The Purity Culture Podcast Roundup
Edit on July 20th, 2024 - These episodes are now only available as a gift for monthly donors.
For a few weeks, Uncertain (Tears of Eden’s podcast) discussed sex, sexuality, and Purity Culture. Purity Culture is an example of Spiritual Abuse, in that it uses fear and shame in the name of God to motivate young people to practice chastity until marriage. (Note: the problem is not with sexual abstinence, but with the fear and shame as motivation).
We spent some time discussing this with three different episodes.
The Sex Education You Never Got with Kim Cavill
Kim is a sex educator and is extremely passionate about people having the tools they need for a healthy sex life. Her podcast Six Minute Sex ed is designed for parents and kids to listen to together. It discusses subjects such as the purpose and function of different anatomy, what consent looks like, and bodily autonomy.
In this episode for Uncertain, we address the difference between abstinence and virginity (and why it’s import), how someone might prepare for a healthy sex life if they choose to remain abstinent until marriage, and some of the history behind purity culture.
The Sexually Healthy Man with Andrew Bauman
Wow, this episode was incredible. Not only did we discuss purity culture and its impact on men, we also got into the systemic reasons why the church might be so reticent to talk about sex. There were several surprising twists in this episode, and we can’t wait to read Andrew’s new book, the Sexually Healthy man.
Embracing Your Sexuality When You’re Not Having Sex with Heather Gargis
This episode was not originally in the lineup, but we realized there was a huge missing piece of the sex conversation that, quite frankly, is never addressed: How to embrace your sexuality when you’re not having sex. There seems to be only one response to our sexual desires and urges: have sex. If you’re a conservative Christian, just get married (mmm…okay?). If you’re not a part of conservative Christianity, just have sex.
This response has been problematic for many, many reasons. There are also many reasons someone might not be having sex—that have nothing to do with sexual ethic or preferences.
We’ve been historically hesitant to address this subject.
Not anymore. We’re hoping this is the beginning a conversation long overdue.
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Read more about purity culture HERE
Photo by Zoriana Stakhniv on Unsplash