Sexvangelicals

This week we highlight a few of the reasons we began Sexvangelicals and what is to come in the following weeks. We will be doing a Summer Rewatch Series highlighting three of our favorite episodes, which include new content at the beginning of each episode. It is important to reflect and realize how we have grown and evolved and we want to share that with you. In this mini-episode (or trailer) we...

We are continuing our summer series called Partnership Building, where we discuss how sexual health is relational health, and relational health is sexual health. We're talking about seven principles of healthy relationships, according to relationship experts John and Julie Gottman. Last week, Luke and Lauren from the amazing podcast Filled to Flourish talked with us about the ways that Purity Cult...

We are continuing our summer series called Partnership Building, where we discuss how sexual health is relational health, and relational health is sexual health. We're talking about seven principles of healthy relationships, according to relationship experts John and Julie Gottman. In the first four episodes of this series, we've discussed two foundations of healthy relationships: curiosity and ad...

We are continuing our series on Partnership building by comparing the messaging from a classic relationship book in Evangelical/Mormon/Pentecostal (EMPish) circles, Love and Respect , by Emerson Eggerichs, alongside the work of couples researchers John and Julie Gottman, and their principle of nurturing fondness and admiration. As we talked about last week, practicing this principle can be challen...

This summer, we're talking about seven principles of healthy relationships, according to relationship experts John and Julie Gottman. In the last two weeks, we've discussed the foundation of healthy relationships: curiosity. And in the next two episodes, we're talking about the practices of admiration and appreciation. Be curious. Be positive. Sounds simple enough. Except EMPish (Evangelical, Morm...

We are continuing our summer series called Partnership Building, where we are discussing the work of John Gottman. Last week, we discussed how curiosity is the foundation for healthy, sustainable relationships. Gottman uses the term "cognitive room"—the ability to spontaneously recall details about positive qualities about their partner and their relationship. Cognitive room is fueled by curiosity...

This summer, we're exploring the seven characteristics to healthy relationships, through John Gottman's Sound Marital House theory of relationships. Gottman suggests that curiosity is the root of a strong foundation for a relationship. Curiosity, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is the strong desire to know or learn something. In this episode, we talk about how EMPish (Evangelical, Mormon, and...

In the last six months, we had a series called The Seven Deadly Sexual Sins (According to the Church), where we answered the question, "What is the sex education that the church DID want us to have?" And then we talked about the sex education we actually wish we had, centered around the six sexual health principles described by Doug Braun Harvey. And this summer, we're talking about seven principl...

Happy Pride Month from Sexvangelicals! We kick off June by talking with our new Marketing and Communications Director, Maddie Upson, about her experiences navigating queerness inside and outside of religious contexts. This is one of the most riveting conversations we've had about queerness on our podcast. Check out our conversations about: Jenga Pieces (14:00) : Julia uses the metaphor that decons...

We have big news! We hired a new Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Maddie Upson, and we're excited to introduce you to her in a two part episode. In this episode, Maddie describes her experience growing up in a homeschool connected with the Evangelical Church in Arkansas, including: Fitting into the Church (8:00) : Maddie explains that her church and homeschool had one major goal: to keep...

Today's episode discusses one of the most challenging dynamics that we see when doing sex therapy with couples where one/both grew up in a religious context: How do you navigate value conversion, the paradigm shifting that happens during therapy, when two people convert their values at different paces? Jimmy Bridges, PhD, therapist extraordinaire at This Space Between, joins us for part two of thi...

Last week, in our episode with Kara Haug, we talked about honesty as structures that provide accurate information to individuals and groups about sexuality and relationships. This week, we talk about how to navigate honesty within a relationship, where two people may have similar or differing perspectives, needs, and values. The language that we use to describe this sexual health principle is "sha...

We continue with our series on The Sex Education We Wish We Had by talking about the sexual health principle of honesty. Doug Braun-Harvey, of the Harvey Institute, explains : "Sexual health requires open and direct communication with oneself and every sexual partner. Honesty with oneself involves being open to sexual pleasure, sexual experience, and sexual education. Without honesty, sexual relat...

