Monday, April 28, 2014

Christian Purity Culture Reaches Out to an Even Younger Audience

Christian purity culture is performing outreach to increasingly younger audiences. One example of this trend is the Pure in Heart conference, which promotes Christian purity to girls ages 7-12. The conference invites mothers to bond with their daughters, guide them to God, and encourage them to embrace purity. Pure in Heart will be hosting events in Frederick, MD and Cincinnati, OH in 2014.

Conference speakers include Susan Henson (co-author of purity-themed children's books such as Life Lessons from the Princess and the Kiss and Life Lessons from the Squire and the Scroll) Melanie Bogner (who has worked with the Children’s Institute in Basic Life Principles, a Bill Gothard ministry), and Marlae Gritter (executive vice president of Moms In Prayer International, a mother's ministry which places high value on sexual purity and "biblical womanhood").




"I believe Satan feeds us a lie that if we weren't pure, we cannot pass on that legacy of purity to our children, and that is exactly what it is. It's a lie." -- Maryann Loveing, Life Action Ministries

"Haley's Story" one of the conference promotional videos, presents modern girlhood as an ominous time. Things such as bad language, peer pressure, and "boy-crazy girls [and] the way they dress" make it difficult to cultivate purity, the narrator argues.




"Do you have any idea how hard it is being my age these days? It's like a video game, except you're the one getting shot at. We're seeing all this stuff and we don't even know it. It's the peer pressure, the bad language. Like, why can't they just say 'crackerjack'? It's the boy-crazy girls, the way they dress, and you should hear the things that the guys are saying. It's just really hard to have a pure heart these days. Oh, and FYI, I used to think this all started in about the fifth grade. No. Uh-uhn. Not anymore. Try the second grade."

As much as I support parents bonding with children and girls rejecting toxic messages from society, I wonder how closely this event will conform to other Christian purity messages. As purity culture performs outreach to girls through purity balls, pro-abstinence events such as Silver Ring Thing, and gatherings such as Pure in Heart, we need to consider the impact this will have on children.

9 comments:

  1. The Mormons are doing this now too. Recently a picture in their children's magazine was doctored to add sleeves to preschooler's sundress. Also, girls are now expected to attend the general women's meetings with their moms - gatherings that usually focus on a woman's "place."

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    1. Donna -- That's unsettling on so many levels. The patriarchal messages (and sheer boredome) aren't good for children.

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  2. I'm a teacher at an inner-city school. I swear that CP/VF/QF whatever combinations spend more time obsessing about sexual activity than the 'corrupted' public school children I see every day.

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    1. NatureLover -- Well, nuance and real-world issues were never the strong suits of the Christian purity movement, unfortunately.

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    2. Very well said, this is what strikes me about this message as well.

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  3. From my perspective some of these messages border on child abuse. They are, at their core, disempowering. Parents have good intentions but they're misguided. Ultimately, the message to these young girls is that God owns their bodies; and if sex doesn't happen within His specified parameters it's sinful and and they are dirty.

    These so-called "purity" messages are just another way to objectify women. That even younger girls are being targeted with this kind of indoctrination is terrible. Couple this trend with the explosion of abstinence-only sex education and the results are disastrous: girls who are uninformed and disempowered.

    Much healthier to teach young girls to be assertive, to respect themselves, and cultivate healthy attitudes about sex and their own bodies.

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    1. Agi Tater -- From what I've seen of the Christian purity movement, I have to agree. It's vital that young people receive age-appropriate information and messages that empower them.

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  4. This is really bizarre. I wonder if these parents realize that by exposing their kids to all of this could also be a trigger for them to try sex etc. at an earlier stage than they normally would.

    To elaborate, I am all for sex education that is done responsibly, but knowing these programs all they are teaching is irresponsible behaver. If anything we will soon be seeing more teen pregnancies thanks to this rubbish.

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    1. Christian -- The Pure In Heart website states that these conferences do not discuss sex per se. However, I worry that they might be priming girls for those unhealthy messages later on, or giving them unrealistic ideas about love and relationships.

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