Christian Aimee Byrd Reviews Sara Moslener’s book “Virgin Nation: Sexual Purity and American Adolescence”

Christian Aimee Byrd Reviews Sara Moslener’s book “Virgin Nation: Sexual Purity and American Adolescence”

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Before I put the content in about the Virgin Nation book, a reminder:

• (Link): John Morgan, who claims I am not trustworthy because I use a pen name, still lurks at my blog
• (Link):  Blogger Guy Who Accused Me Of Being Untrustworthy Finds My Blog Trustworthy Enough to Use as Resource

If Morgan suddenly (or even a few months later) does a blog post mentioning the Virgin Nation book at his blog after this post appears on my blog, you could bet dollars to doughnuts he first heard of this book here on my blog.

I haven’t been to his blog in a few months. I don’t think he’s ever discussed this book at his blog.

Really, dude, stop using my blog as a resource. It’s very hypocritical to believe on the one hand I am not a trustworthy source because I use a pen name, but then turn around and believe I’m trustworthy enough to use to get blog post ideas from.

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Virgin Nation – Book Review by Byrd

This was an interesting review.

As the summary of Moslener’s book indicates, she brings up a few of the points I have here on my blog before.

I’m not opposed to Christians believing in, promoting, or living out sexual purity, and it dismays me to see how many Christians are actually arguing against sexual purity (including virginity and celibacy) these days.

However, I do sometimes question just how Christians go about teaching or promoting sexual purity. Some Christians have also turned sexual purity into a marketing gimmick, where they make money selling books about the topic, which also bothers me (and I’ve blogged about that at least once before).

Here are some excerpts from the book review (I would encourage you to use the link below to visit the page to read the review in its entirety there):

(Link): Virgin Nation:  Sexual Purity and American Adolescence by Sara Moslener (a book review by A. Byrd)

Excerpts (I placed a few of the observations I found most interesting in bold face):

• …a very good thing, Christian purity, has become a commodity instead of a process in sanctification.
• …Moslener traces the sexual purity movement in America, showing how it developed as an ideology linked to national security. She identifies “several cooperating impulses: evangelical political activism, deep anxiety over gender roles and changing sexual mores, fear and moral decay, apocalyptic anticipation, and American nationalism”, making the case that “sex and national survival are the poles around which evangelicals have constructed a national identity.”
• …Moslener begins with tracing sexual purity back to first wave feminism and the reversal of traditional gender roles. Where women used to be thought of as the morally inferior sex (the whole “it was Eve who first took the bite” shtick), in the 19^th century this idea took a 180-degree turn. Purity was regarded as a feminine trait.
• Women exploited their newfound status as moral superiors to extend their power beyond the domestic sphere and control the sexual behavior of men.
• Moslener connects the reversal of the female status as moral superiors in first wave feminism to the political movements fueled by evangelical tropes of manhood and womanhood.

True Love Waits . . . and Waits . . . and Waits – editorial about delayed marriage and related issues – and a rebuttal to John Morgan’s comment on the page

True Love Waits . . . and Waits . . . and Waits – editorial about delayed marriage and related issues

I think this was published about a year ago. I just saw it today. It showed up on my Twitter feed.

The woman who wrote this says she is 27 years old (or was at the time this was written). I am over the age of 40 and am still a virgin due to many of the same reasons this author cites for her situation, though I never joined or took part in “True Love Waits.”

If she thinks lack of support from the Christian community is bad when she is 27, it only GETS WORSE the older you get.

Her generation is not the first to struggle with this lack of support – again, I am Gen X, and the church does not, and has not, supported virgins who are over the age of 30 now.

She writes,

• We need help navigating singleness in our twenties and thirties.

Anyone and everyone over the age of 30 needs help with this.

I’m in my 40s and would have appreciated help at “navigating singleness” as a 40 something. You don’t suddenly stop needing support as a single once you hit 40 or older.

I have additional remarks BELOW this long editorial:

(Link): True Love Waits . . . and Waits . . . and Waits – editorial about delayed marriage and related issues by  Rachel Mueller

• In an era of delayed marriage and open sexuality, how does advice to “wait until marriage” still make sense?
• I have a confession to make: I am a twenty-seven (and a half) year-old virgin.No, I was not homeschooled. I was raised in a fairly normal household. I attended a public high school and a private liberal arts college. I like to drink red wine and tequila.
• … I’m pretty much your typical Evangelical Millennial.
• Except, according to a December 2009 study by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, I’m in a minority of people: those who have kept their virginity, even among those who claim to be religious.