University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses July 2018 Apostles of Abstinence Katherine Castiello Jones University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the Gender and Sexuality Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, and the Sociology of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Castiello Jones, Katherine, "Apostles of Abstinence" (2018). Doctoral Dissertations. 1277. https://doi.org/10.7275/11946289.0 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/1277 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. APOSTLES OF ABSTINENCE A Dissertation Presented by KATHERINE JONES Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2018 Sociology 1 © Copyright by Katherine Jones 2018 All Rights Reserved 2 APOSTLES OF ABSTINENCE A Dissertation Presented By KATHERINE JONES Approved as to style and content by: _________________________________________________ Robert Zussman, Chair _________________________________________________ Joya Misra, Member _________________________________________________ Millicent Thayer, Member _________________________________________________ Miliann Kang, Member _________________________________________________ Amy Schalet, Member _________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ Michelle Budig, Department Chair Sociology Department 3 DEDICATION For Evan 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisor, Robert Zussman, for his many years of thoughtful, patient guidance and support. Thanks are also due to Joya Misra. Together their support and selfless contribution to my professional development have been invaluable and will forever be appreciated. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the members of my committee, Miliann Kang, Amy Schalet, and Millie Thayer, for their helpful comments and suggestions on all stages of this project. I want to thank Association for the Sociology of Religion whose Fichter Research Grant provided travel expenses and research funding during the writing of this manuscript. I wish to express my appreciation to all the individuals who shared their time and experiences with me during this project. Thank you to Evan Torner who provided support and advice through all stages of this project. A special thank you to all those whose support and friendship helped me to stay focused on this project and who have provided me with the encouragement to continue when the going got tough. v ABSTRACT APOSTLES OF ABSTINENCE MAY 2018 KATHERINE JONES, B.A. GRINNELL COLLEGE Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Robert Zussman My dissertation examines three organizations that promote premarital sexual abstinence. These three organizations broadly mirror different strands within the New Right: an evangelical Christian abstinence ministry called Purity Ring Posse, Revolutionary Romance, an elite group of conservatives on an Ivy League campus, and Stand Up! a group at a Mormon university that seeks to “burst the bubble” and facilitate outreach between pro-family organizations and students. Drawing on participant observation, interviews, and content analysis, my dissertation demonstrates how each group attempts to promote a unique version of abstinence that can be successfully mobilized in the public square. Purity Ring Posse articulates “ abstinence as rebellion,” drawing on a performance of “coolness” to encourage young people to choose abstinence as a way of proving their own hipness. Revolutionary Romance articulates “academic abstinence,” focusing on research-based evidence and philosophical arguments that make abstinence seem like a healthy, objectively beneficial choice, distancing themselves from religious arguments and justifications. Stand Up! articulates “abstinence as a family value,” placing the promotion of abstinence as part of a larger strategy to promote a particular understanding of marriage, gender, the family, and sexuality. This version of abstinence vi mixes scientific evidence with religious arguments. But each group faces tensions in articulating their version of abstinence to their different audiences. Although in different settings, with different audiences, they all operate in a similar political landscape, one in which the meaning of premarital sexual abstinence has largely been captured by the New Right. I find that there is variance within the abstinence movement, but also tremendous pressure to standardize from various conservative networking organizations. Abstinence groups, regardless of their particular context or environment, exist in a society in which abstinence has been highly politicized. Thus individualized understandings of abstinence created by each particular organization prove difficult to maintain once the group engages in any sort of outreach or engagement with the public. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................v ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................vi INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER I. BURSTING THE BUBBLE: THE CHALLENGES OF PRO-FAMILY ACTIVISM AT BYU.............................................................................................................................31 Provo......................................................................................................................35 Brigham Young University....................................................................................37 BYUSA and Student Clubs....................................................................................38 The LDS Church and the Family...........................................................................41 Abstinence at BYU................................................................................................43 Proposition 8 and Backlash....................................................................................48 Stand Up!...............................................................................................................51 Stand Up! Members...............................................................................................58 Family Symposium................................................................................................60 Aftermath and New Organization..........................................................................76 Solidarity and Social Movement Communities.....................................................78 Conclusion.............................................................................................................80 II. PURITY RING POSSE: MAKING ABSTINENCE COOL........................................83 Purity Ring Posse...................................................................................................86 Tensions within the Evangelical Christian Community........................................93 The Tarnished Purity Ring...................................................................................101 Catholics and Protestants.....................................................................................110 PRP Orientation...................................................................................................114 Orientation Devotional........................................................................................117 Creating the Live Event.......................................................................................120 Jackie and Ingrid..................................................................................................124 Jackie…………....................................................................................................126 Ingrid…………....................................................................................................128 iTour Apps for Life..............................................................................................130 Cool Christians....................................................................................................135 Jubilee..................................................................................................................136 Pancho..................................................................................................................138 viii The Show.............................................................................................................141 Broken Heart Skit................................................................................................143 Videos..................................................................................................................144 Starting Over Talk................................................................................................145 Conclusion...........................................................................................................150