The stigma surrounding evangelical purity culture has surrounded Christianity for decades, particularly examining women’s role in maintaining a sexually pure lifestyle before marriage. Purity culture “says that sex before marriage before marriage takes something essential away from the bond between husband and wife – it proposes that the heart’s capacity to be intimate with others is limited and should therefore be protected and guarded fiercely” (Anderson) The target of purity culture is young women, who according to purity culture, are the most vulnerable to sexual encounters, consensual or not. Purity culture arose after the sexual revolution of the 1980’s, during the AIDS epidemic, and culture took a strict decline in sexual conservatism. Religious conservatism and feministic ideologies have had a history of contradiction; woman who have religious values must abstain from anything that tests those values, however, Christian feminists “challenge traditional social constructs by exploring binaries such as authority and subordination in a new way.” (Potgieter) The marginalization of women has prompted feminist critique through the degrading of women’s bodies, through shame of sexual desire, rape culture, and misogynist stereotyping.
The main ideal of purity culture is enveloped in both physical and spiritual purity. In the Christian dating book, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, by Joshua Harris depicts purity culture in its true light; “While physical purity is very important, God also wants us to pursue purity and blamelessness in our motives, our minds, and our emotions” (Harris 22) Young women in the evangelical community are encouraged to dress modestly and respectfully and remain from any form of romanticizing of bodily images. To young women, body image and sexual curiosity is often self-deprecating to emotional stability, and the repression of sexual expression and exploration creates instability. The shame-induced culture intimidates women and terminates equality. In Donna Freitas’ book, Sex and the Soul, the themes of purity are examined through evangelical students on a college campus through a serious of interviews, and defines what is considered pure and impure. Evangelical women are taught not to desire sex, and purity culture literature enforces this to its maximum. The fear of sex is placed in the minds of women. Freitas argues based off of the interviews that “Sex is not dirty in and of itself, but it is dirty to engage in sexual activity or perhaps even to indulge sexual thoughts in ways that . . . ‘contradict cherished classifications’ (Freitas 79) The feministic ideology that aims to get at the root of sexual shaming and body shaming; evangelical communities teach that women’s bodies are to be preserved for their husbands in marriage, any other sexual interaction is impure.
Objectification of women’s bodies goes against equality that evangelical feminism aims at. Men are taught not to stare too long at women’s bodies or they will become tempted. This further objectifies women and tests equality and justice for women’s bodies. Evangelical feminism uses a variety of theological arguments to appoint for the liberation of women in the evangelical community. The main source for equality for women in the evangelical community comes from the Bible, according to evangelical feminists. The claim that the scriptures were simply misunderstood, liberate rather than oppress women. (Cochran 26) Evangelical feminists recognize that the scriptures mention that woman and men and created in the image of God, particularly in the book of Genesis. Most conservative protestants believe that God created “women to be submissive to men” (Cochran 24), while the interpretation of the passage is different when looked at in a larger context, with men and women being created equally in the image of God , and “inviting men and women to submit to one another in love” (Cochran 24). The modern hermeneutical methods due to feminist critique allows for conservative traditions to be altered and broken down instead of strictly observed.
The modesty culture that it is composed of evangelical tradition is strictly imposed on women more than men, taught to never respond to sexual desire or curiosity. One condition of modesty is to dress in a way that would distract boys, who fall to lust easily. The sexual responses of men are recognized constantly, without any thought of any sexual notions that women have. The constraint on dress is so engrained in evangelical tradition, most women deliberate on even wanting to have freedom in clothes wearing in fear that they might disappoint the church, their family, and God. Joshua Harris explains that “… guys are responsible for maintaining self-control, but you can help by refusing to wear clothing designed to attract attention to your body” (Harris)
Therefore, the responsibility of modesty is placed entirely in a women’s hands; the way that they present themselves are how men will perceive them, either as sexual objects or God-worshipers. This unequal balance of responsibility is examined by