Modest it hottest : deconstructing female sexuality in evangelical communities

Abstract

This research thesis examines the surveillance of female bodies in religious landscapes and its impact on women's sexual experiences and well-being. The project focuses on the 1990s early 2000s evangelical purity movement, which is rooted in white, heteronormative forms of sexuality and traditional gender roles, and its effects on women raised within this ideological environment. The movement’s emphasis on premarital sexual abstinence and restrictive forms of sexual expression position women as gatekeepers to male sexuality and place moral imperatives on women’s dress and behaviour. Through engagement with tenets of feminist theology and critical whiteness theory, I explore how gender and race are situated within evangelical purity ideology, and the ways in which the participants’ narratives are reflective of these tenets. Research methods include conducting small-scale focus groups, which acted as a safe space for personal narrative sharing and fostered a consciousness-raising dynamic in which participants deconstructed their experiences of purity culture.