White wedding shoes with the words Pure and Precious written on the inside

Virginity, honour and violence

Depending on who you talk to, “purity” is either a wonderful word to describe a high concept, or a toxic word used to oppress people (most often women).

For myself, I believe that purity is a good thing, but that ‘purity culture’ is a form of gender based violence. My ideas are summarised in the purity section (statements #81-90) in my 95 statements on hope, sexuality and consent.

Meanwhile, I see toxic purity culture underpinning practices such as child marriage, rape, FGM and ‘honour’ based abuse. Posts on this page focus on these topics and they are all categorised as moonlight content.


About those scary laws in Deuteronomy 22:13-29

In case you forgot, this passage has six laws:

  1. Verses 13-19 are about a bridegroom slandering his bride, saying she wasn’t a virgin
  2. Verses 20-21 are about a newlywed daughter being stoned to death by her parents
  3. Verse 22 is about a man and a married woman caught in adultery
  4. Verses 23-24 are about a man and a betrothed virgin having sex in a city
  5. Verses 25-27 are about a man raping a betrothed virgin in the countryside
  6. Verses 28-29 are about a man having sex with an unbetrothed virgin

Other posts related to purity culture

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