{"id":21,"date":"2012-03-19T14:27:03","date_gmt":"2012-03-19T18:27:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?page_id=21"},"modified":"2016-01-26T12:33:45","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T16:33:45","slug":"the-purity-culture","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/the-purity-culture","title":{"rendered":"The “Purity Culture”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

What I call the \u201cpurity culture\u201d encompasses the emphasis on virginity before marriage and on maintaining emotional purity that pervades fundamentalism and evangelicalism, made visible in purity balls, purity rings, purity pledges, and modesty teachings. These teachings are not limited to fundamentalism and evangelicalism, and can be seen in the culture at large with the slut\/virgin dichotomy and the prevalence of abstinence only sex education in public schools. In its most extreme, the purity culture involves giving up dating for a return to parent-guided courtship, and even arranged marriages.<\/p>\n

I grew up in the purity culture. I had a purity ring, made a promise to remain a virgin until my wedding night, practiced strict modesty standards, and committed myself to courtship. In college and the years that followed I began to question the teachings of the purity culture. I ultimately stopped wearing my purity ring, dumped my extreme adherence to modesty, and married without the parent-guided courtship I had been raised to expect. As I rethought the teachings of the purity culture I began to see them as not simply misled but actually actively harmful.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Key Posts on the Purity Culture<\/h1>\n
How the Purity Culture Made Me Afraid of Men<\/a><\/p>\n
The Purity Culture and Sexual Dysfunction<\/a><\/p>\n
\u201cLove Virginity\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n
Critiquing the Purity Culture<\/a><\/p>\n
The Perfect Relationship Secret: Virginity?<\/a><\/p>\n
Sex Miseducation<\/a><\/p>\n

On Courtship:<\/h4>\n
Sexpectations: Purity, Courtship, and Dating<\/a><\/p>\n
Courtship, Dating, and Regret<\/a><\/p>\n
What about Love?<\/a><\/p>\n
Whose Choice?<\/a><\/p>\n

On Purity Balls:<\/h4>\n
Your Virginity is Yours \u2013 Not Your Daddy\u2019s<\/a><\/p>\n
Purity Balls: They\u2019re Barking up the Wrong Tree<\/a><\/p>\n
Frozen Promises: Or, Life is Not a Journey<\/a><\/p>\n

On Modesty and Lust:<\/h4>\n
Who Are the Real Babies? House-Proofing and Modesty<\/a><\/p>\n
The \u201cProblem\u201d of Lust<\/a><\/p>\n
I Wear a Bikini (Gasp!)<\/a><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Guest Series:<\/h2>\n
I Hugged Dating Hello<\/a><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n

Resources on the Purity Culture<\/h1>\n
Books<\/h4>\n
The Purity Myth: How America\u2019s Obsession with Virginity Is Hurting Young Women<\/a>, by Jessica Valenti<\/p>\n
Articles<\/h4>\n
How the Teachings of Emotional Purity and Courtship Damage Healthy Relationships<\/a>, by Darcy. See also\u00a0 part 2<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0 part 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Why Courtship Fails: A Male\u2019s Perspective<\/a>, on No Longer Quivering<\/p>\n
Courtship\u00a0Covenants<\/a>, on Recovering Grace<\/p>\n
How Modesty Made Me \u201cFat\u201d<\/a>, by Sierra<\/p>\n
Modesty: A Response to Common Misunderstandings<\/a>, by Sierra<\/p>\n
How the Modesty Doctrine Hurts Men Too<\/a>, by Sierra<\/p>\n
My Problem with Purity Balls<\/a>, by Amy Johnson<\/p>\n
What\u2019s Wrong with Purity Balls? One Virgin\u2019s Perspective<\/a>, on Biblical Personhood<\/p>\n
I Don\u2019t Wait Anymore<\/a>, about purity rings<\/p>\n
Sexuality: The Elephant in the Room<\/a>, by Latebloomer<\/p>\n
A Different Kind of Sexual Abuse<\/a>, by Kylar<\/p>\n
The Thing about Purity<\/a>, on Recovering Grace<\/p>\n
Courtship Stories<\/h4>\n
Listen for the Singing: My Courtship Story<\/a>, by Melissa<\/p>\n
Courtship v. Dating: Our Story<\/a>, by Dulce<\/p>\n
Courtship Promised to Protect Me<\/a>, by Joy<\/p>\n
The Joke Was On Me<\/a>, by Lewis<\/p>\n
Documentaries<\/strong><\/h4>\nClick here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What I call the \u201cpurity culture\u201d encompasses the emphasis on virginity before marriage and on maintaining emotional purity that pervades fundamentalism and evangelicalism, made visible in purity balls, purity rings, purity pledges, and modesty teachings. These teachings are not limited to fundamentalism and evangelicalism, and can be seen in the culture at large with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nThe "Purity Culture" - Love, Joy, Feminism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What I call the "purity culture" encompasses the emphasis on virginity before marriage and on maintaining emotional purity that pervades fundamentalism\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/the-purity-culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The "Purity Culture" - 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