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    Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand

    Press Play with Madeleine Brand

    Jessica Valenti: “Sex Object: A Memoir”

    When Jessica Valenti was 12, a man masturbated in front of her on a New York subway station platform. As she tells in her new memoir, it was just the first of many similar episodes...Growing up in New York, her teens were filled with men pushing themselves up against her in crowded subway cars, flashing her, or making suggestive comments.

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    By Madeleine Brand • Jul 11, 2016 • 1 min read

    When Jessica Valenti was 12, a man masturbated in front of her on a New York subway station platform. As she tells in her new memoir, it was just the first of many similar episodes...Growing up in New York, her teens were filled with men pushing themselves up against her in crowded subway cars, flashing her, or making suggestive comments. As a young adult, Valenti started writing about women’s issues and launched the website Feministing. These days she writes a column on gender and politics for the Guardian, U.S...And as a well-known feminist writer and blogger, she continues to attract the attention of men, often in online comments too ugly and offensive to be repeated on the radio. In “Sex Object: A Memoir,” Valenti connects the dots between her childhood experiences and her adult self.

    The full episode

    4 of 5
    The History of the LAPD and LA’s Black Communities
    1. 0:30History of the LAPD and Black Communities
    2. 9:00Aaron Byrd’s Music for Troubled Times
    3. 19:38Pokemon Go
    4. 27:07Jessica Valenti: “Sex Object: A Memoir”You’re reading this
    5. 41:42TV: “Mr. Robot”
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Madeleine Brand

      Host, 'Press Play'

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Matt Holzman

      Producer, 'The Document'

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Anna Scott

      Former KCRW Housing and Homelessness Reporter

    • KCRW placeholder

      Jolie Myers

      Managing Producer, 'Press Play'

    • KCRW placeholder

      Jessica Valenti

      Writer, Columnist

      News

    The full episode

    4 of 5
    The History of the LAPD and LA’s Black Communities
    1. 0:30History of the LAPD and Black Communities
    2. 9:00Aaron Byrd’s Music for Troubled Times
    3. 19:38Pokemon Go
    4. 27:07Jessica Valenti: “Sex Object: A Memoir”You’re reading this
    5. 41:42TV: “Mr. Robot”
    Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand