For my final project, I decided to create three art pieces analyzing different harmful aspects of purity culture.
This installation includes a quote from Elizabeth Smart in her address at John Hopkins on anti-human trafficking. Elizabeth was abducted while in middle school and held captive for 9 months. At one point in her speech, Smart addresses a question she commonly hears: “Why didn’t you run? Why didn’t you scream?” To this point, she elaborates, “I had a teacher that was talking about, well, about abstinence and said, imagine you’re a stick of gum and when you engage in sex that’s like, that’s like getting chewed. And if you do that lots of times, you’re going to become an old piece of gum. And who’s going to want you after that?… I thought oh my gosh, I’m that chewed up piece of gum. No one rechews a piece of gum. You throw it away. And that’s how easily it is to feel like you no longer have worth, you no longer have value, why would it even be worth screaming out, why would it even make a difference if you are rescued, your life still has no value.”
Elizabeth Smart is a famous example of how purity culture can negatively impact survivors of sexual assault and abuse. A strong emphasis on sexual purity leads to judgement and shame that can be internalized, as seen in Smart’s situation. Advocates of purity do not inherently intend to hurt survivors, nor do they wish to imply that rape is a woman’s fault. Regardless, the depiction of purity as self worth places a level of shame on survivors of assault, because they’re now dirty.
Another aspect of purity culture is abstinence only sex education. This curriculum teaches sex education with the goal of waiting until marriage to have sexual relations. Students neglect to learn about contraceptives, safe sex practices, reproductive health, etc. because of the assumption that if they aren’t having sex then they don’t need to know about it. However, students are still having sex. In fact, studies have shown that there is no evidence that abstinence only education programs lead to less sex. Additionally, even more studies have found the more abstinence is emphasized in state laws and policies, the higher the average teenage pregnancy and birth rate of that state.
In this art piece above, the following quote is written: “Ladies, everything can be avoided if you’ll just keep your legs closed,” followed by, “When I’d had a surge of feelings about a boy, I heard the phrase, “Keep your legs closed.” And I thought of dirty Scotch tape.” This piece includes quotes from Becca Andrews, an author at Mother Jones who writes about her experience growing up in a strongly religious community that emphasized purity culture. The first quotation comes from a teacher Andrews had in 9th grade. Andrews continues on to discuss how abstinence only education hurt her and those around her. She claims that education led her to feel disgusted with her body. She also struggled with intimacy and relationships as an adult. Other classmates also speak to their experience and one talks about the complete lack of LGBTQ representation within these education programs. Furthermore, the responsibility to prevent sex or pregnancy is placed entirely on the woman, which reinforces harmful patriarchal ideas. Overall, abstinence only education is disregarded by the medical community, creates harmful expectations of women, and just does not prevent sex.
For the final art piece, broken rose petals grow from a crown of thorns and written on each petal is a Bible verse. The bible verses are as follows: Romans 13:13: 1st Corinthians 6:18: Proverbs 5:3: Galatians 5:19: Ephesians 5:3: Proverbs 6:23: Proverbs 23:27: 1st Timothy 5:2: and Thessalonians 4:3. The actual verses will be listed below. All of these verses discuss sex before marriage, purity, or the depiction of women in regards to promiscuity. While these verses are context sensitive and when properly analyzed might not mean what they imply, these verses have been used to promote purity culture within Evangelicals denominations. Verses in the Bible depicting promiscuity or unclean partners primarily single out women. Proverbs in particular describes the type of woman a man should avoid and the virtues a woman should strive towards.
Crushed rose petals: chewed gum: dirty tape: a cup full of spit: sticky, melted chocolate: All of these are common analogies used to teach purity culture. All with the common theme that once you have sex outside of marriage, your worth and desirability is diminished. Further, purity culture goes beyond just sex and instills in women the need to look and act pure. Their clothes, appearance, behavior, etc. must be tailored specifically not to arouse or entice men. This puts women on trial for the actions of men. Additionally, teaching abstinence only curriculum within schools further ingrains this sexist ideology into impressionable individuals. Since states with abstinence only programs do not teach actual sexual education, those states also have higher teen pregnancy. Finally, the intimate tie between purity culture and self worth also harms survivors of sexual assault. While they had no choice, they nonetheless feel as though they have been chewed. And remember, “no one rechews a piece of gum. You throw it away.”
Bible Verses
“Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.” – Romans 13:13
“No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Or don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” -1 Corinthians 6:18-20
“The lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil. But the result is as bitter as poison, sharp as a double-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave.” Proverbs 5:3-5
“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality.” – Galatians 5:19
“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.” – Ephesians 5:3
“For their command is a lamp and their instruction a light; their corrective discipline is the way to life. It will keep you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of a promiscuous woman. Don’t lust for her beauty. Don’t let her coy glances seduce you. For a prostitute will bring you to poverty, but sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life.” – Proverbs 6:23-26
“A prostitute is a dangerous trap; a promiscuous woman is as dangerous as falling into a narrow well. She hides and waits like a robber, eager to make more men unfaithful.” – Proverbs 23:27-28
“(treat) Older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.” – 1st Timothy 5:2
“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;” – Thessalonians 4:3
Bibliography
“Abstinence-Only Education Is a Failure.” Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, August 22, 2017. https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news/abstinence-only-education-failure.
Andrews, Becca. “As a Girl, I Went through Abstinence Ed. as a Woman, I’m Trying to Understand the Damage Done.” Mother Jones, March 7, 2016. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/03/abstinence-education-tennessee-sex-ed-virginity-pledge/.
