Quis ut Deus?
When I heard John Cooper mention a “sexual revolution” during his mid-concert speech against deconstruction, I felt lost and confused. I haven’t kept up to date with current religious news, so I had no idea what he was talking about. I’ve done some more research, and if I’m right, I think he was talking about the ongoing rebellion against purity culture. Progressive Christianity is rightfully pushing back against a toxic ideology that Evangelicalism has promoted for so long.
“Pure” Nonsense
Boy, this has been a doozy researching this. Once again, I realize how privileged I am to have grown up in a liberal United Methodist environment where sex was treated as something normal, not taboo.
I cringed up watching these YouTube videos describing the ins and outs of what purity culture involves. It sounds like cult behavior. Especially with how much brainwashing and indoctrination are involved.
First, here’s an informative video from “God is Grey”, run by Progressive Christian Brenda Davies:
When I was watching this video, this quote from Brenda stood out to me:
“I told Linda Kay Klein in our interview that I believe the Evangelical Christian Church has made an idol out of sexual purity.
If you’re a straight, virgin woman, you are a Christian.
If you are sexually active, or LGBTQ+, or even just strong-willed, have fun in Hell.”
Linda Kay Klein is the author of Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free. She’s a survivor of the Evangelical purity culture ideology and has been a fantastic leader in dismantling its lies to protect future generations. She’s been featured as a “Tedx Talks” speaker as well!
I’m glad Brenda also called out the issue of abstinence-only education. It’s a sham that, as she says, thrives on ignorance and prevents us youngsters from knowing essential facts about sex. Especially the dangers of unprotected sex! You’ve set them up for failure when you refuse to tell teenagers about even that.
The Dirt on Purity Culture
Here’s another excellent video by God is Grey:
Lo and behold, one of the real horrors that have emerged out of the obsession with purity. In his horrific shooting spree, Robert Aaron Long, the Georgia shooter who took the lives of 8 individuals, including 6 Asian women, had the audacity to blame his victims for his selfishness. In this article by CNN, Long had told the law enforcement sources questioning him that he wanted to “help others with their sexual addictions” by targeting those spas.
This massacre reflects how society has sexualized women, particularly Asian women, and painted them as “threats” for men. Long chose to see his victims as threats to be eliminated, influenced by the dogma of purity culture that his upbringing taught him. Purity culture has perpetuated the “madonna-whore complex“, especially the ugly view of seeing women as “impure” and “dangerous”.
I’m grateful that Brenda Davies pointed out that purity culture also demonizes guys. It teaches us that our sex drives and sexual thoughts are impulsive, dangerous, and something to “wage war” against. Boy, the obsession with masturbation especially…how do these “teachers” not see how damaging this nonsense is?
The Numbers Say It All
I wanted some statistics on how the influence of purity culture has affected sex-ed in America. Well, I found some!
This article from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health provides some alarming statistics showing the damage that purity culture has done to education. The push for abstinence-only education has caused a decline in how many students receive instruction on birth control, HIV prevention, and sexuality overall.
I love the pushback against this nonsense, though! Even Trojan (yes indeed, the protection company!) has helped advocates push for proper sex-ed. Good thing, too, because nobody should ever have to deal with harmful analogies for sex, such as the infamous “chewed-up gum” analogy used in some circles.
Well, shucks, it looks like abstinence-only doesn’t work after all!
While I understand the desire to encourage all to handle sex carefully and respectfully, there are far better ways to do so. If others have been referring to this as the so-called “sexual revolution”, then, well, viva la revolución!
I love Eurythmics’ music videos and finding new ways to interpret them. I have a deep passion for analogies and finding parallels between the oddest sources. I’m also quite the Eurythmics/Annie Lennox fan, especially for outspoken she is on many important issues.
Therefore, dare I say it, let’s look at the top 3 singles from Eurythmics Savage album and analyze them as an allegory for escaping purity culture!
I Love to (Listen To) [Sound Reason]
First up, we have “Beethoven (I Love to Listen To)”, the ominously dissonant intro to Eurythymics’ Savage album. In it, we see the protagonist cope with the growing realization that she’s unhappy feeling trapped in the role of a housewife. She openly daydreams about a fantasy of a boy and a girl (“a girl like that“) meeting in a cafe and having a happy romance. And thus, we see what looks like a mini David Lynch film take off.
The girl and the mystical person in this music video represent the protagonist’s desires for freedom and authentic expression. In the end, she sits in front of her mirror and accepts them both, allowing herself to transform into a new, authentic version of herself. She no longer feels that she must confine herself to the imposed gender role she’d been languishing under for so long.
Next, we see her show up on a miniature stage, declaring what she wants in a man. While you might think that this next song, “I Need a Man”, is merely about wanting a hookup, a closer look at the lyrics offers a deconstruction of that desire.
Our girl won’t put up with a “heartbreaker, cheapskate, low-down woman-hater”, prominent traits of toxic masculinity. While she wants a man, she isn’t willing to tolerate any man who walks up to her. Instead, she clarifies that while she’s open, she has standards that she won’t let any man violate.
In the final video of this glorious trilogy, we see a protagonist who looks to be a blend of both the housewife and liberated woman from the two previous entries. In “You Have Placed a Chill In My Heart”, our protagonist deals with understandable relationship issues, including the woman always being expected to clean up a man’s mess. Her final resolution is simple but oh so profound.
This final entry in Savage‘s trilogy cleverly addresses other relationship ills. After rewatching this music video, I caught the symbolism of love and money clashing in that neon sign Annie Lennox held in her hand. I also noticed her mentioning standing her ground against her fictitious partner, refusing to be silenced when speaking up.
“You Have Placed a Chill In My Heart” sums up the ache that we all wish to have fulfilled, free from the shaming burden of purity culture: we all want somebody we can hold and be held tenderly by in turn. It’s why so many “ex-vangelicals” such as Brenda Davies have rightfully rejected purity culture and deconstructed away from it. They more than deserve their freedom after the Godless lies and fear they’ve suffered.
What Is Love?
While we all need to watch out for the actual sin and issue of lust in our lives, we also need to crack down on the fear that purity culture propagates. We know that there’s no fear in love because God is love, and when His will is made manifest, it uplifts instead of tearing apart.
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” (1 John 4:18)
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8)
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
Clearly, purity culture isn’t working. This system is broken when all it does is mislead youth and terrorize them into demonizing natural bodily functions. There are several healthier ways to encourage self-control, but this isn’t one.
The suffering purity culture continues to cause so many isn’t God’s will. So why do certain sects of Christianity continue to hold onto it? As Brenda Davies said, purity culture has become an idol for worship. May Christian leaders take care to heed God’s voice on this matter, not the voice of this broken, fear-based system.
Featured Image by joenomias/Pixabay
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