Purity culture

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Purity culture refers to the ways societies idolize virginity, or other so-called forms of "sexual purity". It is often based on the false notion that sexuality is "unclean" and "contaminates" the body and mind, and therefore, it should be heavily restricted.^[1]

This is distinct from humanist sexual ethics, which emphasizes respect for bodily autonomy, respect for other people’s consensual choices, sexual ethics rooted in ethics, consent, understanding how sexism and other marginalization affects sexual consent and choice, evidence-based thinking, and respecting and valuing pleasure.^[2]

Purity culture is expressed in many forms, both religious and secular. In religious contexts, it may be expressed as prohibitions against sexual activity and/or thoughts, known as celibacy. In secular contexts, it may be expressed in the form of slut-shaming or cuckold-shaming.

Purity culture has existed since antiquity^[3] in many forms. In this article, we will be covering the many ways purity culture has severely harmed humanity throughout millennia, and continues to do so to this day, and how the reduction of it in modern times has been beneficial to societal progress.^[4][5]

Historical idolization of virginity[edit]

In many societies, virgin women have been fetishized by men,^[6] as they falsely thought that virgins were more "pure" than non-virgins. Upon marriage, men felt like they had an exclusive right to a particular woman, as they arrogantly viewed women as property, and the idea of a woman having had sex with another man even before they got together would make the man furious, even if the sexual encounter was rape. In fact, if a woman got raped before her wedding, the husband would want her dead, because he valued her virginity over her life.^[7]

There is the common myth that an intact hymen is a sign of virginity. However, it is possible for one's hymen to rip before even having sex for the first time, e.g., by doing sports.^[8] It is also entirely possible for one to have sex, and still have the hymen unbroken afterwards.^[9] The hymen also has no true medical or physiological purpose, and it is merely a remnant tissue left over from embryonic development,^[10] not the "magical flower" that proponents of purity culture make it out to be.

Unfortunately, this was not known to many ancient civilizations, and many women were murdered if their vagina did not bleed after having sex, as seen in the Old Testament.^[11] Although the real atrocity is the fact that these chauvinist men valued a woman's hymen or her "purity" over her life,^{[citation NOT needed]} regardless of whether or not she was "guilty" of committing these so-called "crimes".

Slut-shaming and victim-blaming[edit]

Because of this bizarre obsession with female virginity men have had throughout the ages, slut-shaming has become a thing across many societies. Unfortunately, this slut-shaming has led to a lot of victim-blaming, blaming rape victims if they get raped. This is why purity culture and rape culture are inherently connected.^[12]

Cuckold-shaming[edit]

Although purity culture often involves sexism against women, men are also often shamed in purity culture, being called "cuckolds" if they do not try to "defend their honor" by making sure their partners "remain pure".^[13] Cuckold shaming is a part of purity culture in a sense that it is often used as the "justification" for purity culture to exist. Because obviously EVERY man is conceited enough to get offended if he finds out partner was with someone else BEFORE him. It quite possibly may even be the foundation of purity culture, as if men are ashamed to inadvertently raise the child of another man, it will encourage men to pressure women to remain "sexually pure" so that they won't be paranoid about whether their child is theirs or not.^[14] On the other side of the coin, children who are the offspring of another man have been historically referred to pejoratively as "bastards", so the term could also be considered a form of cuckold shaming.

Cuckold shaming is quite popular among the alt-right, and "cuck" is often used as an insult by members of the alt-right.^[15]

Historical discrimination against menstruating women[edit]

As chauvinist men who promote purity culture falsely view the vagina as a "clean, delicate flower", they get a bit disillusioned when it is proven otherwise, and that the vagina is a bodily organ like any other. Despite it being none of their business, many men throughout history have acted squeamish around menstruation, going as far as to oppress women who were menstruating,^[16] calling them "unclean" or "untouchable", or in some cases, even imprisoning them in "menstrual huts",^[17] leaving them isolated, often without attending to their needs, sometimes even leaving them to die.^[18] All because they thought women's periods were icky.

Historical opposition to premarital sex[edit]

In some societies, sex is not permitted outside of married couples, especially in societies with no concept of dating before marriage. In such societies, weddings are often arranged, and two families essentially force a woman and man to get married, and to never have sex with anyone else, to maintain a so-called "purity".

In reality, this may have not been for issues of a made-up "purity" in all cases, but rather to prevent love children (read: protecting men from the anxiety of not being sure whether or not they had actually fathered children).^[19]

However, it is still disingenuous of such societies to hide the real reason for these norms, disguising it under the veil of "purity" or "sanctity". And of course, it is rather cruel and selfish to hurt other people for not being "perfect" in your eyes. But such disingenuousness and cruelty is par for the course in theocratic societies.

With the rise of birth control, the risk of having an unexpected pregnancy is not as much of a problem as it used to be. However, as religious fundamentalists are not a fan of changing up the rules, as they think they are unchangeable, they often try to outlaw birth control to prevent people from having safe sex out of marriage.

Historical opposition to birth control[edit]

Pulling out has been discouraged by some people since antiquity, such as early Christians and Jews, who called it "Onanism". Many misinterpreted the "crime" Onan did as masturbation, when really he got in trouble for not providing an heir for his brother.^[20]

Modern opposition of birth control includes the opposition of religious fundamentalists to proper sex education, condoms, and medically induced abortions,^[21] even in cases of rape or incest.^[22]

Historical opposition of masturbation[edit]

Although discouragement of extramarital sex may be somewhat reasonable in a few cases (at least when you are being honest and pragmatic about it and not making up religious excuses of "purity" to oppose it), as it may prevent unexpected pregnancies when birth control is absent, and may slow the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STIs), masturbation does not have such risks warranting such a prohibition; you won't get any STIs or unwanted children from rubbing one out by yourself. However, purity culture is not a matter of utilitarianism; so many proponents of purity cultures take a step beyond prohibiting premarital sex and prohibit even masturbation. In the past, this may have been because of the myth that ejaculation was dangerous for men, possibly in part because of the humor theory of medicine. Some people believed that semen retention could improve "humoral balance".^[23] This goes to show the historical context in which the semen retention myth came to be.

