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The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Jessica Valenti on honesty, internet trolls, and modern feminism

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Politics, News, News Commentary, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.511.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 June 2016

⏱️ 70 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jessica Valenti is the founder of Feministing, a columnist at the Guardian, and the author of the new book "Sex Object." She's also a friend from the early days of blogging. In this podcast, we talk about the early days of blogging, as well as how the internet has changed as the conversation has moved from comment sections to the social web. Jessica's insight here — that in comment sections, trolling was something you did, while on Twitter, a troll is something you are — is powerful, and I've been thinking about it since our conversation. We also talk about:- How feminism was different when Jessica started her blog- How she sees the fights over trigger warnings and political correctness- What it's like to write a book where you reveal some of your deepest secrets to the whole world- The advice Jessica wishes she was given at 15- Whether perceptions of Hillary Clinton are influenced by sexism- Why she rereads the same few books over and overAnd, as always, there's much more. Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

The following podcast contains explicit language.

0:10.1

Hello and welcome to another episode.

0:12.5

Yes, another episode of the Ezra Klein Show.

0:16.1

I am Ezra Klein.

0:17.5

Thank you for asking.

0:18.7

My guest today is Jessica Valenti.

0:20.1

I've known Jessica a long time.

0:21.7

She's a founder of the amazing blog,

0:23.6

Femm Nisting.

0:24.1

We started out in early blogosphere together.

0:27.3

Back when blogs were young and everything was wonderful.

0:31.3

And she's just written a really amazing book,

0:33.6

Sex Object, which is a very personal memoir

0:36.6

about being a woman and the tax that being treated continuously

0:42.5

and in a million different ways as a sex object takes on you.

0:47.2

It's a really profoundly raw and honest book.

0:50.3

We talk about a lot in this interview,

0:52.1

but as someone who knows her well,

0:54.4

it's in many places hard to read.

0:56.1

Both in terms of what it makes you reflect on in your own life and in hers.

1:01.9

I really do recommend listening to this.

1:03.8

And I really do recommend reading this book,

...

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