What happens when a community tells you not just how to act - but how to think? And is there a cost when shame is used as a way to control the behavior of teenagers?

From pledges, to pop stars, to ponies - sexual abstinence was an important part of pop culture in the 1990s and 2000s. This episode of Shame Rules! explores purity culture to understand what happened and how everything turned out.

Resources

Linda Kay Klein: https://lindakayklein.com/

Break Free Together: https://lindakayklein.com/break-free-together/

Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement that Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free by Linda Kay Klein

Virgin Nation: Sexual Purity and American Adolescence by Sara Moslener

Brain Matters Podcast (co-hosted by Anthony Lacagnina)

“The Rise and Fall of the Pop Star Purity Ring” by Hazel Cills

Production Team

Shame Rules! is an Epiphonic production

Written and Produced by Nick Jaworski

Cover art and episode art by Arning Echano

Theme music by Hot Dad