206: Emily Joy and Deconstructing Purity Culture

Emily Joy is a poet, writer, and yoga teacher here in Nashville. She identifies as an embodied justice enthusiast which she describes as helping others make peace with their bodies. With an extensive online following, Emily co-founded the #churchtoo hashtag alongside Hannah Paasch, to address sexual abuse in church settings. Emily was raised in the fundamentalist evangelical church and identifies as gay with the gender pronouns she/her/hers.

Together, we discuss the fluidity of understanding her faith and sexuality and not sticking to just one category, as well as the impact purity culture has had in her life, her work to give voice to issues of sexual abuse in church settings, and the healing that has come from telling her own story to her followers.

We talk a lot about impurity culture on this episode. I'll let Emily Joy explain that as, "abstinence until heterosexual, monogamous marriage — or else. … Secondary characteristics of purity culture often include an emphasis on male leadership, modesty in clothing for women, and eschewing common ways of dating." (Source: Scarleteen.com) 

Connect with Emily at emilyjoypoetry.com and on Instagram @emilyjoypoetry. Also, check out the Twitter thread where she shared her own story that sparked the #churchtoo hashtag. You can also learn more about how #churchtoo came into being on her website. And follow her latest work, "Impurity Culture" on Twitter @impurityculture.

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This concludes Season 2! Look for more episodes soon, and thanks everyone who has helped support the production of the show. Got questions or other ideas while we're on break? Let us know at [email protected].

Music: Acoustic Meditation 2 by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Artist: http://audionautix.com/