A Fountain Sealed: Virginity and the American Evangelical Family
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A Fountain Sealed: Virginity and the American Evangelical Family by Christina Margaret Reimer A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department for the Study of Religion University of Toronto © Copyright by Christina Margaret Reimer 2012 Abstract A Fountain Sealed: Virginity and the American Evangelical Family Doctor of Philosophy 2012 Christina Margaret Reimer Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto This thesis is a psychoanalytic and feminist critique of the contemporary American abstinence movement that finds its roots within Christian evangelicalism, but has far- reaching public impact on social policy and education and contributes to an ideology of nationhood. Through the examination of the phenomena of virginity pledging and purity ball events for fathers and daughters, it is shown that notions of purity, in this context, have more to do with the narcissistic production of white, middle-class, Christian families and traditional gender identities, and less to do with sexual ethics. Chapter one provides a historical framework for understanding the contemporary virginity movement within the context of Christian eschatology, with a particular focus on premillennialism and its mandate to protect believers from the corruption of the non- Christian world until the imminent return of Christ and the rapture of the Christian elect. Chapter two is an examination of the influence of conservative Christian values on American politics and sex education. Chapter three is an analysis of the phenomenon of virginity pledging, its definition of what constitutes sex, its effectiveness at delaying first intercourse and curbing rates of disease and teen pregnancy, its success as an identity movement and its propagation of traditional gender roles and fantasies of true love. Chapter four begins with a discussion of the convergence of conservative evangelical and ii Freudian views of psycho-sexual normativity in relation to virginity and the family then applies psychoanalytic theories of narcissism to virginity pledging and purity balls, revealing some of the psychological aspects of this movement such as the oedipal dynamics between fathers and daughters. Chapter five outlines a model of transcendent intersubjectivity as an alternative to the narcissistic, oedipal subjectivity found in the purity movement and explores the way that language and ideology function in the formation of gendered subjective and intersubjective self-understandings with a final proposal of the possibility of an alternative, ethical view of abstinence that does not appeal to notions of purity. iii For Mike iv Acknowledgements The last thing that my father said to me was, ―Have you finished your thesis yet?‖ So much of my inspiration for working on this thesis came from my parents, Margaret and Jim. Their home has always been a place of lively intellectual discussion and invigorating debate. I am enormously indebted to my supervisor, James DiCenso, who encouraged and challenged me from beginning to end. I am thankful for his thoughtful, consistent guidance and will miss our stimulating conversations immensely. I am also indebted to my other committee members: Pamela Klassen, whose careful reading of my thesis led to a much better dissertation, and Mary Nyquist, whose reading suggestions drew me to a number of illuminating sources that became central to my work. Two other professors that have influenced my academic career significantly are Jim Gollnick, who introduced me to psychoanalysis, and Ann Yeoman. My brothers Thomas and Micah and their partners Shoshanna and Erin, and my in-laws Jo-Ann, Fred, James, Rachel, Jeff and my grandmother-in-law LaVina have all mustered up continued interest in my topic. Thank you for your love and patience. A number of friends have also provided suggestions and support – Lisa, Marci, Andrew, Jenn and Jenn, Tanja, Jenny, Shadell, Laura, Kath, Matt and Petra, and my fellow graduate students at the Toronto Mennonite Theological Centre, to name a few. I‘d also like to acknowledge my church families at Rockway and Toronto United Mennonite, who have given me a sense of accountability in my difficult quest to represent fairly other Christian communities. v Finally, I would like to thank my husband Mike. I would not have been able to complete this project if it weren‘t for his steadfast love, our treasured late-night conversations and his partnership in parenting our two boys, Christof and Bastian. