That Time Mary Pride Put the Modesty Survey on Blast

Oh snap.

Lies Purity Culture Taught Me: Sam’s Story

However, purity culture has a number of almost “secular” reasons to exist. One of these is that if you remain pure before marriage, you won’t experience pain and heartbreak. (Because apparently, you can only have your heart broken if you’ve had sex with a person.)

When “Respect” Involves “Disgust”

“Growing up in a conservative evangelical home, I believed that we were the ones who truly respected women. I believed that our young men—the young men in my homeschooling community—were being raised to treat the women around them, of whatever age, with respect. I was wrong, very, very wrong.”

Our Bodies, Our Selves: The Other Other Side of Modesty

“A healthy acceptance of our bodies is so desperately needed. Our bodies are our selves, in such a fundamental and core way.”

Enough Already with the Modesty and Purity Hype

“As a homeschooling mom of 20+ years, I fell into the modesty/purity hype and created all sorts of rules for my kids…When I stopped obsessing about my boys walking past Victoria’s Secret at the mall and turning the television channel when we saw a young lady wearing a bikini on television, amazingly, my children stopped obsessing.”

The Big Swimsuit Question: A Roundup of Posts and Thoughts

“Here’s a big secret: women can be visual, too. I’m more visually oriented than Luke. And there are a lot of guys objectively more attractive (and by that I mean, with really ripped abs) than him. It’s okay. I still find him breathtakingly handsome and I love him more than anybody.”

Ashamed Of My Own Skin: Lily

“When I confided in a male friend about my self-injury, my parents immediately found out thanks to heavily monitored spyware on my computer…But my parents saw my issues as rebellion against their authority that should be broken.”

Why The Rebelution’s Modesty Survey Was A Bad Idea: Shaney Irene’s Story

On Valentine’s Day 2007, The Rebelution unveiled the Modesty Survey. Girls submitted questions, and guys responded. As a moderator of the Rebelution forum, I was really excited about the project. Six years later, if you ask me what I think of the Survey, I’ll tell you I wish the project didn’t exist.”