Afton Camlin
Contributing Writer
Content warning: descriptions of religious language and graphic body descriptions
“You wouldn’t want a piece of chewed-up gum, would you?”
This phrase is common in areas ruled by purity culture. The expression, along with similar analogies, is used to describe someone who has sex before marriage. The purity culture movement, led by white American evangelicals, is a global phenomenon causing lasting damage to thousands.
The harmful psychological effects of purity culture are abundant. Linda Kay Kein, a writer and purity culture recovery coach, states that “everyone is expected to maintain absolute sexlessness before marriage…and upon marriage, they are expected to flip their sexuality on like a light switch…. men are taught their minds are evil, whereas women are taught their bodies are evil.”
In purity culture, women are responsible for the men around them. A woman must not arouse a man, and if she is assaulted or desire is expressed for her, she is the one to blame and must have done something to make him think that way.
Men are, in turn, taught to view women as objects who serve as things to control. Men must suppress their sexuality and avoid situations that may cause “impure thoughts.” If a woman evokes these in a man, she is considered a threat to his purity.
Children are taught that hugging a member of the opposite sex may lead to sexual impurity. Young girls may be taken to “purity balls,” mock wedding events where they make pledges to their fathers to maintain their virginities.
These ideas damage all those involved. For one, those who abide by purity culture’s rules must conform to strict and binary gender roles. Homosexuality — and any identity falling under the 2SLGBTQ+ umbrella — is seen as a sin, making heterosexual desire the only “right” path.
Purity culture is also tied to white supremacy. While white American women are supposed to maintain the purity they are born with, American women of color must attain such purity, implying their race makes them impure. Furthermore, long-lasting psychological trauma manifests itself as confusion, shame and dissociation/disconnection from one’s body.
Purity culture is also biologically harmful. Psychological harm can and does lead to physical issues. Being taught to feel shame around sex can cause vaginismus, the automatic tightening of the pelvic floor muscles in the event of penetration. This tightening can be explained psychologically through the mind’s desperate urge to not become “impure,” eliciting a physical reaction.
Various other disorders have also been linked to purity culture. Since sperm is constantly produced, there is a need to release it to prevent pain. As purity culture tends to condemn masturbation in all cases — even if the individual is married — there are no “pure” means of preventing this pain from occurring.
So, what can be done about this? Comprehensive sexual education and easy access to sexual healthcare, contraceptives and counseling can all help. By providing lessons and health services, we can show people the dangers of purity culture and how to have safe and healthy relationships.
While it can be unhealthy for those involved, the teaching of purity culture is protected by the First Amendment. Under the Free Exercise Clause, people in the U.S. are free to practice whatever religion they wish and may practice it however they want to (so long as it does not go against any other amendments to the Constitution). This freedom includes the practice and teaching of total abstinence before marriage.
People should have a choice in how they live their lives, and while we cannot control anybody’s actions, we can educate the public, allowing them to make their own decisions about their well-being.
