Pure

Inside the Evangelical Movement that Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free

By: Linda Kay Klein

Narrated by: Linda Kay Klein

In Pure, Linda Kay Klein uses a potent combination of journalism, cultural commentary, and memoir to take us “inside religious purity culture as only one who grew up in it can” (Gloria Steinem) and reveals the devastating effects evangelical Christianity’s views on female sexuality has had on a generation of young women.

In the 1990s, a “purity industry” emerged out of the white evangelical Christian culture. Purity rings, purity pledges, and purity balls came with a dangerous message: girls are potential sexual “stumbling blocks” for boys and men, and any expression of a girl’s sexuality could reflect the corruption of her character. This message traumatized many girls—resulting in anxiety, fear, and experiences that mimicked the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—and trapped them in a cycle of shame.

This is the sex education Linda Kay Klein grew up with.

Fearing being marked a Jezebel, Klein broke up with her high school boyfriend because she thought God told her to and took pregnancy tests despite being a virgin, terrified that any sexual activity would be punished with an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. When the youth pastor of her church was convicted of sexual enticement of a twelve-year-old girl, Klein began to question purity-based sexual ethics. She contacted young women she knew, asking if they were coping with the same shame-induced issues she was. These intimate conversations developed into a twelve-year quest that took her across the country and into the lives of women raised in similar religious communities—a journey that facilitated her own healing and led her to churches that are seeking a new way to reconcile sexuality and spirituality.

Pure is “a revelation... Part memoir and part journalism, Pure is a horrendous, granular, relentless, emotionally true account" (The Cut) of society’s larger subjugation of women and the role the purity industry played in maintaining it. Offering a prevailing message of resounding hope and encouragement, “Pure emboldens us to escape toxic misogyny and experience a fresh breath of freedom” (Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love Warrior and founder of Together Rising).

Her story, our stories

This book is an essential for anyone who has be affected by the church purity culture, or anyone who is trying to understand a loved one who grew up in that world.

It's personal, thoughtful, and intelligently written. This book is painful, but it is freeing. Thank you, Linda Kay Klein, and thank you to everyone who shared their stories.

It makes sense that this book was narrated by the author, and she does it well.

conflicted

This was hard to listen to. The author did a great job reading and writing. Her honesty is what is needed even if it hurts. This books is full of trigger warnings. I can think of a lot of women who will get this book but I think men especially need to know the damage that has been and is being done in the evangelical world.

A life changing read/listen.

As a woman in her mid-20s who grew up in the evangelical subculture, I needed this book. God has used this book to bring into the light the gender-based shame and anxiety I’ve held on to, and I am forever grateful.

Recommended for Christian woman seeking to reconcile feminism, self-acceptance, and the social culture they grew up in.

Queer Likeness

Just wanted to share that, as a queer boy growing up in an Evangelical church, the gender specific messages directed at women also impacted me as a gender fluid individual. I internalized many of these “woman issues” into my own life since I felt a closeness to that feminine side within me. Highly recommend this book for queer individuals.

Powerful

Such a powerful and truthful book—a beautiful and transcendent read. I found myself shouting “YES, EXACTLY!!” often.