superficial conversation with inflammatory buzz words than a real dialogue about the issue.
Hopefully some people will pick up Jess' book and hear more.
Thanks for posting this, M! I just got back. Yeah, I wish I could have talked more, but I didn't want to interrupt and battle - just wanted to get my points across calmly. Hopefully it worked. :)
I was pretty frustrated watching it, Jessica. I thought they were pretty rude to you, especially Kathy Lee's need to have the last word.
On a short preview for what was to come on Today, it had Hoda, Kathie Lee, Natalie Morales and some other woman standing in the "kitchen" discussing The Purity Myth and how it only applies to our vaginas, Natalie Morales said "you can't say that, say Va JJ." Are you F ing kidding me? Like it would be totally crazy to call a vagina by it's actual name. Idiots!
On Today's site, they have a book excerpt as well as a place for reactions to it. If they have a video of the 'discussion' up, I haven't found it yet.
Here's the video. Way to go Jessica! http://www.newsvine.com/_question/2009/04/22/2719395-does-virginity-liberate-or-confine-women
Thank goodness. As a woman from the Middle East, I cannot tell you how...infuriating...it is for us to be judged by what's between our legs. Our hymens hold so much power that an entire family's honor is made or broken depending on our sexual activity.
It's enslavement. Thank you for talking about it!
I don't understand why I even though Kathy Lee would be legit about this stuff. Great job, Jessica. Unfortunately Kathy Lee's big mouth had to steal the show once again. Never watching that show again. lol.
I just saw the segment, and it was ridiculous, at best. Jessica was trying to stay on topic and get out some very legitimate points. The other three women were saying such tired, cliched things. Sexual shaming and talking about how what we do with our bodies affects us for the rest of our lives is ridiculous!
Jessica, you are amazing, and your book is fantastic! I think you held your own as best as you could in a totally biased fight. I really liked the emphasis you got in about comprehensive sex-ed containing abstinence AND contraceptives!
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/#30368108
Here's the link
Jessica, I think you sounded very educated and non judgemental, which I can't say for the other 3. Hoda and Kathy Lee were kind of blowing you off!
Jessica, you blew them all out of the water. Thank you for telling this truth.
Unfortunately, you and your arguments go way above the heads of the fluffy hosts and the audience of the fourth hour of The Today Show.
Thinking more about the segment, the most annoying thing was that all the rejoinders came down to "Sure, women have value other than their virginity, but only if they still have their virginity". They never strayed from the view of virginity as a pre-req to any success.
I think you've got your work cut out for you. After all "in high school the girls who slept around ended up with not great lives"! Hard to argue with cold, hard facts like that! Sarcasm aside, hopefully many decide to read for themselves.
Um, did the abstinence only chick just compare comprehensive sex education advocates to the KKK? Did I really just hear her equate premarital sex with smoking and drinking?
If my mind weren't already blown out from lack of sleep, it would surely be blown out by this.
In this community, I probably don't need to reiterate the counterarguments, but I'm going to, anyway. Because being right is always fun, even if you're preaching to the converted.
If Miss Abstinence Only believes that studies on the failure of Ab only sex ed are intrinsically flawed, due to a bias among the sources, then I wonder what she'd have to say on the Ab only "studies" that claim birth control can lead to cancer and condoms fail most of the time. As for smoking and drinking, like sex, those too are choices, but the inherent difference is that they are not natural components of the human existence. Sex, on the other hand, is. Yes, sex comes equipped with a certain set of risks, but it also functions as a natural action experienced by nearly every member of the planet and beyond. Why not, then, should youth not be taught the proper way to handle something that is instinctive?
Arg, I just keep watching the clip and wanting to scream. They keep repeating that oh yea sure, a woman's value has more to her than just sexuality, but ITS STILL A BIG PART OF IT'.
So, when I lost my virginity at 15, I become a hooker?!
I'm pretty sure Jessica's appearance on this show must have been what sparked a discussion about The Purity Myth on Oh No They Didn't, which for the most part seems to be pretty constructive! For ONTD, anyway. I found that really interesting. A lot of the commenters seems to agree with Jessica and her thoughts on the subject.
Anyway, good work!
I really wish Jessica had called Kathy Lee out for saying that girls were "giving themselves away". Again female autonomy is explicitly linked to sexuality. Watch out girls, once you have sex everything that makes you special disappears and belongs to the man you screwed!!
i don't think she could get a word in edgewise and what would it matter anyway at that point -- those two just going off in their own worlds -- and only a few minutes segment. at least the book title was in full view for people to see!
The fundamental discussion was incorrect. The assumption - the entire time, was the virginity has ANY value AT ALL - which it doesn't. It is ridiculous to talk about women and treat girls like their entire lives will rest on "when" they decide to "lose it".
Lakita behaves like a woman who actually DOESN'T know her worth. Like nothing else she's accomplished would have mattered if her hymen was not intact. She fortifies her own slavery - and calls it "freedom". Sad.
I cannot WAIT to see this, Jessica! A friend of mine was on this show last July(Chef Jon Ashton)and when I tuned in, I couldn't believe Kathy Lee's behavior. So many jokes at his expense, stopping at nothing to embarrass him to make herself look good, and he was only there to make salad dressings. Watch out--she's desperate to look quirky and funny, and will surely mess with you. Good thing the truth is powerful as hell and none of us are concerned for you. ;) Sit in your majesty, ms. feminist!
The only thing I would criticize on everyone's attitudes here is the derision of women who choose not to have sex. People should be open to everyone's choices, don't you think? I'm cool with people who have sex, who don't choose to. It's their business, so people shouldn't be demonized and looked down upon for whatever.
So while I agree women shouldn't be judged only on their sexuality...you really shouldn't look down on people who choose to be virgins, either.
I hate that Jessica will never be allowed to fully state her position unless she is basically talking to Sarah Haskins or Rachel Maddow . . . otherwise, forget it. No one wants to hear that girls are not *gasp* only worthy based on their "vajayjays" and nothing else. I agree 100% that we need to focus on the wonderful things our young women do, teach them to use a condom EVERY SINGLE TIME they engage in sexual behaviors and hope they make healthy decisions. I think its also important to note that we aren't ENCOURAGING teenagers to have sex . . . we're accepting the fact that they're going to and trying to help them avoid the horrible consequences that Kathy Lee couldn't shut up about.
And as far as Lakita's point about being choosy about your partners; that is something we can get behind, but it doesn't mean you have to be married to someone to have sex with them. It just means you should know and respect each other.
God this clip just made me so mad
I totally agree with what you're all saying. Jessica sounded educated, and calm, while the rest of them sort of rambled on like chickens with their heads cut off. I thought it was kind of irritating when Lakita said she had to "correct" Jessica about those stats. All in all, Jessica did awesomely, since she was kind of set up from the start. It seemed that the hostesses already had an idea in their heads of who's side they may favor. Especially Kathy Lee. I was actually very disappointed in the amount of air time they gave you. How can you have a discussion that is so huge in that short amount of time? You're barely scraping the surface. Jessica, I am very very proud of you for stepping up. You are an awesome inspiration to us. Keep it up.