Jessica Valenti: Full Frontal Feminism

Our very own Jessica Valenti, founder and editor of Feministing.com, has published her first book Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman’s Guide to Why Feminism Matters; released late April 2007. The book has since sparked discussions across the political spectrum.
Jessica has a Master’s degree in Women’s and Gender Studies from Rutgers University. In addition to founding Feministing.com, Jessica is a co-founder of the REAL hot 100, a counter campaign to Maxim magazine’s Hot 100, that instead highlights the important work young women are doing across the country. She has worked with such organizations as NARAL Pro-Choice America, Legal Momentum (formerly NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund), Planned Parenthood and the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO). Her writing has appeared in Ms. magazine, Salon, The Guardian (UK), Bitch, Alternet, The Scholar & Feminist and Guernica.
Here’s Jessica…

What inspired you to title your book Full Front Feminism? And what kinds of comments have you received about its cover?
I was tossing around a lot of title ideas in my head before we came to Full Frontal Feminism. (We meaning me and the folks at Seal Press.) I think I liked FFF the most because my tone is very in your face and uncensored. And the idea of a “full frontal� feminism—a stripped down, tell-it-like-it-is kind of political discourse—is something I find really attractive and think is important for the movement. Also, I’m a dorky fan of alliteration.
Ah, the book cover—the bane of my feminist existence! Obviously there have been a lot of negative comments about the cover, and for good reason. And I’m glad that it’s being talked about; it’s just put me in a very difficult position. On the one hand, I think a lot of the criticisms are right-on. But on the other, this is my book cover and I have to sell it and stand by it! The only thing I’ve found really disheartening about the conversation going on about the cover is that some people have made assumptions (judging a book by it’s cover, ha!) about the content of the book without having read it.
How have others in the feminist community responded to Full Frontal Feminism?
I’m all for constructive criticism, especially with something like feminism—where I think you need to be constantly checking yourself, your privilege, and finding the spaces where you can improve. But when I see people making comments about me personally, making assumptions about who I am and where I come from, I obviously don’t find that productive. It’s too bad, because there are plenty of interesting critiques out there that could have been the starting points for useful conversations, but they’re being lost in the mix. And now it seems like the way the conversation is actually playing out in the blogosphere is more damaging than anything else.
To be perfectly honest—I also think that having an online presence before the book came out has been a negative in some ways. When you have an online identity, it allows people to create a narrative for you—one that makes them feel comfortable. So, if this created narrative and says that I’m some sort of uber-entitled hetero rich white girl, someone who embodies all that’s wrong with mainstream feminist politics, then it’s easier to imagine that the book is an extension of that. It’s more difficult and uncomfortable to imagine that the book is actually inclusive and complex—which I think it is. I don’t say this to downplay my privilege, which I’m constantly thinking about when writing, but to point out that looking at a picture of me and reading a short bio doesn’t reveal all that much about who I actually am. That’s why I get into a lot of my own personal life in the book—like a lot of women, my lived experiences have informed my feminism in a huge way.
Or you can create a narrative for yourself, which I have to some extent—I’m a pretty funny gal and I play on that. But then that makes it easier for people to say that my work is fluffy—and ignore the fact that I’ve done academic work, international work, and that Feministing and this book are individual projects in a larger career and lifetime of feminism. It’s been difficult to negotiate all of that, but also really illuminating as well.
But that said, you can’t please everyone. I wrote a very personal primer on feminism that I’m hoping will resonate with a lot of people, but I certainly don’t expect it to resonate with everyone. And that’s OK. But I’m not going to beat myself up about it or respond to every bad review or criticism that comes my way. That’s just not useful. But I have to say that I’m really proud of the book. It came from my heart and I wrote it with complete honesty and love of feminism—and I think that’s what going to get across most to readers.
And at the end of the day, I’m really interested to hear what those readers think. While I’ve heard from some young women who found the book wasn’t for them, the majority of feedback I’ve gotten from women who have read the book has been overwhelmingly positive. One high school girl emailed me to tell me that she now calls herself a feminist because of the book and that she bought copies for all of her friends. Another young woman at a book event said she especially liked the book because she thought it was “homo-inclusive.� Things like that make everything worthwhile.
Full Frontal Feminism explains feminism and the current movement’s dilemmas, one of them being a disconnect with the very audience it’s trying to reach: young women. Can you talk more about your call for younger leadership in the feminist movement in the U.S.? And how you feel your feminist activism differs from the activism of second-wave originated national feminist organizations?
I think that the young feminist community is an amazing thing that is, unfortunately, extremely underappreciated and unrecognized. I mean, there already is young feminist leadership in the U.S., it’s just not talked about much. I’m thinking specifically of grassroots feminist organizations that do local work. There are so many incredible organizations, such as The Pro-Choice Public Education Project and Girls For Gender Equity that are headed up by young women, women of color, queer women—but they don’t tend to get a lot of play in the media. Or the mainstream movement, for that matter.
I think there’s a tendency to look at feminist organizing as only valid if it’s adhering to a certain second-wave framework—national work, DC-based, etc. I think when we start to give local work and community work more credit and recognition, we’ll start seeing an increased visibility of young women leaders.
Your personal stories and observations throughout the book really put a face to the negative effects of not respecting and acknowledging the different social intersections within feminism—class, race, sexuality, etc. Do you think many young women do not take feminism seriously because so many feminists, especially older feminists, fail to see these intersections and how all women’s issues are essentially not the same?
I don’t think that it’s they don’t see the intersections, as much as it is that it’s uncomfortable for some folks—especially those in positions of power—to recognize their privilege and be willing to work it out, especially publicly. I think that feminism in general is so ripe for backlash that a lot of the “old guard� is hesitant to talk about the problems of racism, classism, homophobia, etc. in the movement because they feel like they’ll be giving ammunition to all of the rabid antifeminists out there. But I think that history shows that failing to recognize the intersection of oppressions—and failing to have that inform your work—is ridiculously detrimental. And regarding young women—I do think that this may be a reason why some younger women aren’t necessarily participating in solely “feminist� activism or defining it at such. For a lot of young women, it’s queer activism, or anti-racist work or labor issues. But I feel like the collaborations and links that are being made within all these movements, and within feminism, is creating a much more valuable and progressive paradigm.

