For many, the Christian Evangelical church is a place of love, hope, and healing but for others, it is a place of hurt, judgment, and feelings of inferiority. Growing up in any religious household can be a trying, and often traumatizing experience. For anyone, the pressure to conform to and follow religious rules and codes […]
Purity Culture v.s. Hook-Up Culture and its Effects on Women in the United States
Attached below is my presentation on the complexities of purity culture, specifically in the Evangelical church, and how this culture influences hook-up culture in the United States (specifically in relation to women). Both of these cultures are incredibly harmful to women. While they perpetuate very different standards for women in the U.S. they are both […]
Metaphorical Purity
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 […]
The Intersection of Purity Culture and the #MeToo Movement: PowerPoint & Poetry
(Content Warning: The topics covered in this project concern sensitive topics such as sexual assault and abuse.) PowerPoint: Personal Poetry: Recognizing My Victimization You told me that I was the perpetrator That my actions caused the assault When all I did was just be myself But somehow it’s all my fault – I lie alone […]
Sexuality and the AAPI Community: What Is It?
“Asian men are not attractive” “Arranged marriage is the only option” “Asian women are docile and vulnerable” Many stereotypes fall under the category of what it means to be Asian American in today’s society. Race plays a large role dealing with the stigmas around sexuality and gender, especially amongst the younger generation. For years the […]
Women, Religion, and the Mystery of the Vulva
Why is female genitalia such a taboo for religious women when it’s their own body? Inspired by Guardian’s “The Great Wall of Vulvas” project and curious about how it relates to religion, I decided to ask 90 young women at the University of Rochester campus to draw how a vulva looks like1. These women range […]