Abstract

Purity culture is a movement predominantly seen in the evangelical branch of Christianity that focuses on the purity status of young, unmarried women (Latour, 2020). This purity is maintained through sexual abstinence before heterosexual, monogamous, married relationships. The harmful nature of purity culture has been uncovered in recent years through extended research on the topic. This has brought the question of how prominent this idea of purity culture is. This study aims to investigate how women on a Christian campus view and contribute to purity culture.

Rape myth acceptance is also a large feature in purity culture (Barnett, Sligar, & Wang, 2018). “Rape myths are a specific set of attitudes and beliefs that may contribute to ongoing sexual violence by shifting blame for sexual assault from perpetrators to victims” (Iconis, 2008).

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Apr 20th, 11:00 AM Apr 20th, 1:00 PM

Christian College Students and Purity Culture: Acceptance and Lived Experience

Purity culture is a movement predominantly seen in the evangelical branch of Christianity that focuses on the purity status of young, unmarried women (Latour, 2020). This purity is maintained through sexual abstinence before heterosexual, monogamous, married relationships. The harmful nature of purity culture has been uncovered in recent years through extended research on the topic. This has brought the question of how prominent this idea of purity culture is. This study aims to investigate how women on a Christian campus view and contribute to purity culture.

Rape myth acceptance is also a large feature in purity culture (Barnett, Sligar, & Wang, 2018). “Rape myths are a specific set of attitudes and beliefs that may contribute to ongoing sexual violence by shifting blame for sexual assault from perpetrators to victims” (Iconis, 2008).

 

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