174 | Healing Purity Culture through Pleasure, Power & the Truth of Mary Magdalene with Dr. Kimberly Rose Pendleton

What if your desire isn’t dangerous, but divine?

In this deeply transformative episode, Emily sits down with Dr. Kimberly Rose Pendleton, an intimacy coach, scholar, and founder of UNCOVER, to explore what it means to heal from purity culture and reclaim your body, your voice, and your power. Together, they unravel centuries of conditioning that taught women to equate goodness with obedience and holiness with self-denial, and invite listeners into a radical reframe: that pleasure is sacred, not selfish.

Kimberly shares her personal story of deconstructing evangelical beliefs, walking away from a marriage that no longer fit, and rediscovering her aliveness through the practice of pleasure. Rooted in her academic background at Yale and her years of coaching women around the world, she blends intellect and embodiment in a way that feels both revolutionary and deeply human. From the theology of Mary Magdalene to the lived reality of womanhood today, she illuminates how pleasure becomes a path back to the divine, and how reclaiming it is one of the most powerful ways women can heal from religious trauma, shame, and repression.

Emily and Kimberly dive into the hidden history of Mary Magdalene, a wealthy, powerful spiritual leader erased and rewritten as a sinner by the early Church, and what her true story reveals about the fear of feminine wisdom. They explore how purity culture and patriarchy sought to silence women’s voices, sexual expression, and intuition, and why remembering the Magdalene lineage is an act of both spiritual and societal revolution.

Whether you grew up in the church or simply absorbed the cultural messaging that your worth depends on being “good,” this conversation is an invitation to return to yourself. To soften the shame, to listen to your body, and to remember that your joy, your sensuality, and your truth are not something to hide, they’re the very portals to your power, purpose, and divine connection.

In this episode, we explore:

• How purity culture continues to shape women’s bodies, relationships, and sense of worth, even outside organized religion
• Why pleasure is sacred, not selfish, and how reconnecting with it helps women return to their power
• The connection between pleasure, spirituality, and embodiment, and why they were never meant to be separate
• The hidden truth about Mary Magdalene, her role as a wealthy priestess, spiritual leader, and symbol of feminine wisdom erased by patriarchy
• What the Gospel of Mary reveals about women’s direct access to the divine, and why her story was rewritten by the early Church
• How patriarchy and purity culture weaponized holiness, shame, and obedience to control women’s bodies and voices
• Practical ways to begin reclaiming pleasure and power in everyday life, through beauty, embodiment, and self-trust
• The ripple effect of women in their pleasure, how wholeness, joy, and desire create collective healing and transformation

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Connect & Work with Dr. Kimberly Rose Pendleton:

• Harlots & Heretics — a three-part journey through the hidden, holy history of women labeled “dangerous,” guiding you to reclaim your own sacred power.
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