Trigger Warning for Rape, Sexual Assault, and “Slut Shaming” Earlier this week I talked about a quote from Elizabeth Smart that has received a lot of attention lately. In this quote, Smart talks about how some techniques for teaching abstinence that are rooted in shame can make it harder for rape victims to escape or share their stories. One technique she specifically mentioned was a teacher comparing sex to gum that someone has chewed up and spit out. I talked... Read more
Here are some recent Must Read articles and posts. Enjoy! “Implicit in the insistence that we weren’t one of those homeschoolers is the acknowledgment that those homeschoolers exist.” “Pleasant fundamentalists? I’m sure there are many. Decent fundamentalists pastors? I’ve known a few. It doesn’t make the movement as a whole any less dangerous or destructive. It doesn’t make all fundamentalist churches nice.” “When you’ve grown up in the conservative Christian world and hope to save your first everythings for your forever other,... Read more
Trigger Warning for Rape, Sexual Assault, and “Slut Shaming” As you may have seen, this storyabout rescued kidnapping survivor Elizabeth Smart has been making the rounds on the internet. Smart said she “felt so dirty and so filthy” after she was raped by her captor, and she understands why someone wouldn’t run “because of that alone.” Smart spoke at a Johns Hopkins human trafficking forum, saying she was raised in a religious household and recalled a school teacher who spoke... Read more
In case you missed yesterday’s announcement, this blog has moved to the Patheos blogging network! I’ll be posting updates here for awhile to redirect people over there, but you may want to head over to http://www.patheos.com/blogs/sarahoverthemoon/ and sign up for email updates if you want to keep in touch in the long run! I hope to see you over there, because I’m starting a new series called “You Are Not Your Own” in which I’ll be sharing the results of some research... Read more
If you’re a regular reader from my old address at SarahOverTheMoon.com, or if you follow me on social media (and if you don’t, check out my Facebook page and Twitter account!), you’ve probably heard me about a research project that I’ve been working on since January for my undergraduate capstone. I’ve been reading Christian dating books and analyzing the messages that they send (or fail to send) about rape, sexual assault, and consent. My project is called “You Are Not... Read more
Hey readers! It’s official. I’ve made the move to Patheos Spirituality. The new URL is http://www.patheos.com/blogs/sarahoverthemoon/ Check out my first post here! When I was a kid growing up in an independent, fundamental Baptist church, spirituality was a dirty word. When many independent fundamental Baptists thinks of “spirituality,” they think of pantheism, paganism, postmodernism, and Harry Potter (Harry Potter is, of course, the worst of these). To the fundamental Baptists I knew, “spiritual” people were often depicted as lazy hippie-liberals who... Read more
I’ve been thinking a lot about my deepest held images of God: why do I hold them? Where do they come from? What do they say about the Christian faith I was raised in? What do they say about me? How do they hold me back? Or how could they possibly be liberating? I used to be afraid to think about images of God. I used to think that if there were no more images of God, God would disappear... Read more
I know I haven’t been the most consistent blogger lately. I promise I have reasons! My first reason is that I’ve been busy, oh you know, GRADUATING FROM COLLEGE. Well, not completely. I have 2.5 summer classes left to take. But I walked in my school’s graduation ceremony this last Saturday, and it was satisfying. Graduating from college has involved finishing up an internship with Alternatives for Girls, doing my normal finals, and then finishing up my senior research capstone.... Read more
Hi friends! My research project is done, my exams are finished, and (though I still have a few summer classes to take) I’ll be walking in the Oakland University graduation ceremony at 4 pm today. I think it’s time I start blogging again. So, let’s mark my triumphant return with a guest post for the wonderful Alise Write! I’ve written for Alise about how I’ve navigated my relationship with my fiance, Abe, as we both travel along in our individual... Read more
When I was a kid growing up in an independent, fundamental Baptist church, spirituality was a dirty word. When many independent fundamental Baptists thinks of “spirituality,” they think of pantheism, paganism, postmodernism, and Harry Potter (Harry Potter is, of course, the worst of these). To the fundamental Baptists I knew, “spiritual” people were often depicted as lazy hippie-liberals who refused to commit to a specific religious belief so that they could justify having all the sex they want. So when... Read more
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