The Negative Impact of Purity Culture

JackRT

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Oct 17, 2015
15,722
16,445
80
small town Ontario, Canada
✟767,295.00
Country
Canada
Faith
Unorthodox
Marital Status
Married
I have long thought that patriarchy is probably the most pernicious evil that humanity has ever inflicted on itself. Usually whenever I express this thought, I am accused of being a feminist. As a Christian, I cannot be anything else but a feminist.
 
Upvote 0

Rebecca Lemke

Active Member
Feb 16, 2018
33
33
27
Norman
Visit site
✟8,423.00
Country
United States
Faith
Lutheran
Marital Status
Married
So it won't be surprising if a wide variety of people sympathize with you; but where they are coming from doctrinally is also very important and far reaching.
Oh believe me, I know. ;) I have all sorts of folks identify with what I say, many of them atheists and agnostics, but our worldviews are drastically incompatible. At the end of the day, I know who I am in Christ, they don't, and that changes everything. That is why I added that this explanation of patriarchy makes sense, socially speaking. I appreciate you mentioning this and looking out for me, a lot. :)
 
Upvote 0

dayhiker

Mature veteran
Sep 13, 2006
15,557
5,288
MA
✟220,077.00
Faith
Charismatic
Marital Status
In Relationship
Politics
US-Others
There are actually folks out there that had it way worse than me, believe it or not! That is so interesting, can you give an example of the terminology? I love learning about this kind of stuff! :)

You are welcome!

Rebecca, it was over 10 yrs ago that I read a book that had this info in it. Even in that book it wasn't very well developed.
My studies have given me the understanding that purity in Biblical times was more about not worshipping idols than it was about sexual things. God's number one concern is that we not be lead astray by false gods.
Yet the Purity movement made God's first concern about what a person does sexually. SO all that to me is a distortion of God's message even before we talk about Jesus being our righteousness etc. 1 Cor.1:30
 
  • Like
Reactions: Rebecca Lemke
Upvote 0

2PhiloVoid

Get my point, Web-Maker ???
Site Supporter
Oct 28, 2006
21,170
9,958
The Void!
✟1,131,566.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Others
Purity Culture Definition:
Purity culture has an obsessive focus on virginity before marriage and on maintaining emotional purity that pervades fundamentalism and evangelicalism, made visible in purity balls, purity rings, purity pledges, and modesty teachings.

It ties your worth as a person to your virginity, not who you are in Christ.

NOTE: Remember, there is nothing wrong with being a virgin, but there is something wrong about making virginity an idol, and that's what purity culture does.


As a millennial, the church was obsessed with purity culture during my childhood, you might remember books like I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris, who now himself admits it was a mistake.

In a recent article by Ruth Graham:


I just picked up a new book titled Damaged Goods by Dianna Anderson... looking forward to reading it.

Purity Culture had a negative impact on my life, on my marriage, and I'm a male. I can't even image the imagine the negative impact on women. :( Purity balls, rings and the like, in my opinion are super weird and sometimes gross.

I am interested in responses from women on this one, and how purity culture impacted them?


While I can sympathize with the struggles we all go through as human beings who have hormones chugging through our bodies (if we're somewhat healthy), and while I can say that I can understand that some Christians take God's command to be 'holy' in a hyper-spastic, two-dimensional Americanized way, I can also see the practicality of saying that a person like Hugh Hefner definitely was clueless about what makes for good relationships between men and women ...

:cool:
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0

Tetra

Well-Known Member
Dec 18, 2016
1,223
708
41
Earth
✟64,448.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
So, I know I am late to the party, but...

I grew up in purity culture @Tetra and I experienced negative impacts as well.

To give you an idea:

A crush was considered an emotional STD, it would poison and potentially destroy any future relationship you had. Every crush you had was a piece of your heart that you could not give to your future spouse. You were to marry your first crush.

Arranged marriages were a thing because of this.

Any feelings, happiness, anger, sadness, and sexual attraction in particular, was evil via proof-texted Jeremiah 17:9.

Hand-holding, kissing, and hugging made you damaged goods, spit-in water, de-petaled flowers, etc.

Virginity = purity, purity = virginity. So when you got married and "lost" your virginity, you also "lost" your purity.

Virginity/purity was lost through use of tampons, pelvic exams, and sexual assault.

Most of us were not allowed to go to the doctor, because they were evil, but pelvic exams were a huge fear for us girls because of this when we were older.

One of my friends growing up was raped by her older brother. He put a sharp object to her throat, took her to the parent's bedroom, and raped her.

The parents blamed her. I heard, "He had his five minutes of fun" so much it made my head spin. The community blamed her. They called her every name in the book and said she deserved it and no one would want her now. She was impure, tainted, disgusting. The girl's family went to jail, all the while they and the community contended that nothing wrong had taken place.

Anything that happened to you as a woman was your fault, because of how you acted or what you wore or what you said.

We were expected to swim in jeans and long sleeves so we wouldn't tempt the boys. We were not allowed to wear sandals because one of the father's had a foot fetish. The other mother's would watch us pass in the hall and scrutinize our clothing, randomly pulling us aside and publicly shaming us for not knowing how to adjust our bra straps in early puberty. They fell down and, as a result, we were tempting their sons and husbands.

I could tell so many other stories, but I'll stop for now.

The bottom line was that purity was your whole identity. This was the most damaging thing for me. My worth and identity was in what I had and hadn't done sexually rather than in what Christ has done for me.

I waited, just like you @Tetra , and I watched as all of my friends walked away from the faith because they were taught that God cared more about their ability to follow the community laws than them.

I don't know if you are familiar with the Gregoire family, but both Sheila and Katie talk about purity culture. This video of Katie's is fantastic:
I was unaware this thread was still going until I recently linked to it and saw they're were recent posts. I'm sorry to hear about your experience :(
 
Upvote 0

Iarrthoir

Active Member
Jan 8, 2018
63
41
39
California
✟19,587.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Grew up in this culture. It was a mix between never do the deed even in marriage and only do it if you are married. Failed both and as such was tied to not being able to follow Christ. I can see that it might both hurt or help depending on how it is used. Yes I can verify that if you lose it in this culture you are treated as scum no matter the circumstances.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tetra
Upvote 0

JackRT

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Oct 17, 2015
15,722
16,445
80
small town Ontario, Canada
✟767,295.00
Country
Canada
Faith
Unorthodox
Marital Status
Married
Grew up in this culture. It was a mix between never do the deed even in marriage and only do it if you are married. Failed both and as such was tied to not being able to follow Christ. I can see that it might both hurt or help depending on how it is used. Yes I can verify that if you lose it in this culture you are treated as scum no matter the circumstances.

Butch Hancock of "The Flatlanders" ---Life in Lubbock, Texas taught me two things: One is that God loves you and you're going to burn in hell. The other is that sex is the most awful, filthy thing on earth and you should save it for someone you love.
 
Upvote 0

Iarrthoir

Active Member
Jan 8, 2018
63
41
39
California
✟19,587.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
larrthor ... sorry you went thru that. I'm convinced more than ever that God loves so much more than most church leaders have a clue about. So I'm saying God love you more than we will ever know.
Thanks, that means a lot. Biggest issue was getting it from family as well as church. Took me awhile as well as my own encounter with the Lord to come back.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dayhiker
Upvote 0