{"id":15625,"date":"2013-06-06T05:48:20","date_gmt":"2013-06-06T09:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=15625"},"modified":"2013-06-06T13:54:45","modified_gmt":"2013-06-06T17:54:45","slug":"what-do-presents-chocolate-bars-roses-chewing-gum-and-packing-tape-have-in-common","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/06\/what-do-presents-chocolate-bars-roses-chewing-gum-and-packing-tape-have-in-common.html","title":{"rendered":"Question: What Do Presents, Chocolate Bars, Roses, Chewing Gum, and Packing Tape Have in Common?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Answer: Nobody wants them when they\u2019re used.<\/p>\n

Presents, chocolate bars, roses, chewing gum, and packing tape have all been used by abstinence educators and various Christian leaders and teachers to illustrate to young people how having sex before marriage will ruin them and leave them disgusting and unwanted. Those who grew up in the purity culture probably knew the answer to the question asked in the title before even opening this post.<\/p>\n

I was reminded of this when reader Laura left this comment on my blog<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I had to go through the True Love Waits program. The \u201cactivity\u201d I remember the most was a wrapped present. I held the package and stood at the front of the room. Then, the youth leaders lined up the guys and each of them tore off some of the paper. Then I had to read some paragraph about how virginity is like a gift \u2013 no one wants a present that was \u201cmeant for them\u201d to have already been opened by someone else.<\/p>\n

Because of that one activity, I never told anyone I was raped at 15 until years later. I can\u2019t even imagine the rest of the damage that was done to the other girls in the group.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Laura\u2019s comment reminded me of Samantha\u2019s post from several months back<\/a>. In her case, the teachings she received about purity led her to stay in an abusive relationship long after she should have left\u2014because she believed that, having given up her virginity, she was ruined for anyone else. Here is why Laura\u2019s comment reminded me of Samantha\u2019s post:<\/p>\n

When I was fourteen, I went to a month-long summer camp at the college I would later attend. Like most Christian summer camps, this one involved going to a chapel service twice a day. Most of the time they were fun, lighthearted\u2013 until one evening they split up the girls and the boys.\u00a0Great<\/em>, I remember thinking, because I knew exactly what was coming. Segregation can only mean one thing\u2013 they were going to talk about sex. I sighed when they made the announcement.\u00a0Again?\u00a0<\/em>I thought wearily.<\/p>\n

That evening, when the camp counselors had shooed all the men and boys out of the building, the speaker got up to the podium. She didn\u2019t even beat around the bush, but launched right into her object lesson. Holding up a king-size Snickers bar, she asked if anyone in the audience wanted it. It\u2019s a room full of girls\u2013 who doesn\u2019t want chocolate? A hundred hands shot up. She picked a girl close to the front that wouldn\u2019t have to climb over too many people and brought her up to the stage. Very slowly, she unwrapped the Snickers bar, splitting the package like a banana peel. She handed it to the young woman, and asked her, very clearly, to\u00a0lick\u00a0<\/em>the chocolate bar all over. Just lick it.<\/p>\n

Giggling, the young lady started licking the chocolate bar, making a little bit of a show of it. At fourteen, I had no idea what a blow job was, so I missed the connection that had a lot of girls in the room snorting and hooting. The young lady finished and handed it back to the speaker. As she was sitting down, the speaker very carefully wrapped the package around the candy bar, making it look like the unopened package as possible.<\/p>\n

Then she asked if anyone else in the room wanted a go.<\/p>\n

No one raised her hand.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And Samantha gives a second example, too:<\/p>\n

My sophomore year in college, another speaker shared a similar object lesson\u2013 ironically, in the exact same room, also filled exclusively with women. She got up to the podium carrying a single rose bud. At this point I was more familiar with sexual imagery, and I knew that the rose had frequently been treated as a symbol for the vagina in literature and poetry\u2013 so, again, I knew what was coming.<\/p>\n

This speaker asked us to pass the rose around the room, and encouraged us to enjoy touching it. \u201cCaress the petals,\u201d she told us. \u201cFeel the velvet.\u201d By the time the rose came to me, it was destroyed. Most of the petals were gone, the ones that were still feebly clinging to the stem were bruised and torn. The leaves were missing, and someone had ripped away the thorns, leaving gash marks down the side.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This reminds me too of something teen kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart said<\/a>, explaining one reason she stayed with her captor and didn\u2019t try to run sooner.<\/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

