{"product_id":"book-copp","title":"Pure","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn \u003ci\u003ePure, \u003c\/i\u003eLinda 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.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 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.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThis is the sex education Linda Kay Klein grew up with.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eFearing 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.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePure \u003c\/i\u003eis\u003ci\u003e “\u003c\/i\u003ea revelation... Part memoir and part journalism, \u003ci\u003ePure\u003c\/i\u003e 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, “\u003ci\u003ePure\u003c\/i\u003e emboldens us to escape toxic misogyny and experience a fresh breath of freedom” (Glennon Doyle, #1 \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eLove Warrior\u003c\/i\u003e and founder of Together Rising).","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster Audio","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49347201532208,"sku":"BDcopp","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD","offer_id":49347201564976,"sku":"10copp","price":39.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/copp-Square-cover.jpg?v=1773687310","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-copp","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}