Impurity Culture

Impurity Culture: Masturbation Is Self-Care

Masturbation is a topic you might need to do a little extra work on defining your values around if you grew up in purity culture being told that it was a sin—and that’s especially true during the pandemic, when pleasurable touch from others is not always safe or accessible to us and self-care has become more important than ever as we try to process all the painful things happening in our world. Self-pleasure can be an extremely important aspect of self-care even during non-pandemic times, and right now that is especially true.

Impurity Culture: Pregnancy and Fear

If you grew up steeped in purity culture, it can be easy to see pregnancy as an automatic punishment for any sexual behavior. Here's how you can counteract those beliefs.

Impurity Culture: Learning to Support Reproductive Rights When Your Religion Doesn't

Hello. I’m glad you’re here. I first just want you to know that I see you. I see you showing up here and maybe elsewhere, trying to learn, being open to new information and being willing to change and to grow. Intelligence, Stephen Hawking famously reminded us, is the ability to adapt to change. You’re smart, you’re doing your best and I believe in you. I know what it’s like to go your whole life being told one thing is true only to find out that actually, it isn’t. That’s happened to me so many times, on so many different topics, I’ve lost count. I know what it’s like to feel angry and disillusioned. I felt angry and disillusioned, too, when I began to realize that what I had been told about abortion was a lie.

Impurity Culture: Surviving Virginity

Maybe you grew up in purity culture. Even if you didn’t, you’ve probably encountered and have to live with its ideas about virginity. I want to unpack some of those things, and consider what’s true and what isn’t.

Mythbusting The HPV Vaccine

I’m an HPV vaccine evangelist. Every opportunity I get, I stand on my metaphorical soap box and preach to everyone who will listen about why it’s so important to get vaccinated against HPV. But it wasn’t always like this.

I'm Catholic and I don't feel like having sex with my boyfriend is wrong.

Miss N
asks:
I'm a Catholic. I have had sex with my boyfriend and intend to keep doing so. The problem that arises here is my beliefs. I was supposed to have waited until marriage and now that I haven't the 'punishment' is that I'm not permitted to receive the Body of Christ during Mass because I have committed a grievous sin in Christian beliefs....