LAUREN D. SAWYER

Read my debut book

Growing Up Pure

White Girls, Queer Teens, & the Racial Foundations of Purity Culture

Growing Up Pure

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Growing Up Pure ❋

By arguing that young people are moral and sexual agents, Growing Up Pure pushes against the prevailing narrative that white youth—especially girls and queer youth—are always only victims within evangelical purity culture.

  • Caution: Don’t read this book unless you’re prepared to question your assumptions!

    Marvin M. Ellison, author of Making Love Just: Sexual Ethics for Perplexing Times

  • . . . widely applicable, meticulously argued and footnoted yet highly accessible . . .

    Cristina L. H. Traina, Fordham University

  • Through numerous resources, wonderful analysis, and personal stories and wide-ranging narratives, Sawyer presents a meaningful and creative possibility to understanding human (sexual, intimate, personal) relationships, and how we can together cultivate spaces where each human being, whatever their age, can flourish in this world.

    Mihee Kim-Kort, author of Outside the Lines: How Embracing Queerness Will Transform Your Faith