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 7 1. Literature Review 11 a. Virginity Pledge Studies 12 b. Abstinence-Only Education 13 c. Purity Balls 16 2. Abstinence, Religion and the Family 17 CHAPTER I: A “Genealogy” of Purity in American Evangelicalism 21 1. Secularization in America 23 2. The Varieties of American Evangelicalism 29 3. Calvinism and Methodism 31 4. The Civil War 34 5. The Deliverance Doctrine of 1910 35 6. The Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy 36 7. Dispensational Premillennialism 40 8. The Rapture 44 9. The Social Gospel Movement and its Legacy 51 10. Gated Communities and the Cold War Era 60 11. Home School 65 CHAPTER II: The Politics of Sex Education in America 68 1. Teaching Abstinence and Family Values 69 2. Ronald Reagan and the Adolescent Family Life Act 76 3. Character Education and the Family 87 CHAPTER III: The Virginity Pledge 94 1. The History of the Pledge 96 2. Pledging and the Nature of Sexual Activity 99 3. Who Takes the Pledge and Under What Circumstances? 103 4. The Effectiveness of the Pledge 111 5. Purity Balls and Traditional Constructions of Gender 114 6. The Gift Exchange 119 7. Pure Romance and the Promise of True Love 129 8. The Production of Purity 133 vii CHAPTER IV: The Narcissism of Major Differences 138 1. Psychology and Christianity in the United States 140 2. The Purity Ball Event 145 3. The Normativity of Oedipal Dynamics 149 4. Rites of Passage and Negative Rites 157 5. The Narcissism of Minor Differences 163 6. Dread of the Feminine 165 7. Freud‘s Theory of Narcissism 169 8. The Female Oedipal Complex and the Failure of the Super Ego 177 9. Narcissistic Purity 184 10. Phallus Envy 186 11. Conclusion 193 CHAPTER V: No Man’s Land 196 1. The Catholic and Protestant Mary 197 2. The Apocryphal Mary 199 3. A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of Mary 201 4. The Virgin Eve and the Virgin Mary 203 5. Catholic and Protestant Virginity 206 6. The Angel in the House 208 7. Simone de Beauvoir on Transcendence and Immanence 215 8. Between Biology and Culture 218 9. Self and Other 220 10. Modesty and Intimacy 226 11. Escaping Narcissism through Intersubjectivity 231 12. Purity and Intersubjectivity 234 CONCLUSION 238 BIBLIOGRAPHY 245 viii INTRODUCTION A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. ~ Song of Solomon 4:12 The purity ball for fathers and daughters has become a popular phenomenon for evangelical Christians in the United States, with 48 states having hosted these events to date. At the purity ball, fathers and daughters attend a commitment ceremony that affirms the role of the father as guardian of his daughter‘s sexual purity and the high value placed on the daughter‘s pre-marital virginity. As a token of the father‘s and daughter‘s pledges, there is often an exchange of rings. A girl receives a purity ring from her father which she wears on her wedding finger until she is married. One father explains the significance of the ring that he wears to his daughter as follows: It is in the form of a shield, symbolizing my commitment to protect and shield you from the enemy. Inside the shield is a heart, which is your heart, which I am covering. Across the heart are a key and a sword—the key is the key to your heart, which I will safeguard until your wedding day, and the sword is the protection I pledge to you...On your wedding day, I will give this ring to your husband. I love you, my jewel, my princess.1 The mark of his integrity as a man and a father, in this case, is the father‘s ability to succeed in protecting his daughter and instill in her a sense of her own worth so that her body and her heart are intact on her wedding day. The mark of a daughter‘s purity are the 1 Amanda Robb, ―The Innocence Project.‖ O, the Oprah Magazine. April 14, 2009. http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Father-Daughter-Purity-Balls-to-Promote-Abstinence-Chastity- Pledges/1 January 2011 (accessed). 1 upholding of her promise to remain chaste and her continued receptiveness to paternal protection. When I was a teenager, my mother and I had a conversation about pre-marital sex, as many mothers and daughters do. I was raised in what I would deem a religious, church-going, but socially liberal, Mennonite, Christian family. Therefore, I was somewhat surprised by the tack my mother took. I was expecting that God, the Bible, and the Christian tradition would be consulted as sources of moral authority; however, this was not the case. She encouraged me to wait to have sex until I was mature enough to make a responsible decision that would protect me from contracting a disease or from getting pregnant before and if I planned to do so. She said that the most important thing was that I have the freedom to reach my goals and to live the life I wanted to live without avoidable obstacles getting in the way. I respect my mother for encouraging my sense of agency as a young woman and for not appealing to fear or to the importance of sexual purity as reasons to abstain from certain sexual behaviours until marriage.