Jessica Valenti (; born November 1, 1978) is an American feminist writer. She was the co-founder of the blog Feministing, which she wrote for from 2004 to 2011. Valenti is the author of five books: Full Frontal Feminism (2007), He's a Stud, She's a Slut (2008), The Purity Myth (2009), Why Have Kids? (2012), and Sex Object: A Memoir (2016). She also co-edited the books Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape (2008), and Believe Me: How Trusting Women Can Change the World (2020). Between 2014 and 2018, Valenti was a columnist for The Guardian. She is currently a columnist for Medium. Early life and education Valenti was raised in Long Island City, Queens, in an Italian-American family. She graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City in 1996 and attended Tulane University in New Orleans for a year, and then transferred to the State University of New York at Albany, graduating in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. In 2002, Valenti received a master's degree in Women's and Gender Studies with a concentration in politics from Rutgers University. Career After graduating from college, Valenti worked for the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund and for the Women's Environment & Development Organization. She wrote a blog for NARAL Pro-Choice America and also taught at Rutgers University from 2008 to 2010. Feministing In April 2004, Valenti co-founded Feministing with her sister and a friend while she was working at the National Organization for Women's legal defense fund (now Legal Momentum). Homa Khaleeli writes in The Guardian's top 100 women that the site shifted the feminist movement online, triggering the creation of blogs and discussion groups, creating a heyday for feminism just as its death was being announced, as Khaleeli puts it. She writes that Valenti "felt the full force of being a pioneer," her involvement with the site attracting online abuse, even threats of rape and death. Kymberly Blackstock included Feministing in her review of feminist blogs, praising them for being "successful in giving a new generation the chance to engage with as well as begin to direct which topics will rise to the top of the feminist agenda". While she criticized Valenti for the blog's lack of involvement in global issues. She also writes that blogs like Feministing are helpful in encouraging activism in young people, and allow them to see current