POWER, CONTROL, AND PURITY: A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON THE MESSAGING AND IMPACTS OF PURITY CULTURE AMONG EX-EVANGELICALS
Welcome to Dr. Toni Lawrimore’s doctoral research on the impacts of purity culture’s messaging on ex-Evangelical deconstructers. Below is the table of contents, which can guide you to different sections of this research.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION, AND BACKGROUND
Introduction and Reflexivity
Rationale for the Study
CHAPTER 2: PURITY CULTURE DEFINED
Purity Culture
Female Submission/Male Authority
Control of Human Sexuality
Fundamentalism and Rigidity
CHAPTER 3: RIGID GENDER AND SEXUALITY
Evangelical Gender Roles
Evangelical (Hetero)Sexuality: Homosexuality is Sinful
The Ex-Gay Movement and Queer Christianity
Next Steps
Aim
Sample and Recruitment Procedures
Data Collection
Data Analysis
The Impact of Rigid Gender Roles and Hierarchy
Gatekept Sexuality.
Limiting Sexuality
Changes After Leaving
Power and Control 60
Clinical Recommendations
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Somatic Experiencing
Internal Family Systems Therapy. 67
Findings and Goals
Limitations
Recommendations for Further Study
White Supremacy Culture and Purity Culture
Family Ties that Bind
Closing Summary
ABSTRACT/ABOUT THIS STUDY:
The purpose of this research was to create a fuller understanding of how conservative Evangelical purity culture has impacted the congregants who have left their faith. By seeking to understand the primary messaging that was taught to those who were youth at the height of the 1990s purity movement and the longstanding impacts that this messaging had on the relationships, sexuality, and gender expression of those who have left, I worked to contextualize the impacts of these teachings and provide potential clinical recommendations for therapeutic approaches to help former Evangelicals deal with their trauma and distress.
Using purposive snowball sampling, I recruited a pool of 10 participants from x-Evangelical Twitter accounts, ex-Evangelical Instagram pages, and ex-Evangelical discord server. Following recruitment, I interviewed participants in semi-structured 1.5-2 hour interviews via the online platform Zoom. Each interview was recorded, transcribed, and analyzed. The qualitative interviews focused on the main themes that I believed purity culture touched on from the literature reviewed: relationships, sexuality, and gender. I focused not only on the messaging the fundamentalist Evangelical church taught, but also how that messaging impacted the participants at the time and how participants see it impacting them today.
As ex-Evangelicals have reflected on their experiences within the church, many have walked away with pain and possible trauma from the time spent in their former faith communities. This is especially the case for people who did not lose faith but lost trust in their religion and those who were excommunicated. The findings in this study have revealed the primary themes that participants shared that caused them dissonance and distress were (a) the rigid expectations of gender and gender hierarchy, (b) the way purity culture gatekeeps sexuality, and (c) the way it limits the possibilities and education of sexuality as part of the conservative Evangelical purity culture.
This research explains the ways in which the themes of divinely mandated gender hierarchies, gatekeeping sexuality by hiding and limiting information, and the limiting of sexuality by denying LGBTQ+ identities are used to control and maintain patriarchal power within Evangelical purity culture. Participants spoke about the shame, anxiety, and distress they felt as they reckoned with the ways their complex individual identities did not mesh with the ways that they were supposed to be under purity culture. Clinicians are encouraged to look to Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to support former Evangelicals as they work through rigid thinking brought on by years in fundamentalism, Somatic Experiencing to facilitate processing trauma that impacts the way they interact with their bodies, and Internal Family Systems Therapy to help clients understand themselves more fully as they individuate outside of restrictive religious systems. By understanding these themes and the impacts of purity culture, clinicians can have a better-informed understanding of how to approach clients who were raised in this culture.