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Pure : inside the Evangelical movement that shamed a generation of young women and how I broke free / Linda Kay Klein.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Touchstone, 2018Copyright date: ©2018Edition: First Touchstone hardcover editionDescription: viii, 341 pages ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781501124815
  • 1501124811
  • 9781501124822
  • 150112482X
Subject(s):
Contents:
Movement I: The stumbling blocks -- Sin, psychosis, or system -- The lie -- Pure destruction -- Sexual violence, classified -- Movement II: Stumbling through church -- Man-made girls -- The virgin -- The tigress -- Family values -- The stained-glass ceiling -- Movement III: Stumbling out of church -- Trapped -- Frozen -- The G(od) spot -- Dementor -- Movement IV: How we get over -- Going home -- The no shame movement -- Sanctuary.
Summary: From a woman who has been there and back, the first inside look at the devastating effects evangelical Christianity's purity culture has had on a generation of young women--in a potent combination of journalism, cultural commentary, and memoir. In the 1990s, a "purity industry" emerged out of the white evangelical Christian culture. Purity rings, purity pledges, and purity balls came with a dangerous message: girls are potential sexual "stumbling blocks" for boys and men, and any expression of a girl's sexuality could reflect the corruption of her character. This message traumatized many girls--resulting in anxiety, fear, and experiences that mimicked the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder--and trapped them in a cycle of shame.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 261.8357 K64 Available 33111009242633
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

From a woman who has been there and back, the first inside look at the devastating effects evangelical Christianity's purity culture has had on a generation of young women--in a potent combination of journalism, cultural commentary, and memoir.

In the 1990s, a "purity industry" emerged out of the white evangelical Christian culture. Purity rings, purity pledges, and purity balls came with a dangerous message: girls are potential sexual "stumbling blocks" for boys and men, and any expression of a girl's sexuality could reflect the corruption of her character. This message traumatized many girls--resulting in anxiety, fear, and experiences that mimicked the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder--and trapped them in a cycle of shame.

This is the sex education Linda Kay Klein grew up with.

Fearing being marked a Jezebel, Klein broke up with her high school boyfriend because she thought God told her to, and took pregnancy tests though she was a virgin, terrified that any sexual activity would be punished with an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. When the youth pastor of her church was convicted of sexual enticement of a twelve-year-old girl, Klein began to question the purity-based sexual ethic. She contacted young women she knew, asking if they were coping with the same shame-induced issues she was. These intimate conversations developed into a twelve-year quest that took her across the country and into the lives of women raised in similar religious communities--a journey that facilitated her own healing and led her to churches that are seeking a new way to reconcile sexuality and spirituality.

Sexual shame is by no means confined to evangelical culture; Pure is a powerful wake-up call about our society's subjugation of women.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 311-321) and index.

Movement I: The stumbling blocks -- Sin, psychosis, or system -- The lie -- Pure destruction -- Sexual violence, classified -- Movement II: Stumbling through church -- Man-made girls -- The virgin -- The tigress -- Family values -- The stained-glass ceiling -- Movement III: Stumbling out of church -- Trapped -- Frozen -- The G(od) spot -- Dementor -- Movement IV: How we get over -- Going home -- The no shame movement -- Sanctuary.

From a woman who has been there and back, the first inside look at the devastating effects evangelical Christianity's purity culture has had on a generation of young women--in a potent combination of journalism, cultural commentary, and memoir. In the 1990s, a "purity industry" emerged out of the white evangelical Christian culture. Purity rings, purity pledges, and purity balls came with a dangerous message: girls are potential sexual "stumbling blocks" for boys and men, and any expression of a girl's sexuality could reflect the corruption of her character. This message traumatized many girls--resulting in anxiety, fear, and experiences that mimicked the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder--and trapped them in a cycle of shame.

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