Originally from Denver, Colorado, Emily’s family traded in mountains for beaches when they moved in her pre-teen years to Sugar Land, Texas. Emily graduated from UT Austin with degrees in Journalism and Psychology. She earned a minor in Spanish, which served her well when she went on a soul-searching journey for six-months to Bilbao, Spain. Shortly after returning, Emily met her husband, Oren, by mistake on Facebook – her favorite mistake of all time! They struggled for a while with infertility and grieved a few miscarriages, but they were ultimately rewarded with their beautiful son Mayer {June 2013}. Their next baby, Juliet {April 2015}, was an unexpected, but welcome surprise. However, her traumatic arrival into the world almost took her life, along with Emily’s. Fortunately, they both made complete recoveries, and they now have a very special bond. After all her baby struggles, Emily, who has experience as a newspaper reporter and in technical writing, chose to stay at home with her little loves. She is also currently a freelance writer. In her free time, she loves to read, write, cook, work on her physical fitness, and fantasize about traveling. To read more of her work, visit her web page EmilyBFeinstein.com. You can also connect with her on Facebook, and Instagram {@ebfeinstein}.
I remember signing the purity pledge when I was in 6th grade. I didn’t totally believe it but everyone was doing it and I didn’t want to be left out, or *gasp* for people to think that I was not pure. I did notice, though, that the boys were not being pressured to sign the pledge in the way the girls were. I remember one teacher specifically asking me if I had signed it yet, making me feel bad when I said I hadn’t, and rolling her eyes at the boy next to me who said he hadn’t signed it, either. I also remember that the pledge specifically mentioned that I was making a pledge to my father and that I should give him the paper. I thought that was weird but now as an adult, it is arguably more strange- not to mention, I lived with my mom.
All of Elizabeth’s points are absolutely spot on. Elizabeth noted that the Purity Movement does not teach consent and the possibility of teaching them that their body is “bad”. I would add one more thing- purity culture teaches you that once you have engaged in sex, you are somehow worth less than you were before, especially if it was outside of marriage (but even if it was not!)
This podcast was great!