THE PURITY MYTH: A FEMINIST DISABILITY THEOLOGY OF WOMEN’S SEXUALITY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PASTORAL CARE
Abstract
The purity ideology is used to inform the cultural and religious constructions of women’s sexuality. The ideology is further used to discriminate against the female body and disabled body, limiting the participation of both abled and disabled women in cultural and religious spaces. This article, written from a feminist disability theology perspective, highlights the emerging politics of sexuality on the ability-disability divide between women, and the purity myth ideology that further excludes women from cultural and religious spaces. It argues that the purity ideology is a myth that should unite women in resisting oppressive and patriarchal constructions of sexuality regardless of ability and disability. In conclusion, feminist disability theology is applied to discuss how sexuality that subjects women to the purity myth has negative implications for the pastoral care ministry.Authors retain copyright and grant the Journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this Journal.
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