Purity culture represents the main narrative around sex education and relationships for many people. It taught us ideas about ourselves and about other people that we often feel like we can't leave behind. In today's episode, Hillary and Michael are joined by Linda Kay Klein as they discuss purity culture and pull apart a story we may tell ourselves: "I am impure."
Linda is the author of the book Pure, which covers the sexual purity movement in the evangelical church and the "purity industry" that formed along with it. Her interviews and stories outline the resulting anxiety, fear, and experiences that trap people in a cycle of shame. Sexual shame is not confined to evangelical culture and Linda's book serves as a powerful wake-up call about our society’s subjugation of women.
This episode does cover traumatic experiences. We want to offer a content warning as well as suggest some mental health resources for you to use. Speaking with a professional, licensed therapist is a way to work through trauma in a way that is safe and "become stronger at the broken places." You are not alone.
You can join us each Sunday to talk with other liturgists around the world and meet in small groups. We also talk online everyday. To find out how to join The Liturgists to be a part of that community, visit theliturgists.com and look for the "Join The Liturgists" button.
Resources:
https://www.breakfreetogether.org
https://aedpinstitute.org/find-an-aedp-institute-therapist/search/
https://directory.traumahealing.org
https://www.emdria.org/search/
https://lifespanintegration.com/directory/
https://www.sensorimotorpsychotherapy.org/directory.html
https://sstarnet.org/find-a-therapist/