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Erica Smith, Sexuality Education and Consulting

Should we care about purity culture's effects on men? (Yes)

Published 2 months ago • 1 min read

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Oh shit I forgot to tell y'all that I was featured in The Guardian recently, highlighting the often ignored stories of purity culture's effects on men.

A snippet from the article:

Purity culture enforced rigid gender roles: men were cast as aggressors; girls were told not to tempt them. Both ended up alienated from their bodies and desires.
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But rarely do we hear about heterosexual men raised in this ideology. Purity culture “tells men they’re supposed to lead”, says former minister and religion scholar Bradley Onishi, co-host of the podcast Straight White American Jesus. “It says God made you aggressive, an uncontrollable sexual beast.”
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“If men don’t heal from purity culture, they’ll keep hurting themselves and others,” he adds. “They won’t form healthy relationships – romantic, familial, professional or political.”

​Read the whole article here. ​

One of my male clients bravely shared his story for this article, detailing his fundamentalist upbringing that caused religious trauma and harm. I hope you will read it, but take care if you think you'd find his story triggering.

This is a great time to remind you that I work with clients of all genders, and I'm a nonthreatening, non intimidating person for men to talk to (I promise!). I LOVE working with straight cis men, too- they need this work. I'm ready to meet all of my clients where they're at, witness and hold their stories, and help them to forge a path forward out of purity culture. Is that you or someone you love?

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xoxox

E

You can always book an individual one off session to deal with a particular issue, or join us in the Purity Culture Dropout™ Private Community as well! ​

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
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Erica Smith, Sexuality Education and Consulting

The Purity Culture Dropout™ Program

I developed the Purity Culture Dropout™️ Program to help people learn all of the sex education that they missed growing up in purity culture- sex ed that is accurate, queer inclusive, trauma informed, compassionate, and comprehensive. I have worked with hundreds of people to help them learn about healthy sexuality after high control religion. Subscribe if you're curious about / invested in shame free sexuality education that's specifically tailored to the needs of people coming out of high control religions and purity culture. Expect information not just about healthy sexuality and upcoming programming, but also cultural commentary on sexual politics in the US. I'm a sex educator with 25 years of experience and I'm excited to share that with you.

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