{"id":15149,"date":"2013-05-06T12:26:57","date_gmt":"2013-05-06T16:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=15149"},"modified":"2013-05-06T14:29:05","modified_gmt":"2013-05-06T18:29:05","slug":"sex-and-chewing-gum-the-danger-of-purity-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/05\/sex-and-chewing-gum-the-danger-of-purity-culture.html","title":{"rendered":"Sex and Chewing Gum: The Danger of Purity Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Remember how I wrote recently about how the belief that one\u2019s virginity is of utmost importance can make women stay in abusive relationships<\/a> they might otherwise leave? Well, it\u2019s worse than that. Elizabeth Smart, a girl who was kidnapped at age 14 in 2002 and held captive for almost a year before she was rescued, recently explained that these exact ideas about sexual purity can aid and abet human trafficking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rescued kidnapping victim Elizabeth\u00a0Smart said Wednesday she understands why some human trafficking victims don\u2019t run.<\/p>\n

Smart said she \u201cfelt so dirty and so filthy\u201d after she was raped by her captor, and she understands why someone wouldn\u2019t run \u201cbecause of that alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smart spoke at a Johns Hopkins human trafficking forum, saying she was raised in a religious household and recalled a school teacher who spoke once about abstinence and compared sex to chewing gum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018Oh, my gosh, I\u2019m that chewed up piece of gum, nobody re-chews a piece of gum, you throw it away.\u2019 And that\u2019s how easy it is to feel like you know longer have worth, you know longer have value,\u201d Smart said. \u201cWhy would it even be worth screaming out? Why would it even make a difference if you are rescued? Your life still has no value.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is why taking on these ideas is so important. People need to be fully aware of just how dangerous it is to teach girls (or boys for that matter) that their value and worth is tied up in their virginity. If you think your value lies in your sexual purity, it\u2019s only natural to conclude that losing that will render you worthless. It\u2019s worth noting that the same and worthlessness an abuse survivor feels is not at all unique to what I call \u201cpurity culture,\u201d the evangelical obsession with purity balls and purity rings and purity pledges, but when you mix purity culture ideas in the\u00a0cocktail\u00a0becomes more toxic.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember how I wrote recently about how the belief that one’s virginity is of utmost importance can make women stay in abusive relationships they might otherwise leave? Well, it’s worse than that. Elizabeth Smart, a girl who was kidnapped at age 14 in 2002 and held captive for almost a year before she was rescued, recently explained that these exact ideas about sexual purity can aid and abet human trafficking. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[105],"class_list":["post-15149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-purity","tag-sex-2"],"yoast_head":"\nSex and Chewing Gum: The Danger of Purity Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Remember how I wrote recently about how the belief that one's virginity is of utmost importance can make women stay in abusive relationships they might otherwise leave? Well, it's worse than that. 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