Are purity cultures racist?

“I don’t think you can ever use the word ‘purity’ in American Culture and not be talking about race.” - Amy Frykholm, PhD - Associate Editor - The Christian Century

It should come as no surprise that protecting the pure white family and supporting the white child produced by that family, was not only the catalyst, but the holy purpose of the original purity movement.

We must open our eyes to the fact that when we speak of restoring societal norms or of a “purity” that needs to be maintained - we are talking about race.

In the early 1800s, slavery was the moral crisis of the era. Those in slavery were not permitted to marry, thereby forcing their children to be labeled as illegitimate. Meanwhile white people were marrying for practical, political, and status reasons.

After slavery was abolished, the moral focus of the nation turned to immigration. Many immigrants worked in prostitution, raising fears that interracial children would “dirty” the white race.

With the founding of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union we saw the beginnings of what we now know as the Purity Movement and by the late 1800s doctors, clergy, and the church were seeking to protect white superiority. As the industrial revolution picked up steam in the early 1900s, organizations such as the Boy Scouts, were founded to promote sexual purity in whites. Black people and immigrants continued to be cast as sexual predators in smear campaigns around the country.

After prohibition was repealed, the nation embraced a more permissive sexuality. After WWII family life improved and church attendance dropped, leading evangelists like Billy Graham to begin a crusade to make Christianity relevant again. By the 1960s we’d entered a period of dramatic social change, leading to the eventual emergence of the “Christian Sexual Revolution.”

By the 1990s evangelicals had gained political power and we saw mega churches planted around the country.

Then the AIDS crisis hit, and by1995 AIDS deaths in the U.S. had reached an all-time high.

With all of the necessary puzzle pieces in place, the church reacted and the Purity Movement began.

Again.

My loves, I was born in 1985 and deeply immersed in evangelical purity cultures from 1998 - 2003. Every teen in my youth group was white. Every book on purity, courtship, and marriage that I consumed was written by a white man. I have survived the movement’s attempts to control me, my sexuality, and my love for others, but now it is time to expose this movement for what it really was and still is.

If you are ready to uncover the truth surrounding your experience in a purity culture, I invite you to join me for my upcoming course, PLEASURE FOR PURITY CULTURE SURVIVORS. This six-week course will take place online every Tuesday evening at 7:00pm EST beginning on March 8, 2022. I would be honored to walk alongside you as we heal our collective trauma and EMBRACE pleasure as a form of radical activism and anti-racism.

Click here to register now: https://sexedforyou.com/upcoming/pleasure-for-purity-culture-survivors-virtual

As #blackhistorymonth draws to a close, may we remember how far the roots of racism extend and may we continue to dismantle our privilege and our ignorance.

xoxo -