With the fundamentalist Christian right holding sway over the highest court in America, and far right Christian politicians trying to out-religion each other in light of the upcoming mid-term elections, there's a lot to rant about. Today's subject: "Purity Culture."
source: YouTube
Let me start by saying that "purity culture," although presently associated with the white, American, Evangelical Christian Purity Movement, is global and widespread across many religions and cultures. It's remarkable how the gender expectations in religious purity culture match with those on the political far right: men are expected to be strong masculine leaders of the household, church and society as a whole, and women are expected to support them and be pretty, feminine sweet wives and mothers. And both men and women are expected to abstain from having sexual intercourse before marriage. Even worse they're not even supposed to have any sexual thoughts or feelings.
Purity culture is back with a vengeance. If I were to harbor suspicions against the current MAGA-inspired wave of anti-freedom legislation in America, and I do, I'd say that the overturning of Roe v. Wade is punishment for the women who dare have sex before marriage. But the whole idea of not having sex, or sexual thoughts, before marriage is just another patriarchal move against women, which is seen in the way it's all explained:
Sexual expectations vary by gender. Everyone is expected to maintain absolute sexlessness before marriage (that means no sexual thoughts, feelings, or actions). And upon marriage, they are expected to flip their sexuality on like a light switch. However, men are taught their minds are evil, whereas women are taught their bodies are evil. That is to say, men’s thoughts and actions are said to be either pure or impure, while women themselves are said to be either pure or impure. Sexual metaphors abound: A “pure” woman is compared to a brand new shiny car while an “impure” one is compared to a used car that everyone around town has already driven and that isn’t worth much anymore; a “pure” woman is compared to a delicious hamburger just set down on the table while an “impure” woman is compared to the last slobbery bite of that hamburger, etc.
source: Linda Kay Klein
And the blame for men's sexual thoughts is also shifted wholly upon women; they are expected to dress, walk and talk in a way as to not evoke sexual thoughts in their male counterparts. This is all so damn hypocritical and evil, looking at the statistics on rape, unwanted pregnancies and abortions, which are more frequent in the most religious parts of the world and society. And in America Republicans talk as if abortion is something only Democrats seek and undergo. Not in my home. Not in my church. Not in my community. Which is a distortion of reality of course, as red states have just as much, if not more, abortions as blue states. Only 8 percent of the American people, according to Pew Research Center, are of the opinion that abortion should be illegal in all cases, and 61 percent believe that it should be legal in some or all cases.
I could go on about the sexual violations in the Catholic and other churches, but it's only common sense to figure out that if sexuality is systemically repressed, hidden and forbidden, people only get more curious about it and more willing to cross boundaries that aren't crossed in an environment with a healthy attitude towards sexual education and experimentation. I'd like you to watch the below linked video in which Christy Powell, Alice Greczyn, and Seth Andrews discuss the dangers of organized purity culture.
The Dangers Of Organized Purity Culture | Secular Sexualillty 09.37
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