shame

Preacher's Daughter: Sexual Violence and Discourses of "Purity"

Music post by Kristin Rawls on October 27, 2011 - 11:25am; tagged abstinence, abuse, child abuse, Christian, Christianity, conservative women, covers, domestic violence, Esperanza Spalding, Janelle Monáe, new pornographers, sexual abuse, shame, the raveonettes.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about the silliness of "True Love Waits"-style campaigns, but it never really occurred to me to think about how a child who has been raped might experience these shaming "abstinence-only" discourses. That is to say, this would be particularly cruel, painful, and potentially traumatic for such a child.

Potentially even worse than teen purity rallies, I think, are the "purity balls."

Consider the opening line of this local news video: "Would you pledge your virginity to your father?"

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Talkshows

Article by Lisa Jervis, appeared in issue Issue #2; published in 1996; filed under Broadcast; tagged female sexuality, language, popularity, pro-sex, promiscuity, reputation, sex, sexuality, shame, stereotypes, talk shows, teens.
TV's Culture of Categorization
Issue #2

Talk shows are the scariest thing on the planet today. You think I’m exaggerating, don’t you? Think about it: not only are they the lowest common denominator of American pop culture, but they’re also—because they’re in the form of “real” people talking about their “real” lives—taken to be some measure of truth.

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