This is a GREAT article! I think you are absolutely 100% spot-on about the link between purity culture and sexual abuse - although it didn't start with the identification of "purity culture" in the 90's. Although churches gave it a specific name in the 90's, female virginity has ALWAYS been pushed by religion. The 90's were also by far not the first time men have gone to extremes to force women to protect their own virginity while at the same time encouraging young men to try and take it. Ultimately, virginity has nothing even to do with God or God's will but rather about man's need for conquest - meaning a MAN'S need to "sow his seed" in virgin fields. All of the pressure is put on women to protect something solely for the sake of MEN'S benefit.
I don't know if you are interested, but I just started a podcast called "Deconstructing Books That Wrecked Us." I started off with I Kissed Dating Goodbye because I know the deep damage purity culture has caused. Hope you'll give it a listen because I really hope to help people that have been damaged by purity culture - and there are legions out there.
Keep it up, don’t stop! The SBC is a mega-CULT. I was raised being “spanked” at age ONE… Purity culture attitude affected me very much. They are PROUD. They offered Vonnie Baucham the Presidency THIS YEAR which tells you exactly how they think! The wanted a child abuser to be their image and leader. Please, let’s destroy this illness. It’s a sickness of mind!
I mean this bullshit: “ Greear then asked panelists, “What is complementarianism as understood by Southern Baptists and is there disagreement on it even among this panel?”
Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., noted that “complementarianism, as a bedrock basic, affirms that men and women equally bear the image of God.”
“There is an essential equality between men and women,” he said, “and yet within that framework God has established distinctive roles and assignments for men and for women, and we rejoice in that good gift of God.”
Akin called attention to men’s particular role as “servant leaders” as assigned by the Lord “particularly in the home and in the church.”
“God calls women in the home to submit to the leadership of their husbands, but there’s no sense in which there is any inferiority, it is simply different assignments within the clear understanding, that we’re equal image bearers before God,” Akin emphasized.”
See Article: ‘Panel examines women's role in SBC | Baptist Press’
To them I say: Boo bitch. Watch out for the Hermeneutical witches
I’m new to this dialogue and haven’t heard any one else express it the same way like u. And I’ve felt this and seen thisb since leaving the faith when I was 17. I’m 35 and my family is all still deep into the sbc alliance.
But this is what I’ve been trying to say to the men in my family but they will never hear me.
“For too long the Christian man has utilized power’s abusive control
while
INSISTING
it is
love and compassion.
THIS IS the OG lie Of Christian men.
Just look at the states with the most self ascribed and active conservative Christian followers ...
Domestic violence abounding, child food insecurity, low education rates, divorce, mass shootings, teen suicide , violence, gun violence in every arena, LGBTQIA hate crimes, intimate partner violence, hate and violence hate and violence .
“It’s none of the public’s business what you do in your privacy” which I quote from a man in my family’s church Is one of the biggest contributors to domestic violence spurred by the Christian church. It’s even earned it’s own phrase in academia as the “holy hush”. What happens when marital issues are relegated to a Private nightmare… the problems the husband and wife don’t have the tools to privately solve? The shame and conflict is hidden in silence as dangerous domestic violence rages on in rampant numbers . This type of Christian custom only hides the violence while mediators and interventions become even harder and more risky for victims to find.
I feel like a just got a hug from a good friend that really heard me. Absolutely YES. I’ve been writing notes that absolutely no one else reads as I have raged in disgust at the sbc bullshit over the past year (and all the years) .
So The 3rd party ‘task force’ they hired to do the internal investigation is moot.duh. ummmm they’re fukn not gonna bite the hand that feeds them, only puppy nip to make it seem legit ) Even as they Found rampant issues of neglect and cover up , the self ascribed review is pathetic and like u point out, doesn’t address the root of the abuse—that, intrinsically, the whole of the Christian dogma Is one of patriarchal trash that insists the Cis male remain at the pulpit and the Cis female remain on her knees. I have thoughts that perhaps the federal report and investigation is also just a charade from sBC backed politicians looking to “address” it on a national scale while it will turn up nothing.
So yes, i anticipate nothing of reprimand from these fuks , but at least I know there are others out there that feel just as angry and … exhausted and scared.
Thank you Emily. I just bought your book. Can’t wait to read. I love you.