And finally, Ariel Levy has reminisced similarly<\/a>:<\/p>\n

To illustrate his not terribly complex point, Worley called a stocky young man from the audience onto the\u00a0stage and then pulled out a length of clear packing tape.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Miss Tape. She looks pretty good, right? She\u2019s\u00a0tall, right? She\u2019s \u2026 what else is she?\u201d Worley raised his\u00a0eyebrows at us encouragingly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThin!\u201d someone shouted out.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight! She\u2019s thin,\u201d he said, and wiggled the piece of tape so it undulated in the air. \u201cAnd she has nice curves!\u201d Worley winked. \u201cSo they have sex.\u201d<\/p>\n

To illustrate the act of coitus, Worley wrapped the piece of tape around the volunteer\u2019s arm. After a few more minutes of make believe, we came to the inevitable bump in the road when Worley said the volunteer had decided to move on to other chicks. Worley ripped the piece of tape off his arm.<\/p>\n

\u201cOuch,\u201d said the volunteer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow does she look now?\u201d Worley asked, holding \u00a0the crumpled Miss Tape up for inspection.<\/p>\n

I fought back the urge to yell, \u201clike a dirty whore?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Presents, chocolate bars, roses, chewing gum, packing tape\u2014these sorts of metaphors abound in circles where what I call \u201cpurity culture\u201d is strongest, and each one is used to illustrate how having sex before marriage will ruin you, rendering you dirty and potentially even unable to bond or form real relationships for the rest of your life. In the effort to keep young people from having sex before saying marriage vows, Christian leaders, pastors, and parents resort to threatening their youth, doing their utmost to scare them out of having sex and slut-shaming like crazy in the process.<\/p>\n

In case you were wondering, no,<\/em> this isn\u2019t healthy, and the result of these teachings has been a generation of Christian youth with warped and toxic ideas about sex, dating, and even their own bodies<\/em>. And in the process, these very teachings have led young women like Laura, Samantha, and Elizabeth to leave their rapes unreported, remain in abusive relationships, and stay with their abductors. This is not okay.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

