Please join us for a film screening and discussion with Jessica Valenti, author of The Purity Myth and Dr. Megan McNamara, Professor of Sociology at UCSC. As Women’s History Month draws to a close, we invite you to explore how societal pressure is used to undermine women’s autonomy. Dr. Megan McNamara will help us set the stage as we watch the documentary together in person at the Capitola Library.

The film will not be screened over Zoom.

Virtual Participants may watch the film in advance on our Kanopy Platform, then join the event on Zoom at 8:00 PM.

Registration is required for both in-person attendance and virtual attendance via Zoom. Register below.

In this video adaptation of her bestselling book, pioneering feminist blogger Jessica Valenti trains her sights on "the virginity movement" -- an unholy alliance of evangelical Christians, right-wing politicians, and conservative policy intellectuals who have been exploiting irrational fears about women's sexuality to roll back women's rights.

From dad-and-daughter "purity balls," taxpayer-funded abstinence-only curricula, and political attacks on Planned Parenthood, to recent attempts by legislators to de-fund women's reproductive health care and narrow the legal definition of rape, Valenti identifies a single, unifying assumption: the myth that the worth of a woman depends on what she does -- or does not do -- sexually. In the end, Valenti argues that the health and well-being of women are too important to be left to ideologues bent on vilifying feminism and undermining women's autonomy. Watch the film on Kanopy. As Women’s History Month comes to an end, let’s work to end the continued attack on women’s autonomy and rights.

Jessica Valenti is one of the Top 100 Inspiring Women in the world (The Guardian). Bestselling author and co-founder of award-winning blog, Feministing.com, she speaks on feminism, politics and defying gender norms, and is a leading voice in the #MeToo movement. Her writings have appeared in The Washington Post, The Nation, The Guardian (UK), The American Prospect, Ms. Magazine, Salon.com and Bitch.

Dr. Megan McNamara is an instructor in the Sociology Department and an affiliate with the Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning and UCSC’s Institute for Social Transformation.