Purity Culture isn’t just a collection of pithy quotes and misappropriation of Scripture about bodies and relationships.    It’s a... more

While much attention has been given to the Evangelical contingent of American conservative Christianity, it's important to note that even... more

SHOW NOTES   Positive Perspective (4:00): “Let's very quickly review what we mean when we say the positive perspective, specifically as... more

We're back from our month off hiking the Alpe Adria in Austria, Slovenia, and Italy. And we pick up today... more

After our month-long foray into the disturbing literature from the Evangelical Christian publishing industry, we continue our new series The... more

16 years ago, Linda Kay Klein embarked on a storytelling journey that would change her life (and the lives of... more

Tia Levings is a writer and content creator whose work explores the female narrative in patriarchal spaces. A survivor of church-sanctioned domestic... more

This week we highlight a few of the reasons we began Sexvangelicals and what is to come in the following... more

We are continuing our summer series called Partnership Building, where we discuss how sexual health is relational health, and relational... more

We are continuing our summer series called Partnership Building, where we discuss how sexual health is relational health, and relational... more

We are continuing our series on Partnership building by comparing the messaging from a classic relationship book in Evangelical/Mormon/Pentecostal (EMPish)... more

This summer, we’re talking about seven principles of healthy relationships, according to relationship experts John and Julie Gottman. In the... more

We are continuing our summer series called Partnership Building, where we are discussing the work of John Gottman. Last week,... more

This summer, we’re exploring the seven characteristics to healthy relationships, through John Gottman’s Sound Marital House theory of relationships. Gottman... more

In the last six months, we had a series called The Seven Deadly Sexual Sins (According to the Church), where... more

Happy Pride Month from Sexvangelicals! We kick off June by talking with our new Marketing and Communications Director, Maddie Upson,... more

We have big news! We hired a new Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Maddie Upson, and we’re excited to introduce you... more

We wrap up our series on The Sex Ed We Wish We Had by talking about the final sexual health... more

Today’s episode discusses one of the most challenging dynamics that we see when doing sex therapy with couples where one/both... more

Last week, in our episode with Kara Haug, we talked about honesty as structures that provide accurate information to individuals... more

We continue with our series on The Sex Education We Wish We Had by talking about the sexual health principle... more

April is STI Awareness Month. STIs are commonly discussed in sex ed curricula, but typically as a fear-mongering technique to... more

The third principle of sexual health, according to Doug Braun-Harvey and Michael Vigorito, and part of the sex education... more

We’re continuing our series on The Sex Ed We Wish We Had, rooted in the six sexual health principles of... more

We're continuing our conversation about consent on Sexvangelicals. Julia made a comment on this week’s episode that consent is simultaneously... more

After our month-long foray into the disturbing literature from the Evangelical Christian publishing industry, we continue our new series The... more

This week, we finish our third and final installment in our series reading Joshua Butler’s “Beautiful Union.” This book was... more

Last week, we read the introduction from the book Beautiful Union by Joshua Butler. You know, the book that... more

This week there has been controversy surrounding Joshua Butler's new book, Beautiful Union: How God's Vision for Sex Points us... more

Join us for part two of our episode with Doug Braun-Harvey. Doug is a licensed marriage and family therapist, certified... more

  This week we start our new series The Sex Education We Wish We Had and our first guest Doug... more

We conclude our series on the Seven Deadly Sexual Sins (According to the Church) with reflections on the final sin:... more

In episode #69, we talk with Dr. Laura Anderson, co-founder of the Religious Trauma Institute, about the ways that Evangelical... more

“In purity culture, both men and women are hypersexualized and then also supposed to be asexual at the same time,”... more

Last week, we talked with Cayte Castrillon about her research on the pornography consumption of teenage girls impacts the... more

Welcome back to the Seven Deadly Sexual Sins (According to the Church). We continue with Deadly Sexual Sin #5, especially... more

What are your goals for the New Year? What word encapsulates what you want to accomplish in 2023? Answering those... more

Happy 2023 from Sexvangelicals! We're excited to preview our January episodes, including the final three episodes of our Seven Deadly... more

Christmas is a strange season for folks who are in the process of exploring and healing from the ways that... more

Jeremiah and Julia take a break from the Seven Deadly Sexual Sins According to the Church and discuss two ways... more

Happy Holidays, from Jeremiah and Julia! Thank you for all of the support that you've given us in 2022! We're... more

We continue our series on the Seven Deadly Sexual Sins (According to the Church) with part two on the sin:... more

We continue our series on the Seven Deadly Sexual Sins (According to the Church) with Sin #4: Don't have an... more

The third of the Seven Deadly Sexual Sins is the psychological engine for the church’s position on sexuality: Don’t lust.... more

Jeremiah and Julia continue their series on the Seven Deadly Sexual Sins, According to the Church, with the deadliest of the... more

The murders at Club Q on November 20 in Colorado Springs are horrific, as are all acts of violence against... more

The first of the seven deadly sexual sins is the apex of Purity Culture: Don't have sex before you get... more

Sexvangelicals is a podcast about the sex education that the church didn't want you to have. What's the sex education... more

