Exploring Acts of Agency within Christian Women’s Sexuality

Authors

  • Sonya Sharma Durham University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v7i2.134

Keywords:

agency, conservative Protestantism, femininity, sexuality, women

Abstract

Conservative Protestantism’s message for sexuality is well known – sex is only for the context of heterosexual marriage. This teaching, bolstered by conservative constructions of femininity, motivates the author to explore acts of agency within Christian women’s sexuality. The author shows women between the ages of 18 and 25 negotiating competing ecclesial and secular discourses on sexuality. Drawing from 36 qualitative interviews in which 33 identified as heterosexual and 3 as lesbian, the author discusses women separating their sexuality and Christianity because they were experienced as conflictual, one woman’s sexuality that lead her back to church, and women choosing sexual abstinence until marriage. This article demonstrates that while women continue to face the dichotomy presented between their religion and sexuality, this conception is too simplistic to explain the multiplicity and complexity of women’s faith and sexual experiences.

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Author Biography

  • Sonya Sharma, Durham University

    Sonya Sharma received her PhD in Women’s Studies from Lancaster University. Her research has focused on women’s experiences of church life and sexuality and young people’s experiences of faith at English universities. WithCanadian colleagues she has also been researching the negotiation of religious, spiritual and cultural plurality in Canadian healthcare. Her next project is on the role of religion between sisters, funded by the Association for the Sociology of Religion’s Fichter Research Grant. Her research is grounded in a feminist approach and seeks to understand how religion informs relationships and identities, and intersects with other forms of difference.

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Published

2013-03-22

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Sharma, S. (2013). Exploring Acts of Agency within Christian Women’s Sexuality. Fieldwork in Religion, 7(2), 134–147. https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v7i2.134