The myth of ejaculation as unhealthy[edit]

Pythagoras believed that ejaculation was harmful to male health, claiming that it was dangerous and spiritually exhausting. This idea may have been merged with Zoroastrian ideas of good and evil in a philosophy known as Gnosticism, which influenced Christian and Islamic attitudes to sexual activity.

Up until the 20^th century, people continued to believe that ejaculation was unhealthy. Many people believed that semen retention would lead to increased health, vitality, and intellectual prowess. People thought that masturbation led to bedwetting and hair growing on one's palms. Needless to say, this is bogus, as there are no hair follicles on the palms.

In modern times, ejaculation has been shown to have no detrimental health effects.^[24] In fact, frequent ejaculation is associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer.^[25] However, many pseudoscientific organizations such as NoFap continue to spread the now-disproven claim that ejaculation is unhealthy and/or dangerous.

Opposition to pornography[edit]

Many religious fundamentalists have voiced their opposition to pornography, and have made dubious claims of "pornography addiction", which are often exaggerated, as they may consider ANY amount of pornography viewership to be an "addiction".^[26]

In fact, they even got serial killer Ted Bundy to pin the blame for his atrocities on pornography instead of taking responsibility for his actions. This is despite the fact that he had antisocial personality disorder to begin with.^[27]

Although many people falsely believe that pornography consumption makes people more sexually aggressive, some research suggests that exposure to pornography might make some people less likely to commit sexual crimes.^[28]

Historical opposition to even thinking about sex[edit]

As unbelievable as may be, some people throughout have taken things a step further and claimed that all thoughts pertaining to sexuality are evil.

In the New Testament, Jesus implies that even looking at somebody and finding them sexually attractive is "sinful",^[29] despite the fact that the majority of the population is not asexual, and it's normal for allosexual people to notice people that they find sexually attractive.^[30] Many Christian sects throughout history have demanded that followers not even think or fantasize about sex if they are not married, as they refer to this as "lust", despite the fact that most of the time, these fantasies may not imply the actual desire to have sex, especially considering the existence of aegosexuality, orchidsexuality, and miransexuality, all of which involve enjoying fantasizing about sex without having a desire to have sex, rendering the Christian notion of "lust" incoherent.

Not to mention that none of these thoughts actually cause any harm to anybody. However, this is likely lost on people extreme enough to even consider the notion of thoughtcrimes in the first place, especially since most religious fundamentalists don't care if something harms someone or not, as they tend to reject utilitarianism.

Purity culture in the context of horseshoe theory[edit]

Although most advocates for purity culture are right-wing, there are a few left-wing individuals who have supported some aspects of purity culture, mainly relating to heterosexual sex and pornography.

Some sex-negative radical feminist individuals have, in the past, worked closely with religious conservatives on some sexual matters, despite their otherwise fervent hatred of each other. The two seem to get along in the matter of wanting pornography to be banned. Margaret Atwood's feminist dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale even presented sex-negative radical feminists as having helped to pave the way for the theocratic Republic of Gilead through colluding with Christian fundamentalists on such issues.

Some sex-negative feminists may share a belief in some misconceptions about sex that NoFap has, such as ideas of "porn addiction".

However, valid criticism of the abuses that occur in the porn industry do not constitute sex-negativity. Some sex-positive feminists, while not opposing porn, find the industry practices of the porn industry unethical and advocate for more ethical production of porn, such as fair wages for actors and consensual participation. They also advocate for better porn literacy, as some viewers of porn may have a hard time distinguishing between fiction and reality.

This is distinct from the sex-negative feminist position which views any media (even things as softcore as bikini pictures or muscular men) intended to arouse the viewer as inherently patriarchal and shameful.

See also[edit]

• Abstinence programs
• Appeal to shame
• Celibacy
• Chastity belt
• "Honour" killings
• Madonna-whore complex
• Mahatma Gandhi, an excellent example for why purity rituals should NOT be practiced
• NoFap
• Premarital sex
• "Pornography addiction"
• Rape culture
• Sex woo
• Sex-negative feminism
• Slut-shaming

Want to read this in another language?[edit]

Si vous voulez cet article en français, il peut être trouvé à Culture de pureté.

Cultura de pureza es la versión en español de este artículo.

External links[edit]

• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe on TV Tropes — the issue of uncertainty of paternity probably explains a lot of instances of men keeping women on tight leashes, especially in cultures that place a obsessive emphasis on genealogy. However, this does not excuse the profound societal harm and the countless atrocities that have been committed in the name of maintaining such leashes.
• Purity Culture and Its Effect on Mental Health
• How Purity Culture Harms Mental & Sexual Health
• How purity culture leads to sexual abuse
• Breaking up with purity culture
• How Does Purity Culture Trauma Impact Sexuality?
• The Dangers of Purity Culture on Girls and Women.
• Women’s Bodies Are Bearing the Brunt of Purity Culture
• 'Purity' culture: bad for women, worse for survivors of sexual assault
• 3 Ways Purity Culture Harms Men
• How Purity Culture Messed Up Most of the Men I Know
• The dangers of purity culture
• How growing up in purity culture impacts sex
• No such thing as virginity, author says
• Virginity Is a Myth. And it hurts women the most.
• Promoting a toxic modesty culture does a disservice to Muslim women
• Thought Crimes and Christianity
• Christian Thoughtcrime
• SAB Deuteronomy 22

References[edit]