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Purity culture

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Purity culture was a movement in the 1990s within Christianity which emphasized sexual abstinence before marriage.

Prominent in American Christian communities in the 1990s, purity culture emphasizes modest dress for women, strict gender roles, and discouragement of dating and masturbation (of women more than men), tying sexual behavior closely to spiritual identity and communal belonging. Practices like purity balls, virginity pledges, and purity rings reinforce these ideals, often fostering unhealthy expectations, emotional harm, and vulnerability to abuse. Though it faded in popularity after the 2000s, its influence persists both in the U.S. and abroad.

Components

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Purity culture places a strong emphasis on abstinence from sexual intercourse before marriage.[1] Women and girls are told to cover up and dress modestly to avoid arousing sexual urges in men and boys. Purity culture also emphasizes traditional gender roles.[2] Dating is discouraged entirely to avoid premarital sex.[2] Masturbation is discouraged more strongly for women than for men.[3] Purity cultures establish comprehensive moral systems in which sexual behavior is closely tied to spiritual identity, gender roles, and communal belonging.[4] They can result in sexual violence that is characterized by the imposition of rigid and often unrealistic standards on individuals, often resulting in adverse physical, emotional and psychological consequences for those who do not conform to these expectations.[5]

Abstinence pledges

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Main article: Abstinence pledge

An abstinence pledge is when an adolescent promises not to have sex until marriage. This pledge is typically public. [6] Abstinence pledges are also sometimes referred to as "virginity pledges", as they are pledging to keep their virginity until marriage. It is believed the abstinence pledges decrease the risk of pre-marital pregnancy. However, it has been found that girls who pledge abstinence are at higher risk for human papillomavirus (HPV) and pre-marital pregnancies, as opposed to those who do not pledge. [7] Even though purity culture as a whole has faded in popularity, it still exists, just as abstinence pledges still exist. As recently as 2017, it was reported that approximately 12% of young women pledge abstinence in the United States alone. [7]

Purity balls

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Main article: Purity ball

A purity ball is a formal dance event. The events are attended by fathers and their teenage daughters in order to promote virginity until marriage. Typically, daughters who attend a purity ball make a virginity pledge to remain sexually abstinent until marriage. Fathers who attend a purity ball make a promise to protect their young daughters' "purity of mind, body, and soul." Proponents of these events believe that they encourage close and deeply affectionate relationships between fathers and daughters, thereby avoiding the premarital sexual activity that allegedly results when young women seek love through relationships with young men.[8] Critics of the balls argue that they encourage and engrave dysfunctional expectations in the minds of the young women, making them vulnerable to believing their only value is as property, and teaching them that they must subjugate their own mental, physical, and emotional needs to that of abusive partners.[9]

Purity rings

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Main article: Purity ring

Since the 1990s Christian organizations, especially Catholic and evangelical Christian groups, promoting virginity pledges and virginity before marriage, like True Love Waits and Silver Ring Thing, used the purity ring as a symbol of commitment to purity culture.[10][11][12][13]

History

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Purity culture had been a facet of Christian writing for a while but purity culture as a youth movement took hold in the 1990s.[3] A whole industry selling books, rings, and other products emerged around the movement.[2] Specifically, purity culture is heavily promoted by evangelical Christians. It has mostly been aimed towards white women. [14]

Some of the roots of purity culture are in sexism. Women are taught to cover up, as men cannot control their sexual desires and urges.[14] Some of the other roots are because of the breakdown in traditional family structure. With the AIDS crisis and teen pregnancy on the rise in the early 1990s, Evangelicals saw traditional family values as threatened. [15]

The first purity ball was held in 1998.[16]

Purity culture faded out of popularity after the end of the 2000s.[2]

Effects and legacy

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Purity culture is largely an American phenomenon although exported abroad by American religious and government groups. It has also influenced groups like Girl Defined.[2]

Some studies have shown that those who focused on abstinence when they were younger faced anxiety, guilt, and other sexual problems as they became adults. [17] Studies have shown that women who grew up in purity culture reported increased feelings of shame and fear around sex. [18]

