Today our topic is the purity culture. HMB’s Managing Editor, Elizabeth Baker, joins co-owner Meagan Clanahan discussing one of her most popular posts entitled :: “Why I Won’t Raise My Children in the Purity Culture That Raised Me.” Elizabeth delves into the purity culture and how it affects our society. She also discusses how it affects how she teaches her children about sex and her personal values.
Houston Moms Blog is a locally focused parenting website written BY area moms, FOR area moms.
About our hosts ::
Meagan Clanahan
Meagan is a Dallas native who has lived in the Katy area for over a decade. She kicked a soccer ball all the way to Louisiana to attend college at her family’s alma mater of LSU, where she promptly fell in love with a Texas Aggie in Baton Rouge for an internship. After swimming back to Texas following Hurricane Katrina, Matt and Meagan fell in love with the Houston area and now couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. Following several years of infertility, their miracle twins Ryan and Quinn were born in June of 2010. She believes there is nothing better than a chilled glass of Pinot Grigio, a large Sonic Diet Coke, sushi take-out, Girls Nights Out, and a mindless book to curl up with. Keep up with Meagan at Instagram. To contact Meagan, email her at [email protected].
Elizabeth Baker
Elizabeth was raised in Houston and met her husband Ryan shortly after graduating from Texas A&M with a journalism degree. A few years later, Grayson {Sept 2010}, turned Elizabeth’s world upside down, not only with his sparkling blue eyes and killer smile, but with his profound disabilities and diagnosis of Mitochondrial Disease. After two years of navigating the world of special needs parenting, Elizabeth and Ryan were blessed with Charlotte {Jan 2013} and Nolan {Sept 2015}, perfectly completing their party of five. Elizabeth and her crew live in Katy, and when she can steal a few moments for herself, she can be found out for Mexican food and margaritas with girlfriends, binge-listening to podcasts and audiobooks, or trying once again {unsuccessfully} to organize her closet. In addition to her role as Managing Editor of HMB, Elizabeth writes about faith, politics and special needs parenting for publications like Scary Mommy and HuffPost. You can connect with Elizabeth on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, ElizabethKBaker.com.
Emily Feinstein
Originally from Denver, Colorado, Emily’s family traded in mountains for beaches when they moved in her pre-teen years to Sugar Land, Texas. Emily graduated from UT Austin with degrees in Journalism and Psychology. She earned a minor in Spanish, which served her well when she went on a soul-searching journey for six-months to Bilbao, Spain. Shortly after returning, Emily met her husband, Oren, by mistake on Facebook – her favorite mistake of all time! They struggled for a while with infertility and grieved a few miscarriages, but they were ultimately rewarded with their beautiful son Mayer {June 2013}. Their next baby, Juliet {April 2015}, was an unexpected, but welcome surprise. However, her traumatic arrival into the world almost took her life, along with Emily’s. Fortunately, they both made complete recoveries, and they now have a very special bond. After all her baby struggles, Emily, who has experience as a newspaper reporter and in technical writing, chose to stay at home with her little loves. She is also currently a freelance writer. In her free time, she loves to read, write, cook, work on her physical fitness, and fantasize about traveling. To read more of her work, visit her web page EmilyBFeinstein.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook, and Instagram {@ebfeinstein}.
I remember signing the purity pledge when I was in 6th grade. I didn’t totally believe it but everyone was doing it and I didn’t want to be left out, or *gasp* for people to think that I was not pure. I did notice, though, that the boys were not being pressured to sign the pledge in the way the girls were. I remember one teacher specifically asking me if I had signed it yet, making me feel bad when I said I hadn’t, and rolling her eyes at the boy next to me who said he hadn’t signed it, either. I also remember that the pledge specifically mentioned that I was making a pledge to my father and that I should give him the paper. I thought that was weird but now as an adult, it is arguably more strange- not to mention, I lived with my mom.
All of Elizabeth’s points are absolutely spot on. Elizabeth noted that the Purity Movement does not teach consent and the possibility of teaching them that their body is “bad”. I would add one more thing- purity culture teaches you that once you have engaged in sex, you are somehow worth less than you were before, especially if it was outside of marriage (but even if it was not!)
This podcast was great!