"Purity Culture"

This area of my practice explores how different religions, cultures, and traditions view sexuality and how these views can affect your sexual identity and experiences. Common issues in this area include sexual shame due to religious conditioning or purity culture.
​

​​​​​Purity culture, a term for the framework of beliefs found within sexually restrictive religious teachings, is a set of doctrines that links an individual's worth and morality to their sexual "purity" or lack of sexual experience. This approach often frames sex as inherently dangerous and dirty, existing solely for procreation within the confines of marriage. The teachings can lead to deep-seated shame and dysfunction that persist even if people are married.

​

​The core message of purity culture manifests in profound ways, creating both emotional and physical challenges for individuals. The belief that sexual desires or thoughts are sinful often creates persistent sexual shame and guilt, making it difficult to embrace sexuality as a healthy part of adult life. This suppression can directly contribute to sexual dysfunction, such as low libido, difficulty with arousal or orgasm, and even vaginismus, a condition that makes intercourse painful or impossible.

​​

​On a collective level, these teachings foster a harmful societal perspective. Purity culture's emphasis on a person's responsibility to maintain their "purity" often contributes to victim blaming. This can lead to the damaging belief that if a person is a victim of sexual assault, they must have somehow "lost their purity" or been responsible for the attack, shifting blame away from the perpetrator and onto the victim.

​

Additionally, by framing sex as something dangerous or purely for procreation, purity culture instills a collective, negative perspective on sex for pleasure. It contributes to a societal atmosphere where open communication about sexual enjoyment is considered shameful or selfish, hindering comprehensive sex education and fostering a widespread discomfort with the natural, healthy, and pleasurable aspects of human sexuality. 

​

My psychosomatic approach is uniquely effective in healing from the effects of purity culture because it addresses both the psychological beliefs and the body's physical response to them. I use talk therapy to help you unpack and challenge the rigid beliefs and internalized shame that lead to self-blame. Concurrently, somatic interventions help you release the tension and trauma that have been stored in your body due to years of repression. By integrating mind and body, we can work to heal the deep-seated emotional and physical scars, allowing you to reclaim your body and develop a healthy, joyful relationship with your sexuality.

​

​

​

​

​

​