Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


Thesis_Vanderbeke_M_Pubertal_Comm.pdf (853.88 KB)

Digital Accessibility Report

File List


Thesis_Vanderbeke_M_Pubertal_Comm.pdf.accreport.html (7.93 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

My Mom Gave Me a Book: A Critical Review of Evangelical Literature about Puberty, Sexuality, and Gender Roles and their Role in Conversations about Sex Education

Vanderbeke, Marianne
http://orcid.org/0009-0003-8435-6126
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1688470450446932

Abstract Details

2023, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, Media and Communication.
Generations of women in the Evangelical Church have embodied narratives passed from mother to daughter, from church leadership, and through their religious communities. These narratives, including those of women’s subservience and deserving of suffering endured from spouses, church leaders, and others, have origins in the earliest days of church history. In this thesis I examine how such narratives are embedded in books on pubertal guidance targeted to mothers and daughters in Evangelical Christian communities. Building on Fish’s work on interpretive communities, Gramsci’s conceptualization of hegemony, Foucault theorizing on power, and an interdisciplinary literature on the interaction between religion, culture, and politics, I interrogate themes of puberty, sexual function, gender roles, consent, and gender-based violence addressed in books on pubertal guidance, and how these books contribute to or reinforce evangelical Christian doctrinal narratives on gender and sexuality. Through a methodological approach using grounded theory, narrative inquiry, autoethnography, and textual analysis, findings indicate Evangelical Christian culture creates an interpretive community which drives only acceptable interpretation of religious texts (primarily the Bible), gender norms, and patriarchal power dynamics. Themes emerging from the texts analyzed, including Complementarianism, submission, purity, modesty, inadequacy, and silencing, have deep consequences not only for women and girls in Evangelical Christian communities, but for society at large as the legislative push for adherence to Evangelical Christian doctrinal ideologies work to remove access to basic human rights for people who do not adhere them. Misinformation, incomplete information, and hegemonic narratives serve to perpetuate gender inequality and have broad effects on women’s and girls’ mental, emotional, and physical health. In light of the most recent intrusions by Christian Nationalists into the legislative fabric of U. S. federal, state, and local governments in an attempt to enforce religious practice and ideology in the legislative arena, this thesis provides important insight into the communication methods and the theoretical basis for women to accept the hegemonic concepts presented to them in their Evangelical Christian communities. The importance of this thesis becomes evident considering how Christian books contribute to this communication, especially considering its potential for affecting legislation and culture in the future.
Lara Martin Lengel, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Clayton` Rosati, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Lisa Hanasono, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
113 p.
American History; American Studies; Behavioral Psychology; Bible; Biblical Studies; Biographies; Communication; Divinity; Education; Ethics; Families and Family Life; Gender; Gender Studies; Health; Health Care; Health Education; History; Individual and Family Studies; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Pastoral Counseling; Personal Relationships; Philosophy; Public Health; Public Health Education; Public Policy; Religion; Religious Congregations; Religious Education; Religious History; Rhetoric; Social Research; Social Structure; Sociology; Spirituality; Theology; Womens Studies
autoethnography; Christian nationalism; Christianity; Complementarianism; consent; culture; Evangelical; gender based violence; gender equality; grounded theory; hegemony; ideology; interpretive communities; misinformation; narrative inquiry; patriarchy; politics; power; puberty; purity culture; religion; textual analysis

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Vanderbeke, M. (2023). My Mom Gave Me a Book: A Critical Review of Evangelical Literature about Puberty, Sexuality, and Gender Roles and their Role in Conversations about Sex Education [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1688470450446932

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Vanderbeke, Marianne. My Mom Gave Me a Book: A Critical Review of Evangelical Literature about Puberty, Sexuality, and Gender Roles and their Role in Conversations about Sex Education. 2023. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1688470450446932.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Vanderbeke, Marianne. "My Mom Gave Me a Book: A Critical Review of Evangelical Literature about Puberty, Sexuality, and Gender Roles and their Role in Conversations about Sex Education." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2023. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1688470450446932

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1688470450446932
232
© 2023, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.