This is a GREAT article! I think you are absolutely 100% spot-on about the link between purity culture and sexual abuse - although it didn't start with the identification of "purity culture" in the 90's. Although churches gave it a specific name in the 90's, female virginity has ALWAYS been pushed by religion. The 90's were also by far not the first time men have gone to extremes to force women to protect their own virginity while at the same time encouraging young men to try and take it. Ultimately, virginity has nothing even to do with God or God's will but rather about man's need for conquest - meaning a MAN'S need to "sow his seed" in virgin fields. All of the pressure is put on women to protect something solely for the sake of MEN'S benefit.
I don't know if you are interested, but I just started a podcast called "Deconstructing Books That Wrecked Us." I started off with I Kissed Dating Goodbye because I know the deep damage purity culture has caused. Hope you'll give it a listen because I really hope to help people that have been damaged by purity culture - and there are legions out there.
https://anchor.fm/robin-thinks
Keep it up, don’t stop! The SBC is a mega-CULT. I was raised being “spanked” at age ONE… Purity culture attitude affected me very much. They are PROUD. They offered Vonnie Baucham the Presidency THIS YEAR which tells you exactly how they think! The wanted a child abuser to be their image and leader. Please, let’s destroy this illness. It’s a sickness of mind!
Post your venmo so I can support your wrk? I don’t have much but id like to send what I have as I have it per month.
I mean this bullshit: “ Greear then asked panelists, “What is complementarianism as understood by Southern Baptists and is there disagreement on it even among this panel?”
Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., noted that “complementarianism, as a bedrock basic, affirms that men and women equally bear the image of God.”
“There is an essential equality between men and women,” he said, “and yet within that framework God has established distinctive roles and assignments for men and for women, and we rejoice in that good gift of God.”
Akin called attention to men’s particular role as “servant leaders” as assigned by the Lord “particularly in the home and in the church.”
“God calls women in the home to submit to the leadership of their husbands, but there’s no sense in which there is any inferiority, it is simply different assignments within the clear understanding, that we’re equal image bearers before God,” Akin emphasized.”
See Article: ‘Panel examines women's role in SBC | Baptist Press’
To them I say: Boo bitch. Watch out for the Hermeneutical witches
I’m new to this dialogue and haven’t heard any one else express it the same way like u. And I’ve felt this and seen thisb since leaving the faith when I was 17. I’m 35 and my family is all still deep into the sbc alliance.
But this is what I’ve been trying to say to the men in my family but they will never hear me.
“For too long the Christian man has utilized power’s abusive control
while
INSISTING
it is
love and compassion.
THIS IS the OG lie Of Christian men.
Just look at the states with the most self ascribed and active conservative Christian followers ...
Domestic violence abounding, child food insecurity, low education rates, divorce, mass shootings, teen suicide , violence, gun violence in every arena, LGBTQIA hate crimes, intimate partner violence, hate and violence hate and violence .
“It’s none of the public’s business what you do in your privacy” which I quote from a man in my family’s church Is one of the biggest contributors to domestic violence spurred by the Christian church. It’s even earned it’s own phrase in academia as the “holy hush”. What happens when marital issues are relegated to a Private nightmare… the problems the husband and wife don’t have the tools to privately solve? The shame and conflict is hidden in silence as dangerous domestic violence rages on in rampant numbers . This type of Christian custom only hides the violence while mediators and interventions become even harder and more risky for victims to find.
It is PATHETIC.
I feel like a just got a hug from a good friend that really heard me. Absolutely YES. I’ve been writing notes that absolutely no one else reads as I have raged in disgust at the sbc bullshit over the past year (and all the years) .
So The 3rd party ‘task force’ they hired to do the internal investigation is moot.duh. ummmm they’re fukn not gonna bite the hand that feeds them, only puppy nip to make it seem legit ) Even as they Found rampant issues of neglect and cover up , the self ascribed review is pathetic and like u point out, doesn’t address the root of the abuse—that, intrinsically, the whole of the Christian dogma Is one of patriarchal trash that insists the Cis male remain at the pulpit and the Cis female remain on her knees. I have thoughts that perhaps the federal report and investigation is also just a charade from sBC backed politicians looking to “address” it on a national scale while it will turn up nothing.
So yes, i anticipate nothing of reprimand from these fuks , but at least I know there are others out there that feel just as angry and … exhausted and scared.
Thank you Emily. I just bought your book. Can’t wait to read. I love you.