In this episode, we talk with Heather Morgan about purity culture and the harm being done to female-presenting autistic people (and others) because of this movement. Heather shares some of her diaries from growing up and talks about the teachings she learned about purity when she was young. She then explains how she feels receiving an autism diagnosis would have helped her make better sense of purity culture. We then talk about helpful ways of talking about sex, faith, and autism.
Read Heather's commentary piece "Autism and Purity Culture" in the journal here: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cjtmhd/article/view/39544
Here is a list of some further reading mentioned in the episode:
-Nadia Bolz-Weber, Shameless: A Sexual Reformation, (New York: Convergent Books, 2019).
-Devon Price, Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity, (New York: Harmony Books, 2022).
-Danielle Mayfield, God is My Special Interest, (Blog and Cultivated Community), https://dlmayfield.substack.com/
-Heather Renée Morgan, Powered by Love, www.poweredbylove.ca
-Jesus Girls: True Tales of Growing Up Female and Evangelical, Hannah Faith Nottess Ed. (Eugene, OR, Cascade: 2009).
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- Check out Mad and Crip Theology Press
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