We commonly hear our couples conflating sexuality and pleasure, which comes with the unintended message that the only, or best... more

The slippery slope. These three words provide the principle for exploring sexuality under the purview of Purity Culture. The slippery... more

Many of our guests and listeners (and ourselves) grew up in religious contexts that packaged the abstinence-only sex education curricula... more

Many of our guests are either women or queer folks, as the messaging from purity culture most commonly places restrictions... more

Conservative Christianity centers its relationship education around two main themes: A mishmash of ethics from the Sermon on... more

There are numerous communities on Facebook, Reddit, and the podcast world that support people who are navigating through the pain... more

“I am here for a reason, and it’s not to be someone’s tool or vessel. It wasn’t so that five... more

We are on vacation this week! We are currently outside of Frankfurt, and later this afternoon, will drive with some... more

One of the lesser known Evangelical denominations is the Church of Christ. As this article explains, Churches of Christ... more

A lot has changed in the last two years since we recorded our third episode, when Julia described the... more

Edmund Burke, 18th-century English philosopher, writes in Reflections on the Revolution in France: “He that wrestles with us strengthens our... more

Two years ago, Julia and Jeremiah started Sexvangelicals as many podcasters do: By introducing themselves and their stories. As we... more

Healing from the abuses of religious communities—both specific churches and the impact from the restrictive social policies that arise from... more

Today is our first full day in our new home, Utrecht, The Netherlands. We have been on break for the... more

The overturning of Roe v. Wade screws all of us over. This is the nicest way that I, Nicole, can... more

Renowned family therapy Jay Haley said that communication problems commonly occur when people are unable to make transitions from one... more

Today is our eighth day in the Netherlands. It’s been an absolute whirlwind, to say the least, between not knowing... more

I grew up in clashing cultures. My mom and step-dad both being Romanian while raising me in America. When it... more

Did any of our listeners go to one of the numerous protests against the feared revoking of Roe v. Wade... more

In the introduction of Sex, Jesus, and the Conversations the Church Forgot, author Mo Isom establishes the position that the... more

Mother’s Day is Sunday.  Motherhood is an expected stage development for women, despite the growing number of women who voluntary... more

A few weeks ago, the BBC reported that conversion therapy, the development of formalized processes to attempt to change a... more

Jesus or my Boyfriend? A question we all ask ourselves. Or, maybe not. In this episode, Jeremiah, Julia, and I... more

Complementarianism, the idea that men and women inherently have distinct, specific roles in marriages and families, is a theory that... more

March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization published the following statement: There are now more than 118,000 cases... more

Julia had oral surgery last week, which resulted in a series of minor inconveniences—stitches in one’s mouth are never comfortable,... more

In 2012, a few months before getting married, I (Julia) received the book The Good Girls Guide to Great... more

Jeremiah and Julia both went to Christian Colleges, which promoted sexual purity. These ideas are pushed onto people when they... more

In therapy, we talk about Prochaska’s stages of change model. Most of the folks that we work with around... more

What are your favorite TV characters who never dated during the tenure of said television show? We are big Parks... more

We both went to conservative Christian colleges that had a moderate/high level of commitment to Evangelical sexual values, namely in... more

An estimated 290,000 people, including 2500 men, are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022. We are thrilled... more

Anti-Semitism erases Jewish culture by making our conversations about Judaism really about their oppressors. What does Judaism actually say about... more

When Jeremiah and Julia were counseled prior to their previous marriages, they were encouraged to read Sheet Music by Dr.... more

We are both mental health practitioners, and our businesses have been taking off due to an increase of demand for... more

Over the past decade, we’ve been honored to hear numerous queer folks describing their individual challenges of exploring sexuality and... more

Linda Kay Klein, author of the 2018 book Pure, has created numerous spaces to bring folks together to share their... more

Regardless of your story, the pandemic has been especially brutal on bodies and relationships. From their perspectives as couples and... more

Growing up as a queer person in a Sicilian Catholic neighborhood in East Boston, Joe talks about how his family’s... more

When we’ve interviewed women to describe their sexual journeys in the first dozen episodes of Sexvangelicals, many of our guests... more

Jennifer Wiessner, the first certified sex therapist in Maine, joins Jeremiah and Julia to talk about two sex education programs,... more

In this episode, Lauren shares her history within the Mormon Church—she actually gives a great summary of the structures of... more

Two of the significant structures in Julia's life that “prepared” her for marriage and her career were the Christian church... more

"There's no nuance, no subtlety in the ways that we talk about sex. That's what creates secrecy and people being... more

Jeremiah followed the expectations of Christianity well into his mid-30s. His sister? Not so much. Juliana talks about how stepping... more

Reverend Beverly Dale, founder of the Incarnation Institute for Sex and Faith and the co-author of Advancing Sexual Health for... more

"Marriage is a rite of passage into adulthood," explains Jeremiah. Conservative Christianity puts additional pressure on early marriage, as straight... more

Julia and Jeremiah talk about what many couples and sex therapists tend to avoid: infidelity. Oof. They describe their own... more