You are absolutely right about purity culture in the US Southeast. I literally had a boy tell me when I was in high school, "You're the type of girl you marry but don't date." Translation: I want to have sex while I'm dating, but I want to marry a virgin. It always infuriated me because if I was going to wait until marriage, shouldn't I have the right to expect my future husband to wait also? But also, it's disgusting the way the culture idolizes sex, marriage, and virginity/purity and makes girls and women feel ashamed of their bodies. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about things. <3
I absolutely love love your comment because I know you went to seminary school and are religious (albeit in a way I’d consider more progressive). Even though I didn’t spend my childhood in purity culture, I really did struggle with being put in the middle of all those conflicting ideas. And even putting all this very raw content out there makes me nervous because of the judgment - even though deep down I feel women should own their sexuality in the way men do!
Honestly, I'm at the point where I'm not even sure how religious I'd call myself. I don't call myself Christian anymore. That said, though, I have a lot of friends from seminary, many who actually became pastors, who would say the same types of things I said, so there are definitely religious people out there who think purity culture is terrible!
You are absolutely right about purity culture in the US Southeast. I literally had a boy tell me when I was in high school, "You're the type of girl you marry but don't date." Translation: I want to have sex while I'm dating, but I want to marry a virgin. It always infuriated me because if I was going to wait until marriage, shouldn't I have the right to expect my future husband to wait also? But also, it's disgusting the way the culture idolizes sex, marriage, and virginity/purity and makes girls and women feel ashamed of their bodies. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about things. <3
I absolutely love love your comment because I know you went to seminary school and are religious (albeit in a way I’d consider more progressive). Even though I didn’t spend my childhood in purity culture, I really did struggle with being put in the middle of all those conflicting ideas. And even putting all this very raw content out there makes me nervous because of the judgment - even though deep down I feel women should own their sexuality in the way men do!
Honestly, I'm at the point where I'm not even sure how religious I'd call myself. I don't call myself Christian anymore. That said, though, I have a lot of friends from seminary, many who actually became pastors, who would say the same types of things I said, so there are definitely religious people out there who think purity culture is terrible!