How about you? What similar metaphors have you<\/em> encountered, and how have they affected your<\/em> life?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Presents, chocolate bars, roses, chewing gum, packing tape—these sorts of metaphors abound in circles where what I call “purity culture” is strongest, and each one is used to illustrate how having sex before marriage will ruin you, rendering you dirty and potentially even unable to bond or form real relationships for the rest of your life. And in case you were wondering, no, this isn’t healthy!<\/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":[105,133],"class_list":["post-15625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-purity","tag-sex-2","tag-sex-education"],"yoast_head":"\nQuestion: What Do Presents, Chocolate Bars, Roses, Chewing Gum, and Packing Tape Have in Common?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Presents, chocolate bars, roses, chewing gum, packing tape---these sorts of metaphors abound in circles where what I call "purity culture" is strongest, and each one is used to illustrate how having sex before marriage will ruin you, rendering you dirty and potentially even unable to bond or form real relationships for the rest of your life. And in case you were wondering, no, this isn't healthy!\" \/>\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\/2013\/06\/what-do-presents-chocolate-bars-roses-chewing-gum-and-packing-tape-have-in-common.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Question: What Do Presents, Chocolate Bars, Roses, Chewing Gum, and Packing Tape Have in Common?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Presents, chocolate bars, roses, chewing gum, packing tape---these sorts of metaphors abound in circles where what I call "purity culture" is strongest, and each one is used to illustrate how having sex before marriage will ruin you, rendering you dirty and potentially even unable to bond or form real relationships for the rest of your life. And in case you were wondering, no, this isn't healthy!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/06\/what-do-presents-chocolate-bars-roses-chewing-gum-and-packing-tape-have-in-common.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Love, Joy, Feminism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-06T09:48:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-06-06T17:54:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/06\/what-do-presents-chocolate-bars-roses-chewing-gum-and-packing-tape-have-in-common.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/06\/what-do-presents-chocolate-bars-roses-chewing-gum-and-packing-tape-have-in-common.html\",\"name\":\"Question: What Do Presents, Chocolate Bars, Roses, Chewing Gum, and Packing Tape Have in Common?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-06T09:48:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-06-06T17:54:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\"},\"description\":\"Presents, chocolate bars, roses, chewing gum, packing tape---these sorts of metaphors abound in circles where what I call \\\"purity culture\\\" is strongest, and each one is used to illustrate how having sex before marriage will ruin you, rendering you dirty and potentially even unable to bond or form real relationships for the rest of your life. And in case you were wondering, no, this isn't healthy!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/06\/what-do-presents-chocolate-bars-roses-chewing-gum-and-packing-tape-have-in-common.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/06\/what-do-presents-chocolate-bars-roses-chewing-gum-and-packing-tape-have-in-common.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/06\/what-do-presents-chocolate-bars-roses-chewing-gum-and-packing-tape-have-in-common.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Question: What Do Presents, Chocolate Bars, Roses, Chewing Gum, and Packing Tape Have in Common?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/\",\"name\":\"Love, Joy, Feminism\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\",\"name\":\"Libby Anne\",\"description\":\"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. College turned her world upside down, and she is today an atheist, a feminist, and a progressive. She blogs about leaving religion, her experience with the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements, the detrimental effects of the \\\"purity culture,\\\" the contradictions of conservative politics, and the importance of feminism.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/author\/libby\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Question: What Do Presents, Chocolate Bars, Roses, Chewing Gum, and Packing Tape Have in Common?","description":"Presents, chocolate bars, roses, chewing gum, packing tape---these sorts of metaphors abound in circles where what I call \"purity culture\" is strongest, and each one is used to illustrate how having sex before marriage will ruin you, rendering you dirty and potentially even unable to bond or form real relationships for the rest of your life. And in case you were wondering, no, this isn't healthy!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/06\/what-do-presents-chocolate-bars-roses-chewing-gum-and-packing-tape-have-in-common.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Question: What Do Presents, Chocolate Bars, Roses, Chewing Gum, and Packing Tape Have in Common?","og_description":"Presents, chocolate bars, roses, chewing gum, packing tape---these sorts of metaphors abound in circles where what I call \"purity culture\" is strongest, and each one is used to illustrate how having sex before marriage will ruin you, rendering you dirty and potentially even unable to bond or form real relationships for the rest of your life. And in case you were wondering, no, this isn't healthy!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/06\/what-do-presents-chocolate-bars-roses-chewing-gum-and-packing-tape-have-in-common.html","og_site_name":"Love, Joy, Feminism","article_published_time":"2013-06-06T09:48:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-06-06T17:54:45+00:00","author":"Libby Anne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Libby Anne","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/06\/what-do-presents-chocolate-bars-roses-chewing-gum-and-packing-tape-have-in-common.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/06\/what-do-presents-chocolate-bars-roses-chewing-gum-and-packing-tape-have-in-common.html","name":"Question: What Do Presents, Chocolate Bars, Roses, Chewing Gum, and Packing Tape Have in Common?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-06-06T09:48:20+00:00","dateModified":"2013-06-06T17:54:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2"},"description":"Presents, chocolate bars, roses, chewing gum, packing tape---these sorts of metaphors abound in circles where what I call \"purity culture\" is strongest, and each one is used to illustrate how having sex before marriage will ruin you, rendering you dirty and potentially even unable to bond or form real relationships for the rest of your life. And in case you were wondering, no, this isn't healthy!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/06\/what-do-presents-chocolate-bars-roses-chewing-gum-and-packing-tape-have-in-common.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/06\/what-do-presents-chocolate-bars-roses-chewing-gum-and-packing-tape-have-in-common.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2013\/06\/what-do-presents-chocolate-bars-roses-chewing-gum-and-packing-tape-have-in-common.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Question: What Do Presents, Chocolate Bars, Roses, Chewing Gum, and Packing Tape Have in Common?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/","name":"Love, Joy, Feminism","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2","name":"Libby Anne","description":"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. College turned her world upside down, and she is today an atheist, a feminist, and a progressive. She blogs about leaving religion, her experience with the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements, the detrimental effects of the \"purity culture,\" the contradictions of conservative politics, and the importance of feminism.","sameAs":["http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/author\/libby"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/845"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}