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ABSTRACT
For centuries, the Christian God has been depicted through a predominantly masculine framework that has left women devoid of relating to the Divine in her woman-ness. Women's sexuality within the Canadian Evangelical context remains a topic that is often not discussed. This study looks at the convergence of three areas of human experience: sexuality, embodiment, and religious/spiritual experience within this specific church context. It looks on how women have experienced this religious phenomenon and the impact on the self as sexual and embodied beings. Data analysis revealed five emergent themes: (1) shame around the female body and sexual experience, (2) dialogue around the female body, (3) disintegration and disembodiment, (4) sources of Identity and (5) evolving views of Spirituality and Sexuality. To stay withing the journal's guidelines on text volume, the current article focuses on the first three themes.
Acknowledgements
I would first and foremost like to thank my twelve participants who gave of their time and energy to this research. This study would not have been possible if it weren’t for their willingness to share so openly and honestly about their experiences. I would like to say a huge thank you to my thesis supervisor, Buuma Maisha, for his support, encouragement, and insight into this work. An immense amount of gratitude to my dear friend Olivia Schultz for their encouragement to continue working with this project, and for all the formatting help. To my friend and colleague Stephanie Kale, thank you for being my second pair of eyes in the cross-coding process, and for walking many hours with me to process and brainstorm my ideas. To my Mom, Dad, and sister – your belief in me from the start of this research project has carried me through. Thank you to Kent Brintnall for inviting members of the PCRC to submit our work through the Journal of Theology and Sexuality. For Sara Moslener and Kathryn House, thank you for organizing this process and making it possible to publish our work here. Lastly, to all my friends, and other PCRC members, who have been a safe space for me to explore and use my voice to research and write on topics such as this.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Tolman et al., Sexuality and Embodiment, 761.
2 Ibid., 759–804.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid., 761.
5 Ussher et al., “Negotiating Discourses of Shame, Secrecy and Silence,” 1901.
6 Tolman, “Adolescent Girls, Women, and Sexuality,” 67.
7 Baumeister et al., “Cultural Suppression of Female Sexuality,” 166.
8 Ibid., 166.
9 Rudman et al., “What Motivates the Sexual Double Standard,” 250–63.
10 Peplau et al., “A New Paradigm for Understanding Women’s Sexuality,” 332.
11 Ibid., 330–50.
12 Ibid.
13 Baumeister et al., “Cultural Suppression of Female Sexuality,” 85–86.
14 Ibid., 193.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid., 194.
18 See National Association of Evangelicals, “What is an Evangelical”; Stackhouse, Canadian Evangelicalism in the Twentieth Century.
19 Klein, Pure, 18.
20 Ibid., 18–20.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid.
24 Reimer, Evangelicals, and the Continental Divide, 5–7.
25 Burke et al., “Sexual Encounters and Manhood Acts,” 330–44.
26 Maddox, “Rise Up Warrior Princess Daughters,” 18; Rine, Why Some Evangelicals are Trying, 18.
27 Rine, Why Some Evangelicals Are Trying, 3.
28 As cited by Rine on page 3.
29 Ibid.
30 Ibid.
31 Ibid.
32 Maddox, “Rise Up Warrior Princess Daughters,” 17–18.
33 Murdoch, Theories of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 480.
34 Ibid.
35 This was inspired by Creswell et al.’s work in Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design.”
36 See Pietkiewicz et al., “A Practical Guide to Using Interpretative Phenomenological”.
37 Irby, “Dating in Light of Christ,” 263.
38 Bartowski et al., “Veiled Submission,” 1–22.
39 Ibid., 1–22.
40 McGuire, “Religion and Healing Mind/Body/Self,” 101–16.
41 Ibid., 101–16.
42 Ott et al., “Embodied Learning: Teaching Sexuality and Religion,” 106–08.
43 Welles, “Breaking the Silence Surrounding Female,” 31–45.
44 Claney, “Sexual Without Sex,” 191–200.
45 Ibid., 191–200.
46 Ussher as cited in Welles, “Breaking the Silence Surrounding Female,” 1901–21.
47 Greer, “The Madonna, The Whore, The Myth,” 1–4.
48 See Claney, “Sexual Without Sex.”
49 Ibid., 191–200.
50 Greer, “The Madonna, The Whore, The Myth,” 1–4.
51 Horn et al., “Sexuality and Spirituality,” 81.
52 Blum, “Women, Sex, and God,” 242.
53 See Thompson, “Putting a Big Thing in a Little Hole,” but spoken about in Welles, “Breaking the Silence Surrounding Female,” 341–61.
54 Gish, "Producing High Priests and Princesses," 135–42.
55 See Baumeister et al., “Cultural Suppression of Female Sexuality”.
56 Ibid.
57 Tuffour, “A Critical Overview of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis,” 1–5.
58 Ibid., 1–5.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Melissa Payne
Melissa Payne is a Registered Psychotherapist living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and founder of Grounded Psychotherapy. Melissa completed her Master’s in Psychotherapy, Counselling and Spirituality from Saint Paul University, affiliated with the University of Ottawa. In her work, Melissa focuses on working with Individuals in therapy surrounding topics such as, but not limited to: Trauma, Grief and Loss, Sexuality, Spiritual and Existential Issues, Embodiment work, Religious and Spiritual Trauma, LGBTQIA + community, Faith Crisis, and Anxiety and Depression. Melissa spent many of her formative years in Evangelical settings and environments, and her personal experiences of disembodiment and disempowerment are what inspired her work in this research study.