April is STI Awareness Month. STIs are commonly discussed in sex ed curricula, but typically as a fear-mongering technique to discourage premarital sexuality. We are excited to have Jenelle Pierce, Executive Director of The STI Project , break down the stigma and provide strategies for discussing STIs with partners. The episode begins with this prompt: "A person is beginning to date and is explori...

The third principle of sexual health, according to Doug Braun-Harvey and Michael Vigorito , and part of the sex education we wish we had is effective, non fear mongering conversations around sexually transmitted infections, HIV, and pregnancy. Jenelle Pierce , the Executive Director of the STI Project , joins us for the next two episodes to share how we can have greater education, awareness, and d...

We're continuing our series on The Sex Ed We Wish We Had, rooted in the six sexual health principles of Doug Braun-Harvey. The second principle is non-exploitation (5:00) , "when a person leverages their power and control to receive sexual gratification. The outcome is sex that is ruthless and insensitive to the feelings of a partner and family members. The outcome encompasses unwanted, harsh, or...

We're continuing our conversation about consent on Sexvangelicals. Julia made a comment on this week's episode that consent is simultaneously easy and extremely difficult to navigate. I mean, we want consent to be an easy, straightforward thing. And when there are clear intentions to use sexuality as a way to physically and emotionally hurt and violate other people, the line between consent and no...

After our month-long foray into the disturbing literature from the Evangelical Christian publishing industry, we continue our new series The Sex Ed We Wish We Had . Last month, we interviewed Doug Braun-Harvey , who describes the six sexual health principles that we and many other sexual health providers use as their rubric for co-creating healthy sexual encounters. We begin with a two-part series...

This week, we finish our third and final installment in our series reading Joshua Butler's "Beautiful Union." This book was initially endorsed, then quickly recalled, by the Gospel Coalition. In the final part of Chapter One, we get to read how Butler compares the vulva to a "bus depot, how Jesus was supposedly a 33-year-old virgin, and how Butler uses citations incorrectly. In all seriousness, th...

Last week , we read the introduction from the book Beautiful Union by Joshua Butler. You know, the book that the Gospel Coalition posted an excerpt from two weeks ago, causing the Internet to lash out against TGC and Butler. And this week, we're reading the first half of the first chapter, and have our own variety of responses and reactions. We are not theologians; check out Jackson Wu's recent ar...

This week we are taking a quick pause from our series "The Sex Education We Wish We Had," to focus on some news from the Evangelical wing of the internet. This week there has been controversy surrounding Joshua Butler's new book, Beautiful Union: How God's Vision for Sex Points us to the Good, Unlocks the Truth, and Sort of Explains Everything . And yes, that is the real title. The Gospel Coalitio...

Join us for part two of our episode with Doug Braun-Harvey. Doug is a licensed marriage and family therapist, certified sex therapy supervisor and certified sex therapist in San Diego. He has taught and consulted on sexuality and sexual health with Widener University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Minnesota. Doug is also the co-founder of the Harvey Institute, an international...

This week we start our new series The Sex Education We Wish We Had and our first guest Doug Braun-Harvey, the co-founder of the Harvey Institute, an international education training, consulting, and supervision service for improving healthcare through the integration of sexual health.   Since 1993, he has been developing and implementing a sexual health-based treatment approach for men out of cont...

We conclude our series on the Seven Deadly Sexual Sins (According to the Church) with reflections on the final sin: Don't ask questions. Not asking questions impacted our own sexual development, and ultimately the end of our marriages. We talk more about: The conflation of faith with knowing about God (7:30). "We're big fans of the book of James in the Church of Christ. Faith without works is mean...

In episode #69, we talk with Dr. Laura Anderson , co-founder of the Religious Trauma Institute , about the ways that Evangelical structures set up the sixth deadly sexual sin, "Don't say no", especially to your "God given gender roles". In part 2 of our interview, Laura talks with us about the devastating implications of "Don't say no", including: The involvement of guilt and shame (10:45): Laura...