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After Purity: Race, Sex, and Religion in White Christian America
An intersectional analysis of evangelical purity culture’s influence on gender, sexuality, race, and national identity in the United States
With a foreword by Linda Kay Klein, author of Inside the Evangelical Movement that Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free
In After Purity, purity scholar Sara Moslener conducts a nuanced investigation of purity culture in white evangelical Christianity, revealing its profound impact on gender, sexuality, race, and national identity in the United States. Moslener shares exclusive stories of participants from her research on the After Purity Project to discuss how purity culture affected women—and particularly women of color—who grew up in the evangelical church. These stories depict how white supremacy has a hand in constructing idealized “traditional” or “biblical” views of family, white racial identity, sexuality, gender expression, and religion, and how our physical bodies are situated within systems of power and oppression.
With a blend of history, current research, and sustained analysis, Moslener explores how white evangelicalism has become so politically powerful, why gender and sexuality are positioned at the center of debate, and how those debates aim to obscure deeper histories of white evangelical racism. She describes the full disturbing effect of the “True Love Waits” movement and how purity teachings displaced all other forms of religious education in evangelicalism. From her interviewees in the After Purity Project, she shares stories of oppressive personal piety, sexual repression, disembodiment, self-hatred, mandatory hetero-normativity, and the many layers of obligation and shame in sexuality before reaching adulthood and navigating their way out of the church. Moslener also describes her own story of being a teen advocate for purity culture to becoming a researcher, scholar, and advocate for people harmed by purity.
After Purity provides a window into the world of white evangelicalism and how its leaders and political allies have manufactured socio-sexual panic to justify the elimination of sexual and religious diversity that thrive in a flourishing democracy.
With a foreword by Linda Kay Klein, author of Inside the Evangelical Movement that Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free
In After Purity, purity scholar Sara Moslener conducts a nuanced investigation of purity culture in white evangelical Christianity, revealing its profound impact on gender, sexuality, race, and national identity in the United States. Moslener shares exclusive stories of participants from her research on the After Purity Project to discuss how purity culture affected women—and particularly women of color—who grew up in the evangelical church. These stories depict how white supremacy has a hand in constructing idealized “traditional” or “biblical” views of family, white racial identity, sexuality, gender expression, and religion, and how our physical bodies are situated within systems of power and oppression.
With a blend of history, current research, and sustained analysis, Moslener explores how white evangelicalism has become so politically powerful, why gender and sexuality are positioned at the center of debate, and how those debates aim to obscure deeper histories of white evangelical racism. She describes the full disturbing effect of the “True Love Waits” movement and how purity teachings displaced all other forms of religious education in evangelicalism. From her interviewees in the After Purity Project, she shares stories of oppressive personal piety, sexual repression, disembodiment, self-hatred, mandatory hetero-normativity, and the many layers of obligation and shame in sexuality before reaching adulthood and navigating their way out of the church. Moslener also describes her own story of being a teen advocate for purity culture to becoming a researcher, scholar, and advocate for people harmed by purity.
After Purity provides a window into the world of white evangelicalism and how its leaders and political allies have manufactured socio-sexual panic to justify the elimination of sexual and religious diversity that thrive in a flourishing democracy.
200 pages, Hardcover
First published December 9, 2025
26 people are currently reading
2615 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 23, 2025
After Purity provides a superbly structured examination of the American myths of White purity, innocence, and the special relationship with God. Like Jesus and John Wayne, using interviews with survivors of evangelical purity culture, this powerful work documents a part of US history sanitized, quietly ignored, or simply eradicated. In these current times, this analysis has never been more relevant.
January 14, 2026
This is the kind of nonfiction that rewards patience. I found myself slowing down, rereading certain sections, and thinking about them later in the day. The author clearly understands the subject on a deeper level, and it shows in how calmly the ideas are presented.
January 16, 2026
This is a thoughtful contribution to its subject, not just a repetition of familiar points.
January 25, 2026
4.5⭐️
Interesting look at American purity culture
Interesting look at American purity culture
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February 13, 2026I appreciate the intersectionality
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews