Trigger Warning- Purity Culture: Perpetuating Rape Culture in America

I want to start by saying that this topic is very sensitive, and if you feel it might negatively impact you or your mental health, please consider checking out a different post of mine!

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You've probably heard of purity culture, and probably know a good deal about it. It's a popular topic on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, and has been a topic seen more and more lately as we move into 2022.

Not only is it a popular topic on social media, but it's also becoming a popular topic among women's rights activist, ex-mormons, and others who have faced the negative consequences of purity culture.

Okay, just in case this is a new subject for you or you just want to know more, what is purity culture?

Purity culture is the idea that men and women have to fulfill certain gender roles and act certain ways. Men are taught to be masculine, tough, and to provide, and women are taught that they should help with the household, the kids, and ultimately are in charge of mens' decisions and responsible for their actions.

This idea of purity mainly pertains to women over men. Many churches teach women to cover their bodies for the sake of men and their behavior. It teaches women that they should cover themselves conservatively to protect men from having sexual desires or lustful thoughts. Women are considered "stumbling blocks" for men by many in conservative churches.

Many churches also offer purity classes or chastity classes where young women learn about how to be pure and keep men's thoughts at bay. Often these young women are also given a purity ring or are made to sign a purity covenant.

The crazy thing is that purity culture not only stems from evangelical organizations, but is also often seen in public school systems who are government funded, and therefore should be unaffiliated with religious beliefs. Many junior high and high school health classes only teach abstinence and often use demonstrations to outline why abstinence is the only way to do things.

Looking back at my high school health class, I remember having a guest speaker come into class to teach us about abstinence. They started by holding up a toothbrush and telling us to imagine brushing our teeth. Then, the guest speaker handed the toothbrush to someone else, and told us to imagine using that same toothbrush that came from someone else to brush our own teeth. Obviously the class disgustedly talked about how we would never use someone else's toothbrush. Then, the guest speaker told us that that's how sleeping with multiple people is, and that you become dirty and gross like that toothbrush.

I also recently watched a video where a woman gave her testimonial about what was taught in her public school, where a student was asked to put a piece of tape on their arm and rip it off for every time they theoretically had sex until the tape wouldn't stick anymore.

This idea that having sex with multiple partners makes you somehow subhuman perpetuates purity culture by making men and women feel guilty about their actions, but this idea more specifically focuses on women who are often considered "sluts" for partaking in sexual activities while men are praised by peers.

Purity culture and its teachings like this, specifically impact survivors of sexual assault and abuse, by making them feel guilty for something that they had no choice in. Not only does this make these survivors feel guilty for what's happened to them, but it also makes them feel like less of a woman and less of a human.

This purity culture also guilts these survivors even more by saying that the outfits they wore, the way they walked, or the amount they drank gave the offender the permission to do what they did, and this guilt often makes reporting rape or other types of assault difficult for women.

It's not always that the woman who was assaulted has a hard time telling someone about it, but it's often that the person they tell who doesn't believe them or believes that one of the fore-mention factors influenced what happened. Ultimately, the person getting this report, says that the victim chose to be assaulted based on their clothing or their past history.

The truth is, purity culture turns the victims into the perpetrators, and makes good people feel second grade. It's a form abuse in the highest, and perpetuates rape culture in America, as well as makes countless women and men feel guilty for actions that they shouldn't have to feel guilty for.