Where Do We Go From Here?

The evangelical message for girls was all about virginity, naivete, and silence, and millenial women are paying the price for it. "She Deserves Better" gets into what went wrong but also gives us a playbook for how to do better.

We talk about:

• the impact of modesty teaching
• what happens when girls are told they talk too much
• the importance of sex ed

Full show notes here

Partner with us to hear Jess and Devi's trip to a sex shop in Melbourne. We read out product descriptions and give our honest opinion about a (surprising) number of sea creature-like devices. Get it for $3/month (USD).

Sheila Wray Gregoire is the face behind BareMarrige.com, the largest single-blogger marriage blog. She's also an award-winning author of nine books, including The Great Sex Rescue, and a sought-after speaker. Connect with Sheila on Instagram.

Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach is a psychology graduate, Sheila's daughter, and the author of Why I Didn't Rebel. Working alongside her husband, Connor, she develops websites focusing on building Jesus-centered marriages and families. Connect with Rebecca on Instagram.

We're mixing faith and friskiness and spilling divine secrets on tasteful toys. Get ready to bless your bedside drawer with a touch of sex-educator-approved delights. Dr. Celeste Holbrook is back with the the quality sex education we need after purity culture life.

Partner with us to hear our thoughts on the Barbie movie, plus you'll get a ticket to The Big Debrief at the end of the month and more!

Full shown notes here (including a transcript of our interview wit Celeste)

Dr. Celeste Holbrook is a sexologist and speaker who helps her clients evolve into the people they were created to be, in and outside of the bedroom. She speaks on a variety of topics from sex drive and sexual shame to painful intercourse, purity culture and more. Her mission is to provide safe spaces for people to talk about sex Dr. Celeste has been featured in Women's Health Magazine, Mothers of Preschoolers, Reader's Digest and more. Connect with Celeste on Instagram and take her classes online.

Purity Culture graduates left the movement with our feet stuck to chewed up gum, our fingers locked into purity rings, and our hearts (supposedly) irreparably broken. But these were images and metaphors given to us by an evangelicalism broken by its own damaged stories, images, and metaphors. This episode gets into what went wrong, and how we can start to make it right.

Join us in Patreon to hear about deconstruction in evangelical history. Join today and get a ticket to our monthly Zoom call happening on July 27 (9pm EST) and 28 (11am AEDT). It's $3/month USD, and you get romcom recaps, purity culture news & views, and more!

The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis16: Read Better Books (with Karen Swallow Prior)

Karen Swallow Prior (PhD, SUNY Buffalo) is the award-winning author of On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books. She is a frequent speaker, a monthly columnist at Religion News Service, and has written for Christianity Today, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Vox. She is a contributing editor for Comment, a founding member of the Pelican Project, a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, and a senior fellow at the International Alliance for Christian Education. Connect with Karen on Instagram and Twitter

While "Sound of Freedom" rakes in the profits in the US box office, there are still children in exploitative circumstances. Are search and rescue missions the most effective way of rehabilitating them? We bring you a Christian anti-trafficking expert who has seen the harmful impacts of well-intentioned evangelicals and knows that there's a better way forward.

We talk about:

• how this movie harms anti trafficking work
• the trafficking of children happens primarily through exploitative and forced labor
• how our dollars fund child slavery (hint: check your pantry)
• evidence-based models for successful anti trafficking work
• organizations you can trust with your dollars

Full show notes here (with all the organization links!)

Dr. Lauren Pinkston is a public academic, teaching through published writing, nonprofit coaching, facilitated workshops, and a newly released podcast. She holds a PhD in International Family and Community Studies from Clemson University. Previous to working in academia, Lauren lived in Southeast Asia researching the human trafficking crisis and starting businesses to employ survivors. She now consults for anti-trafficking organizations and small business startups, helping them institute trauma policies into healing-centered workplaces. Lauren is the President of Kindred Exchange, a non-profit focused on establishing more ethical missions practices and expanding jobs in the Global South. Connect with Lauren on Instagram

"Christians need to face the truth of who we are." That's what Professor Iwan Russell-Jones told us, and it's why we took a hard look at Hillsong through the FX/Hulu docuseries "The Secrets of Hillsong." In this episode we talk about church as the show and what it is costing us. We also talk about:

• the docuseries as Carl Lentz's redemption vehicle
• the cost of spiritual abuse
• should church be charging money for attendance and paying volunteers?

Full show notes here

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Partner with us to hear our romcom recap of 13 Going on 30 and get the full conversation with Professor Iwan Russell-Jones plus more partner perks.

Trigger Warning: This is a conversation about Frank Houston's three-decade history of sexually abusing children, and there are many references to the subject. Please proceed with caution if this topic is triggering for you. There are resources in the show notes about healing after trauma.

Frank Houston was a serial sexual abuser of children, but he walked off the church stage into forced retirement to the sound of a standing ovation. After his son, Brian Houston, knew about at least once incidence of molestation. We discuss this sad, enraging event and the way "The Secrets of Hillsong" brings together the different pieces of information.

Full show notes here

Join us for The Big Debrief on June 30 at 11 am (Melbourne time), June 29 (9pm EST/8pm CST) to talk about the past month of Hillsong stories and your church stories.

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We dive deep into the shocking downfall of Carl Lentz, former pastor of Hillsong New York, and ask questions about the supposedly eye-opening revelations from "The Secrets of Hillsong" documentary. A former member of Hillsong NYC joins us to uncover what the documentary misses, the culture of celebrity pastors, and the consequences of blind faith in broken institutions.

Full show notes here (including a transcript of the whole show) Partner with us to hear our conversation with documentarian Professor Iwan Russell-Jones on why it's important for Christians to face the truth.

Connect with us on Instagram and Twitter

What is true about the global megachurch Hillsong? There's a new docuseries out from Vanity Fair and FX trying to get to it. But do they get it right? Starting this week Jess and Devi recap the episodes for those of you in Australia who can't watch it yet and for those of you in the US who need a debrief. We've got you.

Full show notes here

Want more? Our partners get episodes weekly, including this week's deep dive into documentary filmaking. If you want some tools for how to watch this documentary and others, Jess has all the tips for you.

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Trigger Warning: This episode contains references to spiritual, religious, and sexual abuse. Please proceed with caution.

What do we do when a spiritual hero is accused of abusive practices? Jess and Devi were both impacted by Soul Survivor founder, the Rev Canon Mike Pilavachi, and in this raw and real episode, they process the recent news about the investigation the Church of England announced.

Want more? This week's partner-only episode of Purity Culture News & Views has the latest updates on the situation with Mike Pilavachi as well as more on how to deal with news about fallen Christian leaders. Sign up for $3/month to get it as well as romcom recaps and a ticket to the Big Debrief.

Full show notes here

At some point in childhood you first learnt about sex.

This might have been in the form of "the sex talk" from your parents. Or you might have heard it elsewhere.

In this episode we reflect on that sex talk from parents and from a parent and child's perspective. Join Jessica and her mum Caren for this special discussion between a mother and daughter around the sex talk.

What do we remember about that? What was said? What should be said? What would we do differently?

Our Instagram community also had a lot to share on this topic! Jessica shares their thoughts across these questions as well.

See show note links HERE.