Emily Joy Allison > Quotes

“Purity culture is a mindfuck.”
― Emily Joy Allison, #ChurchToo: How Purity Culture Upholds Abuse and How to Find Healing

“There's no better way to see what an organization is teaching than by looking at its actively enforced policies.”
― Emily Joy Allison, #ChurchToo: How Purity Culture Upholds Abuse and How to Find Healing

“If someone doesn’t want to have sex with you but you convince them to have sex with you anyway using threats and fear, that is rape.”
― Emily Joy Allison, #ChurchToo: How Purity Culture Upholds Abuse and How to Find Healing

“Human being verses human givers is a false dichotomy, your health and well-being should never be demanded of you to save someone else, especially not your abuser. That kind of 'forgiveness' is cheap and meaningless, based in the power-hoarding impulse of purity culture, and it is not any kind of forgiveness worth pursuing. When and if you forgive is up to you. It is a gift you give to yourself, not a tax you pay for being abused in a Christian community. And to those who wish to be allies to survivors, I say this: Sit with your discomfort. Welcome it in. Take a deep breath. Kneel down. Light that bridge on fire. And walk away.”
― Emily Joy Allison, #ChurchToo: How Purity Culture Upholds Abuse and How to Find Healing