A recent study published in The Journal of Sex Research suggests that exposure to strict religious sexual teachings can increase feelings of sexual shame, particularly for people who have survived sexual violence. The findings indicate that both childhood exposure to and adult acceptance of purity culture messages uniquely contribute to how individuals view themselves sexually after a nonconsensual experience. This research highlights the deep impact that specific religious scripts can have on psychological recovery and sexual well-being.
Scientists Anna Grace C. Coates, a clinical psychology doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin, and Cindy M. Meston conducted the new study to better understand how religious messaging influences recovery from sexual trauma. Sexual shame is a well-documented outcome of nonconsensual sexual experiences. It is defined as a deep sense of inadequacy regarding one’s sexual identity, desires, and experiences.
Prior research indicates that feelings of sexual inferiority can severely impact a person’s future sexual health and overall psychological well-being. However, the specific role of religious environments in shaping these feelings remains relatively underexplored. Most previous studies only measured broad religious affiliation or focused exclusively on physical pain during intercourse.
The authors specifically focused on purity culture, a distinct and widespread movement within Evangelical Christianity. “Religion and sex are strange bedfellows, it seems, and I’ve always been interested in their integration,” Coates said. “Sexual shame can be a product of that coupling that I find particularly interesting, and purity culture, a set of sexual ethics, norms, and ideals in Evangelical Christianity, has sexual shame baked into it.”
Coates noted that she had only seen purity culture discussed anecdotally in podcasts, memoirs, and blogs. She wanted to examine it from an empirical perspective. Purity culture promotes strict sexual ethics that frame sex exclusively as a sacred act meant for a heterosexual marriage.
The movement heavily emphasizes abstinence before marriage through purity pledges and symbolically laden rings. It also tends to place the responsibility of preventing sexual behavior entirely onto women. These teachings often carry harsh social and spiritual consequences for any deviations.
To explore these questions, the scientists recruited 301 adults using an anonymous online research platform. Participants were compensated for their time and completed a series of online surveys. The researchers intentionally recruited individuals from the Southeastern United States because of its historically high prevalence of Evangelical Christianity and purity culture messaging.
Participants ranged in age from 19 to 79, with an average age of about 38. The sample was predominantly cisgender, white, heterosexual, and female. To participate, individuals had to be currently in a romantic relationship of at least three months, be sexually active, and be fluent in English.
The participants were divided into three nearly equal groups based on their history of sexual violence. One group consisted of 100 individuals who survived childhood sexual abuse. Another group included 101 adults who experienced nonconsensual sexual experiences in adulthood. The final group of 100 participants served as a control group with no history of nonconsensual sexual experiences.
The researchers used several detailed questionnaires to gather information. They utilized an inventory to thoroughly document the participants’ history of unwanted sexual experiences across their lifespans. To measure feelings of inadequacy, participants completed an assessment that gauged internalized shame, relational shame, and general sexual inferiority.
Finally, the authors used a specialized scale to measure purity culture beliefs. This tool assessed both how much purity culture messaging the participants heard during their childhood and how much they currently agreed with those beliefs as adults.
Data analysis involved advanced statistical modeling to account for potential nonlinear relationships between the variables. As expected, the authors found that survivors of both childhood sexual abuse and adult nonconsensual experiences reported significantly higher levels of sexual shame than the control group. Interestingly, the level of sexual shame did not significantly differ between the two survivor groups.
“Purity culture can amplify sexual shame, whether you grew up hearing it or even if you believe it now,” Coates told PsyPost. “This is especially true for survivors of sexual trauma who may feel torn between their lived experience and the standard set by their sexual ethic.”
For men, childhood exposure to purity culture independently predicted higher levels of sexual shame. This effect remained significant even after accounting for the trauma of the nonconsensual experiences. For women, the relationship between childhood exposure and sexual shame was present but slightly less pronounced.
“I was surprised by how purity culture impacted the men in this sample in comparison to the women,” Coates said. “The majority of research and discussion on purity culture focuses predominantly on women as the burden of purity is disproportionately placed on their shoulders.”
“However, the men had stronger relationships (e.g., male controls exhibited more sexual shame when exposed to purity culture in childhood while female controls did not in post hoc analysis) when compared to the women,” Coates added.
The researchers note that purity culture promotes distinct scripts for men and women. For a man who experiences sexual abuse, the victimization directly conflicts with the religious script of male dominance. Coates pointed out that while both men and women reported magnified sexual shame through purity culture, this may occur through different pathways as purity culture has distinct messages for men and women.
When looking at adulthood, the scientists found that current acceptance of purity culture beliefs significantly predicted higher sexual shame for both men and women. If a survivor currently believes these strict religious teachings, they might experience deep dissonance between their faith and their lived experiences. The authors suggest that internalizing these beliefs may increase self-blame, which is strongly linked to trauma-related shame.
As with all research, there are some limitations to consider. The study relied on a cross-sectional design, meaning the data was collected at a single point in time. This prevents the researchers from proving a cause-and-effect relationship between purity culture and sexual shame.
The use of self-reported questionnaires also leaves room for recall bias. Participants might not perfectly remember the exact extent of the religious messaging they received during their early childhood. In addition, the researchers categorized childhood abuse as any nonconsensual experience occurring between birth and age 17.
Coates also wanted to preempt potential misinterpretations regarding the role of faith. “Religion and sex are not inherently ‘bad’ when intertwined,” she explained. “The specific messages about sex within a religion and how someone interprets that can have vastly different outcomes.”
“In this sample, we saw a negative relationship between the two,” Coates noted. “Other research has found positive interactions; for example, there is the ‘sacred bed phenomenon’ where religious couples report higher sexual satisfaction than their non-religious peers. What matters is how you, as an individual, relate to your religious beliefs or lack thereof and what that means for your sexual wellbeing.”
Another limitation involves the demographic makeup of the sample. Because the participants were mostly white, heterosexual, and well-educated, the findings might not completely translate to other populations. In Evangelical Christianity, minority groups often face harsher judgments regarding sexual purity.
Looking ahead, Coates plans to explore how these dynamics affect marginalized communities. “As purity culture positions cisgender, heterosexual intercourse within the confines of marriage as the only ‘right way’, I am curious as to how the effects found in this study could be amplified for non-cisgender, non-heterosexual individuals,” she said.
“Given that religion is a potent force in many people’s lives, the role of religious coping in supporting or hindering recovery from sexual trauma and sexual shame is also of great interest,” Coates concluded.
The study, “Being Pure and Being Ashamed: Purity Culture and Sexual Shame Among Survivors of Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences,” was authored by Anna Grace C. Coates and Cindy M. Meston.
