Are You a Victim of Purity Culture? Here’s a Book to Help.

Queer author Suzanne DeWitt Hall announces the launch of a 50-day devotional focused on establishing a new sexual ethic in an era of Christian religious deconstruction. Sex With God: Meditations on the Sacred Nature of Sex in a Post-Purity-Culture World deals with issues ranging from body image to touch, BDSM to infidelity. It focuses on finding a middle way between the shame-based rigidity of purity culture and the “anything goes” stance which permeates many recent books on the topic.

On the timing of the launch, DeWitt Hall says “The world is hungry for good news. Our hearts and minds are full of worry, sorrow, outrage, boredom, and all sorts of other negative emotions. We feel trapped: in our houses, in our financial situations, in our nation which feels like it’s been taken over by various kinds of oppression. Sex With God carries you out of all that for a few moments each day. It reminds you that a God who is love wants to love you, and wants you to love others. It draws you into the importance of minute things; touch, skin, listening, breath. It reminds you of the phenomenal reality of matter and spirit, the now and the eternal, and the illusion of separation. It whispers to you of your holiness, and that of your beloved.

Why did Sex With God come out now? Because we so desperately need it.”

Here’s an excerpt.

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Day 37: The Lie of Desirability

We poor befuddled humans often confuse our sexual desirability with our worth, as if having others want us physically gives us value. In Western culture this is particularly true for women, who are subject to a regular onslaught of commercial images which feel like demands to measure up. But the premise is ridiculous. Each person has intrinsic value regardless of how we appear to ourselves or to others. Each person is worthy of love whether we have large boobs or a flat chest, a huge member or a micropenis, the stature of an haute couture model or a pleasantly padded great-grandmother.

You are intensely desirable to the one who matters most; God, the throbbing center of love which holds the universe together. All other desires are watery reflections of that pure potency.

Your body might be smoking hot enough (whatever that means to you) to burn down every bar, grocery store, or office, but so what? Causing wet crotches and erections in those from whom you have no love profits nothing.

Love is the goal.

Love coming to you, and love coming through you.


You can order the book through your favorite independent book store, find it on Amazon, or purchase copies directly from the author.


Suzanne DeWitt Hall is the author of Where True Love Is: An Affirming Devotional for LGBTQI+ Individuals and Their Allies; Transfigured: A 40-day Journey through Scripture for Gender-Queer and Transgender people; and other affirming devotionals. She also wrote the Rumplepimple books, hilarious illustrated stories featuring a misunderstood doggy hero, his tutu-wearing sidekick cat named Mr. Noodles, and his two moms.
You can follow Suzanne on Facebook and Twitter, or check out the Where True Love Is website.