The Modesty Files

Welcome to SEASON THREE of The Modesty Files! On today's episode, we're speaking with Lindsey, a former member of Advanced Training Institute, the infamous homeschool curriculum created by Bill Gothard. While we know our guest as Lindsey, for those on TikTok, you may know her as at @cultchronicles. Looking for something to do at the start of quarantine, Lindsey decided to re-read her old journals and document her re-exploration of the past on TikTok. She went viral, and people were fascinated by the stories she was sharing. But more importantly, Lindsey discovered that opening up about her life in ATI was what she needed to finally begin her healing process. So today, instead of hearing Lindsey's experience growing up in ATI in a 1-minute video, we have two episodes to explore the depths of her upbringing.

Topics in this episode include mature adult themes, so listener discretion is advised.

Support us on Patreon! patreon.com/themodestyfiles

Follow us on Instagram @themodestyfiles for updates and bonus content.

On today’s “Where are they now” special episode we’re talking with one of our season 1 guests, Lydia. She was the first one to introduce us to Christian purity culture and Josh Harris's book “I Kissed Dating Goodbye.” Lydia shared with us last year that she had yet to have her first kiss, and while we’ll let Lydia share with us what she has been up, let’s say it’s almost as perfect as a hallmark movie.

We highly recommend going back and listening to her episode in season 1, episode 8 to hear her complete story.

Support us on Patreon! patreon.com/themodestyfiles

Follow us on Instagram @themodestyfiles for updates and bonus content.

On today’s “Where are They Now” special episode we’re talking with Angela, who was a guest in Season 1. She comes from a Pentecostal background and taught us all about the church’s rituals, such as healing and speaking in tongues, her experience being a pastor’s kid, and what it means to take a “liberal” stance on sex education and morals. We highly recommend going back and listening to her episode in Season 1, Episode 9 to hear her complete story.

Support us on Patreon! patreon.com/themodestyfiles

Support us on Patreon! patreon.com/themodestyfiles

Follow us on Instagram @themodestyfiles for updates and bonus content.

Today we’re continuing our conversation with Jenni, an alum from Bob Jones University. If you haven’t listened to Part One, we highly recommend going back to hear Jenni's story from the beginning. She explained to us many of the rules enforced by the school and how challenging it was for Jenni to come out as a queer. Jenni going to share with us what it was like to undergo years of conversion therapy, what led her to leave fundamentalism, and how she learned to embrace her true self as a queer woman.

Topics in this episode include abuse, mental health difficulties, and other mature themes, so listener discretion is advised.

This is the last episode of Season 2 of The Modesty Files! Thank you once again to all the incredible people that we’ve spoken to this year and the supporters we’ve connected with along the way. We’ll be back in September for Season Three, so in the meantime, please to leave us a rating or review wherever you listen to your podcasts, follow us on Instagram and support us over on Patreon to get access to bonus segments throughout the summer.

And one final thank you to our female power squad: Allison, Amanda, Caroline, Emma, Kelsey, Janelle, Jessica, Savannah, and Sophie for helping us bring season two to life.

Support us on Patreon! patreon.com/themodestyfiles

Follow us on Instagram @themodestyfiles for updates and bonus content.

Today we are speaking with Jenni, an alum from Bob Jones University, a private, non-denominational evangelical university in Greenville, South Carolina. It is known for its conservative cultural and religious positions. At Bob Jones, Jenni had to abide by strict rules enforced by the school, like a bell that rang at 11 pm and 7 am for mandatory bedtime and wake time every day. The university fostered a “tattling culture” and so as Jenni discover her sexual identity, it made coming out as a queer person pretty difficult. Jenni is here today to share all the details about Bob Jones and her incredible coming out story.

Topics in this episode include mature themes, so listener discretion is advised.

Support us on Patreon! patreon.com/themodestyfiles

Follow us on Instagram @themodestyfiles for updates and bonus content.

On today’s episode, we’re joined by Nick, a former member of the Church of the Brethren. Growing up, Nick expressed many questions about her non-denominational faith and religious practices. She had a hard time performing the role she had to play for the church community. As queer person, Nick struggle with the church’s required head covering, dresses on sunday, overall traditional femmine expectations. The Brethren openly opposed same-sex marriage and these teachings became problematic as Nick grew older and started exploring her sexual identity. Her religious beliefs began to fade in college and her involvement on Tumblr and fandoms helped her realize the importance of self-expression and freedom in creating your own identity.

Topics in this episode include mature adult themes, so listener discretion is advised.

Support us on Patreon! patreon.com/themodestyfiles

Follow us on Instagram @themodestyfiles for updates and bonus content.

Welcome back to the second episode of our Pride Month celebration series. Today we’re speaking with Martina, a queer woman from Belgum who’s going to share with us her unique experience with the Mormon church. After a traumatic incident as a teen, Martina was searching for a community of people. She encountered a group of Mormon missionaries and her friendship with them turned into a slow boil of indoctrination into the church. She fell for the love bombing, and soon enough, the church convinced her that she “struggled with same-sex attraction” and that she could easily fall in love with a man. After a year of participating in Mormon practices and attempting to deny her sexuality, Martina decided on the day of her baptism that she needed to leave the Mormon church for good.

Topics in this episode include mature adult themes, so listener discretion is advised.

Support us on Patreon! patreon.com/themodestyfiles

Follow us on Instagram @themodestyfiles for updates and bonus content.

Today is the first episode of our Pride Month celebration series. We’re bringing to you five incredible episodes from people in the LGBTQA+ community who have left fundamentalism.

We’re kicking off our series with an interview with Elizabeth Hunter, or @ThatLizHunter for those who know her from Instagram and TikTok. Elizabeth has spent the last year on social media documenting her experiences growing up influenced by Bill Gothard's homeschool curriculum, the Advanced Training Institute. Additionally, Elizabeth attended Bob Jones University and was almost kicked out of the school for her sexuality. Administrators threatened her student status after she tweeted “Happy Pride” and wrote a book with lesbian characters. Now in 2021, Elizabeth is participating as a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education. She’ll get into the details on her involvement and more in today’s episode.

Topics in this episode include physical and sexual abuse, depression, and other mature themes, so listener discretion is advised.

Support us on Patreon! patreon.com/themodestyfiles

Follow us on Instagram @themodestyfiles for updates and bonus content.

Today’s guest is Halt and he’s going to share with us his male perspective of what it was like attending a Non-denominational Christian school in Las Vegas. From Kindergarten through 12th grade, Halt was immersed in Christianized education. He received very little sex education and participated in purity banquets, pledging that they would maintain their virginity for marriage. Halt’s history courses also focused on white-washed history topics like Great Replacement Theory and used “Apologetics” to justify their teachers. Halt finally began to question his beliefs as a junior in high school when he began taking non-sanitized history courses at the local college.

Support us on Patreon! patreon.com/themodestyfiles

Follow us on Instagram @themodestyfiles for updates and bonus content.

On today's episode, we're speaking with Kez, who joins us all the way from the other side of the world in Australia. She is here today to share with us her experience growing up in the Independent Baptist church, and how the Advanced Training Institute homeschool curriculum was implemented in her home. Growing up as a pastor's kid, Kez faced the pressures of perfection and was isolated from anyone outside her IB community. Her father even became a key player in bringing fundamentalist figures, like Bill Gothard and SM Davis, to Australia. Kez struggled for years with mental health challenges but eventually escaped to seek help and discovered what freedom felt like on the outside.

Trigger warnings for topics including child sexual abuse and suicidal ideation. Listener discretion advised.

Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/themodestyfiles

Follow us on Instagram @themodestyfiles for updates and bonus content.