Another way that purity culture can still be seen is in abstinence-only sex education. This form of education is heavily emphasized in purity culture. Many schools, including religious schools, teach abstinence-only sex education, or put a heavy emphasis on abstinence while teaching. [19]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Haberman, Clyde (April 12, 2021). "How an Abstinence Pledge in the '90s Shamed a Generation of Evangelicals". The New York Times. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e Thwaites, Chrissie (June 28, 2022). "The Impact of Christian Purity Culture Is Still Being Felt – Including in Britain". The Conversation. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  3. ^ a b Alea, Karen (September 20, 2022). "Women's Bodies Are Bearing the Brunt of Purity Culture". Jezebel. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  4. ^ Ott, Tabea (2025). "Purity cultures and the ideology of 'bodies as property' as form of sexual violence". Theology and Sexuality. 31 (1–3): 54–73. doi:10.1080/13558358.2025.2525613.
  5. ^ Ott, Tabea (2025). "Purity cultures and the ideology of 'bodies as property' as form of sexual violence". Theology and Sexuality. 31 (1–3): 54–73. doi:10.1080/13558358.2025.2525613.
  6. ^ Bearman, Peter S.; Brückner, Hannah (January 2001). "Promising the Future: Virginity Pledges and First Intercourse". American Journal of Sociology. 106 (4): 859–912. doi:10.1086/320295. ISSN 0002-9602.
  7. ^ a b Paik, Anthony; Sanchagrin, Kenneth J.; Heimer, Karen (April 1, 2016). "Broken Promises: Abstinence Pledging and Sexual and Reproductive Health". Journal of Marriage and the Family. 78 (2): 546–561. doi:10.1111/jomf.12279. ISSN 0022-2445. PMC 4806393. PMID 27019521.
  8. ^ Baumgardner, Jennifer (December 31, 2006). "Would You Pledge Your Virginity to Your Father?". Glamour. Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  9. ^ Oppenheimer, Mark (July 21, 2012). "'Purity Balls' Get Attention, but Might Not be All They Claim". The New York Times.
  10. ^ Bario, David (March 20, 2005). "Virginity pledge comes with a ring—and tarnish". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  11. ^ Fitzgerald, Kathleen J.; Grossman, Kandice L. (2017). Sociology of Sexualities. SAGE Publications. p. 166. ISBN 978-1-5063-0400-7.
  12. ^ Connolly, Ceci (March 19, 2005). "Teen Pledges Barely Cut STD Rates, Study Says". The Washington Post. p. A3. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  13. ^ Stephanie Rosenbloom (December 8, 2005). "A Ring That Says No, Not Yet". The New York Times. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  14. ^ a b Natarajan, Madison; Wilkins-Yel, Kerrie G.; Sista, Anushka; Anantharaman, Aashika; Seils, Natalie (September 1, 2022). "Decolonizing Purity Culture: Gendered Racism and White Idealization in Evangelical Christianity". Psychology of Women Quarterly. 46 (3): 316–336. doi:10.1177/03616843221091116. ISSN 0361-6843.
  15. ^ "The Felt Sense of Evangelical Purity Culture - ProQuest". www.proquest.com. Archived from the original on February 9, 2024. Retrieved December 15, 2025.
  16. ^ Gibbs, Nancy (July 17, 2008). "The Pursuit of Teen Purity". Time. Archived from the original on March 18, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  17. ^ Leroux, Audrey; Boislard, Marie-Aude (February 2023). "Exploration of Emerging Adult Virgins' Difficulties". Emerging Adulthood (Print). 11 (1): 121–132. doi:10.1177/21676968211064109. ISSN 2167-6968. PMC 9841819. PMID 36659902.
  18. ^ Coates, A G; Metcalfe, K; Ensign, A; Abdalla, S; Meston, C (April 25, 2025). "(053) Being Pure and Being Ashamed: The Role of Purity in Sexual Wellbeing". The Journal of Sexual Medicine. 22 (Supplement_1). doi:10.1093/jsxmed/qdaf068.049. ISSN 1743-6095.
  19. ^ Griffin, Kaelyn (August 15, 2025). An Examination of The Purity Culture Beliefs Scale and The Interaction of Religiosity, Purity Culture Beliefs, And Pornography Use in A Census-Matched United States Sample. UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones (Thesis). doi:10.34917/39385599.