The Scarlet Virgins: When Sex Replaces Salvation

"Spit-in water."

"De-petaled flower."

"A chewed piece of gum."

The youth of my generation know these phrases by heart.

With them, our elders told us we were "dirty" for having a crush. They claimed we were "used goods" if we held hands with someone. They insisted our worth was measured by the extent to which we had "given our heart away." They criminalized affection to keep us "undefiled."

What happens when an entire generation learns that their worth is found in their "purity?"

Welcome to life growing up in Christian Purity Culture.

Our well-intended homeschooling, conservative, and Christian communities wanted to keep us safe. They didn't understand the toll inflicted by the heavy-handed and legalistic emphasis on sexual purity above and beyond anything else.

They wanted to safeguard our sexuality. Instead, they broke it.

They wanted us to be spotless before God. Instead, they drove us away from Him.

The Scarlet Virgins takes a vulnerable look at the Christian Purity Culture movement through the eyes of someone who experienced it firsthand. It seeks to identify what went wrong, and bring peace to the hearts of those who were wounded so deeply, all by exposing the truth:

It is Christ who makes us pure.