What is the bottom line you hope readers will come away with after reading your book?
That feminism is not only alive and well, but that it’s energetic, fun, transformative and that it has the potential to change their lives and the lives of the people around them.
Have you taken Full Frontal Feminism on the road yet? What kind of feedback have you received?
I just had my first book event sponsored by the Center for New Words in Boston! It was great; it was really a lot of fun and the audience was fantastic. I think that going out and talking to women in person makes such a huge difference. So far, the feedback has been great from the women I’ve met—in Boston and elsewhere. But mostly what I’m excited about is that people are using the book as a jumping off point to talk about how we can do better in terms of outreach to young women (and men) and how we can bring feminism back into the mainstream conversation in a positive way.
Can you talk about your founding of Feministing.com? How did the blog come about and what were your intentions? Has the goal of the blog changed in any way?
About three years ago I was working at a national women’s organization, and I was feeling kind of disillusioned about the mainstream movement, especially concerning younger women’s role in it. I was also getting frustrated with how the media covered stories about young women. My boss at the time was Bill Scher from LiberalOasis, and he basically convinced me to start a blog. So I did…and I convinced my sister and a couple of coworkers to write for it.
I don’t know that we had a really firm idea of what we wanted to do with Feministing. We knew we wanted to create a space for young women where they could talk about feminism and I think on a personal level, a lot of us wanted to vent! I think that after my coworkers (who later went on to law school) left the blog and Samhita and Ann came on, we really started to think about what else we could do with the site. We realized that the tone of the blog and the way that we wrote appealed to a wider range of women than we thought—so a big part of the blog became about presenting feminism in a way that was relatable and fun.
Now I think we’re at this point where we want Feministing not only to be a news source and forum for feminists, but also to be a location for online organizing and feminist thought. Personally, I’m really interested to see how we can work better with activists on the ground—that’s why I’m so psyched about our “Voices of…� series.
So, I don’t know that the goal of the blog has changed, but it’s definitely expanded.

Any plans for a second book in your future? And what do you envision it being on?
Yes! Thought it’s kind of a secret. Eh, screw it…it’s about the myth of sexual purity and how it affects young women. I’m really excited about it.