Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free by Linda Kay Klein (PDF)

Description

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.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I’m going to second other reviewers, here: if you are a female who grew up in an evangelical church or school, read this. Know that it will be a hard read. I was in tears at multiple points. I had to pace around my house while I read certain chapters. Chapters 4 & 13 address a lot of the unhealthy messages surrounding sexual abuse and victimization, although there is stuff about that spread all throughout the book. If you are survivor/victim, plan to read slowly and carefully. This book is a great combination of memoir and scholarly research– enough that you will learn something without feeling like you are reading a textbook. I think this should be required reading for anyone working with youth groups or teaching for a Christian school. Even if you don’t totally agree with her conclusions about a more liberated form of sexuality, it will make you think more carefully about the words that come out of your mouth when it comes to talking to youth about sex, relationships, and intimacy.To specifically address one of the 1 star reviews, she is definitely “tolerant” of the idea that abstinence can be healthy, and includes several accounts of interviewees who have chosen to be abstinent at most (or even all) time points in their lives. She has no issue with the concept of abstinence. Her issue is with the messages that have been used (especially in the uber-conservative branches of the evangelical church) in order to encourage abstinence. There is a huge difference. She doesn’t shame anyone for making that choice. She calls out religious leaders for using remarkably unhealthy tactics for getting people to arrive at that choice.

⭐Linda Kay Klein is an empathetic and trust-instilling guide as she tells her own story and shares some of those of her peers, giving voice to stories that haven’t been heard. The experiences shared will resonate with many people–especially women–who grew up in or around the Evangelical movement in the United States. While this book addresses the purity movement specifically, Pure can be a healing read for those who have been harmed in other ways by the church. The book ends on an optimistic note–Klein hasn’t given up on God, but she’s found healing. For me personally, this book is a step toward healing some of the past hurt and trauma inflicted on me by the Evangelical movement and I suspect it will be helpful for others dealing with similar things.

⭐Remember the mainstreaming of Evangelical Christianity and what it meant to be a young woman against a backdrop of purity rings and promising your virginity to Jesus? Remember what it was like to be a teenager and to be caught between wanting to explore your sexuality and being worried about not being pure and good enough to deserve respect? Who else remembers being told that your virginity was like chewing gum – once you “lost” it, you could never be whole again?Well I do, and Linda Kay Klein does, and she wrote an eye-opening, compassionate book about how women who grew up with these messages are still dealing with the effects as adults. Klein’s book is told in a series of interviews with women who grew up in purity culture, and who feel the repercussions of that as adults – in their marriages and relationships, in their self-esteem and sense of self-determination, and with their relationship with God. This is a fabulous book for book clubs and group discussions — there’s much to unpack here, and I think anyone who grew up female in America will find a lot to connect with.

⭐I didn’t grow up in the evangelical world at all but was fascinated and drawn in by the stories and narrative throughout. The lessons that we are taught about sex, love, our bodies reverberate throughout our lives and hearing the stories in the book made me realize that even in worlds I don’t understand there are lessons for me and my own life. It is a great read. Highly Recommend!

⭐As a survivor of the purity movement I am grateful to have discovered “Pure.” I only wish Linda had shared more of her own story. Her story is what caught my attention on her NPR segment, and for the first few chapters. But I feel she cuts off and zigzags into others’ stories too soon. I wanted to find out what happened after her health scare, and that first boyfriend or two. I wanted her to delve deeper and share more openly about the exact experiences that led to her finally feeling sexually free, and what led to her eventual marriage. The stories of other survivors ranged from captivating to deeply disturbing to boring. At some point I began to wonder, with great concern, how many of the people she interviewed turned to counseling for healing. The story of the woman whose brother raped her…it sounds like she may have only had a brief stint at counseling, and her story ends with an attempt at a positive note, but this includes the not-comforting information that the woman still shares her life with her brother and the parents who enabled the rape. It just doesn’t sit right.Linda’s own healing process also sounds stymied by her parents’ oppressiveness. However kind she tries to make them sound, I came away feeling disturbed by her need to please her Mother through religion, and even this book, and her Mother’s overbearing and intrusive attitude about Linda’s spiritual practices, even after all these years. I actually became so disturbed by it I could barely finish the book.Linda is taking a stab at a subject that desperately needs more discussion in the church, and she could write many books on this one subject while barely scratching the surface. I wish her and other survivors the best of luck – and lots of counseling!

⭐This is one of the most powerful books I’ve read. It’s difficult to reckon how much harm the purity movement cause, but Pure addresses that harm with candor, compassion, and most amazingly, hope. An incredibly timely book, Pure is a must read.

⭐I’m raising two young girls in the Catholic Church and want to be very aware of the message they are getting regarding their sexuality and how it relates to their self worth. I really appreciate Linda’s perspectives regarding the mixed messages that can be sent.

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