A Powerful List of Purity Culture Resources
This list is a small fraction of the purity culture resources I came across while writing on the harmful implications of evangelical purity culture during graduate school. And let me tell you, what a wild ride. My hope in sharing these resources is to empower others to advocate for healthier faith communities and increased comprehensive sex education.
The Definition of Purity Culture
Purity culture, or the evangelical sexual purity movement of the 1980s-2010s, establishes sexual “purity” as the ultimate standard for those waiting to be married. (Marriage is assumed.) In this subculture, to be sexually “impure” would be disastrous in all other areas of life and would doom any relationship with a future spouse. In both political and pastoral spaces, methods of control and fear seek to maintain patriarchal power over the hearts and bodies of young people, though primarily girls and women.
Personal testimonies reveal the abusive nature of teachings and practices centered on sexual purity. Girls and women are often dehumanized and denied vibrant sexualities of their own. If feelings of discomfort or reports of sexual violence are made known, they can be frequently silenced and ignored. Sadly, there are real convictions buried in these teachings – blinded by ignorance and the fight for power. There seems to be no intention to inflict harm on to others. Rather many of those who participate are held to a conviction which values hierarchy between men and women, emphasizing a woman’s submission to men’s needs. “Purity” is interpreted as protection.
This list is (unfortunately) brief and does not include academic articles. Even so, these purity culture resources are moving and incredibly revealing. Please note, many portions of these texts discuss sexual trauma, which can be triggering or overwhelming for some. Please use caution as you read.
Books & Essays on Purity Culture
Published Research from Industry Experts
- Saving Sex: Sexuality and Salvation in American Evangelicalism by Amy DeRogatis
- Sex, God, and the Conservative Church: Erasing Shame from Sexual Intimacy by Tina Schermer Sellers, Ph.D.
- The Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession with Virginity Is Hurting Young Women by Jessica Valenti
- Virgin Nation: Sexual Purity and American Adolescence by Sara Moslener
- Making Chastity Sexy: The Rhetoric of Evangelical Abstinence Campaigns by Christine Gardner
- The Great Sex Rescue: The Lies You’ve Been Taught and How to Recover What God Intended by Sheila Wray Gregoire, Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach, Joanna Sawatsky
- The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth by Beth Allison Barr
- Prey Tell: Why We Silence Women Who Tell the Truth and How Everyone Can Speak Up by Tiffany Bluhm
- Rape Culture, Purity Culture, and Coercive Control in Teen Girl Bibles by Caroline Blyth
Memoirs from Purity Culture Survivors
- Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free by Linda Kay Klein
- On Her Knees: Memoir of a Prayerful Jezebel by Brenda Marie Davies
Sexual Ethics & Purity Culture Recovery
- Naked Without Shame: A Counter-Hegemonic Body Politic by bell hooks
- Beyond Shame: Creating a Healthy Sex Life on Your Own Terms by Matthias Roberts
- Damaged Goods: New Perspectives on Christian Purity by Dianna Anderson
- Come As You Are: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life by Emily Nagoski
- Shameless: A Sexual Reformation by Nadia Bolz-Weber
- You Are Your Own by Jamie Lee Finch
- Talking Back to Purity Culture: Rediscovering Faithful Christian Sexuality by Rachel Joy Welcher
- 15 Books For Recovering From Christian Purity Culture
Blogs & Articles on Purity Culture
Personal Stories
- How I broke free of the Evangelical ‘purity’ movement by Jane Ridley
- Evangelical Purity Culture Taught Me to Rationalize My Sexual Assault by Becca Andrews
Analysis of Purity Culture
- The Flaw at the Center of Purity Culture by Angie Hong
- Purity culture, racism and the violence against Asian women in Atlanta by Flora x. Tang
- The church’s response to sexual assault survivors by Gay Clark Jennings
- This is Why Evangelicals Don’t Believe in Sexual Assault by Dianna Anderson
- Naked and Ashamed: Women and Evangelical Purity Culture by Amanda Barbee
- Christians Caught Between the Sheets — How ‘Abstinence Only’ Ideology Hurts Us by Tina Schermer Sellers
- Is Evangelical Purity Culture Based on a Mistranslation? by Libby Anne
Purity Culture as Rape Culture
- Purity Culture is Rape Culture by E.J. Graff
- Purity Culture as Rape Culture: Why the Theological Is Political by Dianna Anderson
#ChurchToo
- #ChurchToo: Christian women are calling out sexual assault and coercion, too by Becky Garrison
- The #ChurchToo Movement Isn’t Just About Gender by Laura Bullard
- Sexual Purity, #ChurchToo, and the Crisis of Male Evangelical Leadership by Sara Moslener
- I would also encourage you to read through the #ChurchToo on Twitter or sign the #SilenceIsNotSpiritual Statement.
Have you read any of the purity culture resources listed above? I’d love to hear your thoughts! If there are other articles, books, podcasts, etc. that have been helpful to you, I would love to read them and include them here.
