The Effects of Purity Culture

If you grew up in Purity Culture then it’s pretty much guaranteed you were taught to disconnect from yourself in painful ways. And chances are, even now, it's still wreaking havoc in your life! Let's talk about the 3 primary ways purity culture taught you to disconnect from your body and what you can do about it now!

1). YOU WERE NEVER TAUGHT ABOUT YOUR OWN ANATOMY. Were never taught about your body and now find yourself as an adult who still feels fairly clueless about your body and how it actually works?

What to do about it now: It’s time to hit the books and start educating yourself. It’s never too late! Expand your knowledge around your anatomy, safe sex practices, menstrual cycles, self pleasure--whatever interests you most. Click here to get a list of book recommendations to help you get started!  

2). YOU WERE TRAINED TO FIGHT YOUR SEXUALITY. Religious environments constantly vilified your natural, sexual desires calling them lust (which I don’t know about you, but we were taught lust was just as bad as murder). Obviously you couldn’t stop being a human, so you began living in a constant state of guilt and mistrust of your body, constantly fighting the innate wisdom of your body. 

What to do about it now: Simply start by acknowledging that you have a body in the first place. This sounds simple, but because you were taught to see your body as sinful, you have probably ignored it for so long. Try small, gentle practices like holding parts of yourself you hate and whispering an apology, or gently tapping somewhere on your body to practice feeling the sensations. Here are 4 ways to  start a new relationship with your body. 

 3). YOU FEEL SHAME AROUND PLEASURE. If you were trained that your sexual desires were seen as sinful and bad and could stand in the way between you and God, then no wonder you feel shame around pleasure or sex. This conditioning runs DEEP! 

What to do about it now: Begin to reframe your relationship with the guilt you experience around sex and pleasure. These are residual feelings from religion and there are ways you can handle them when they show up.