Capatides, Christina. “A Cup Full of Spit, a Chewed up Piece of Gum. These Are the Metaphors Used to Teach Kids about Sex.” CBS News. CBS Interactive, April 29, 2019. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-cup-full-of-spit-a-chewed-up-piece-of-gum-these-are-the-metaphors-used-to-teach-kids-about-sex/.
Filipovic, Jill. “’Purity’ Culture: Bad for Women, Worse for Survivors of Sexual Assault | Jill Filipovic.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, May 9, 2013. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/09/elizabeth-smart-purity-culture-shames-survivors-sexual-assault.
Owens, Bretlyn C., M. Elizabeth Lewis Hall, and Tamara L. Anderson. “The Relationship between Purity Culture and Rape Myth Acceptance.” Journal of Psychology and Theology, (November 2020). https://doi.org/10.1177/0091647120974992.
Rosowski, David, ed. “Elizabeth Smart Visits Johns Hopkins – YouTube.” Youtube, May 30, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzBVzBf-Dn4.
Stanger-Hall, Kathrin F, and David W Hall. “Abstinence-only education and teen pregnancy rates: why we need comprehensive sex education in the U.S.” PloS one vol. 6,10 (2011): e24658. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024658
Tara Culp-Ressler. “5 Offensive Analogies Abstinence-Only Lessons Use to Tell Teens Sex Makes Them Dirty.” ThinkProgress, April 7, 2014. https://archive.thinkprogress.org/5-offensive-analogies-abstinence-only-lessons-use-to-tell-teens-sex-makes-them-dirty-a3cd41cfa9e0/.
Taylor, John. The Bible. Rutland , Vermont: Printed by Fay & Davison, 1978.
Welcher, Rachel Joy. “What Comes after the Purity Culture Reckoning.” ChristianityToday.com. Christianity Today, October 14, 2021. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/october-web-only/purity-culture-reckoning-rules-sex-spiritual-formation.html.
Such a creative project! I love your pieces — they do a great job of exemplifying abstinence teaching and how it is harmful. I also really like the additional analysis you included through the biblical verses and including information on the ineffectiveness of abstinence teaching.
Incredible ! Just beautiful and so powerful. I really love how creative you were with this project. I enjoyed that you made this into a show-and-tell, and honestly, I learnt so much and was so curious about it because of this aspect. I also was moved by the last one– the crown of thorns– especially as it can be (and should be) juxtaposed with the Passion of Christ who also has been shrouded with purity. –ars
This project was extremely creative and represented purity culture so well. I think my favorite one was the gum piece since it spoke about the connection between purity culture and sexual assault. It is such an important topic to talk about and your art pieces were a perfect outlet! Amazing:)
I think the focus of your project was very unique because I think it’s important that we recognize that even the smaller comments which are rooted un purity culture reflect a much larger way of thinking and how damaging they can be. The art pieces you created I think made for a much more striking project. Great job!
Woah! I really appreciate how well you were able to represent purity culture through art, especially through the kind of art that no one really thinks about (just another level of symbolism I suppose). This was such a unique demonstration of how harmful purity culture is, and I think it does a good job of grabbing readers’ attention in a new way to get them to pay attention to a message that’s becoming more and more common.
I think your project really stood out in terms of creativity for sure! The messages used were simple but powerful in terms of gaining awareness on the toxicity within purity culture. Not only is it prevalent within religious bounds, but also secular ones as well and I feel like your pieces will reach a wide audience. This topic is a serious one to cover, but you did it in a very powerful and moving way.
Fascinating project! I really love the creativity you employed, It definitely helped me understand the disgusting culture that purity culture breeds and how horrific these simple tools like gum or used tape can be for girls’ conceptions about their own bodies. Great job!
I thought your art pieces were really inspired and creative. I heard the interview segment you discussed about the woman who was raped and talked about being compared to a stick of gum on an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver during his episode on sex-ed, and it broke my heart that she and others like her are brought up thinking that their worth as a human being is defined by their sexuality. Thank you for bringing these issues to light in a creative way, and I really hope you continue with art!
Using art to represent the metaphors often used to teach young women about sex and purity is such an effective way of showing just how screwed up these messages are. These metaphors are basically reducing women to sexual objects and comparing them to something like used gum is so demeaning. These ideas can be especially damaging for survivors of SA and I’m so glad you brought this into the conversation.
I know you said in class that you didn’t think your were very artistic, but I thought this project was absolutely amazing! I found your used tape condom to be so impactful, and holding it in my hands in class really just drove home how awful it is to insinuate that a human being could ever be akin to used tape. You did a really great job with invoking an emotional response
This was such an empowering project of reclaiming these metaphors. Loved the visual representations. Extremely creative and well researched. The passion you portrayed when presenting was also very admirable.
This was so creative and powerful! I loved all three art pieces! I think you did a great job of picking the right medium to symbolize all that purity culture conveys. I especially really loved the chewed gum analogy. Honestly, it holds such a strong and clear message comparing girls to something as dirty and disposable as chewed gum. It reminded me of an analogy often used in Muslim societies to shame women who don’t cover up through hijab by comparing veiled and unveiled women to wrapped and unwrapped candy. Your message was similarly powerful highlighting the victim blaming and shaming that comes from purity culture.
This project was so cool and creative! I loved your artistry I found it to be very impactful and memorable. Your project is very powerful and I think that your discussion of purity culture was unique and wonderful – since you noted that purity culture was a hot topic for this class. 🙂
My favorite part of your presentation was the art, especially the one with the thorn crown and petals. You brought great ideas on purity culture and I appreciate the bible verses that you used to support your writing. Very eye-opening, I loved it.
This project was so creative and such a powerful statement. It was amazing how you were able to visualize the harm that purity culture metaphors cause by using the metaphors themselves. The one that I found most powerful would have to be the used tape piece. Fantastic job!