Overview

When it comes to evangelicals and sex, it seems, whatever the question, the answer is ""no."" In Saving Sex, Amy DeRogatis argues that this could not be further from the truth. Demolishing the myth of evangelicals as anti-sex, she shows that American evangelicals claim that fabulous sex--in the right context--is viewed as a divinely-sanctioned, spiritual act. For decades, evangelical sex education has been a thriving industry. Evangelical couples have sought advice from Christian psychologists and marriage counselors, purchased millions of copies of faith-based ""sexual guidebooks,"" and consulted magazines, pamphlets, websites, blogs, and podcasts on a vast array of sexual topics, including human anatomy, STDs--sometimes known as ""Sexually Transmitted Demons""--varieties of sexual pleasure, role-play, and sex toys, all from a decidedly biblical angle. DeRogatis discusses a wide range of evidence, from purity literature for young evangelicals to sex manuals for married couples to ""deliverance manuals,"" which instruct believers in how to expel demons that enter the body through sexual sin. Evangelicals have at times attempted to co-opt the language of female empowerment, emphasizing mutual consent and female sexual pleasure while insisting that the key to marital sexual happiness depends on maintaining traditional gender roles based on the literal interpretation of scripture. Saving Sex is a long-overdue exploration of evangelicals' surprising and often-misunderstood beliefs about sex--who can do what, when, and why--and of the many ways in which they try to bring those beliefs to bear on American culture.

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9780199942251

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Reviews

From sexually transmitted demons to father-daughter purity balls to the use of trampolines as sexual props, Amy DeRogatis is a sympathetic, critical, and engaging guide through the world of evangelical sex manuals. She provides a vivid and nuanced account of how evangelicals convert secular sex advice for godly purposes and understand sex as part of salvation. This is an indispensable contribution to studies of evangelicalism and sexuality in America. Tanya Erzen, author of Straight to Jesus: Sexual and Christian Conversions in the Ex-Gay Movement Fascinating from beginning to end, this book adds greatly to the understanding of Evangelical life today. Amy DeRogatis examines the almost overlooked subject of conservative Protestant heterosexuality. Putting sex on the scholarly agenda in a compelling way, she makes a fundamental contribution to the materialization of Religious Studies in general, and of Protestantism in particular. Long dismissed as prudish and disembodied, Protestantism is rediscovered here as sexually engaged and self-aware. David Morgan, Professor and Department Chair of Religious Studies, Duke University Resisting the temptation of a playful romp through evangelical marriage manuals, Amy DeRogatis seriously engages the sexual ambivalences of born-again Christianity, particularly the insistent pursuit of both purity and pleasure. Contemporary evangelicals have been instructed to approach sex as if their salvation-as well as that of the wider culture-depends on its proper performance. Saving Sex is an eye-opening examination of just how extensive and detailed that instruction has been. Leigh Eric Schmidt, Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor, Washington University in St. Louis

From sexually transmitted demons to father-daughter purity balls to the use of trampolines as sexual props, Amy DeRogatis is a sympathetic, critical, and engaging guide through the world of evangelical sex manuals. She provides a vivid and nuanced account of how evangelicals convert secular sex advice for godly purposes and understand sex as part of salvation. This is an indispensable contribution to studies of evangelicalism and sexuality in America. Tanya Erzen, author of Straight to Jesus: Sexual and Christian Conversions in the Ex-Gay Movement Fascinating from beginning to end, this book adds greatly to the understanding of Evangelical life today. Amy DeRogatis examines the almost overlooked subject of conservative Protestant heterosexuality. Putting sex on the scholarly agenda in a compelling way, she makes a fundamental contribution to the materialization of Religious Studies in general, and of Protestantism in particular. Long dismissed as prudish and disembodied, Protestantism is rediscovered here as sexually engaged and self-aware. David Morgan, Professor and Department Chair of Religious Studies, Duke University Resisting the temptation of a playful romp through evangelical marriage manuals, Amy DeRogatis seriously engages the sexual ambivalences of born-again Christianity, particularly the insistent pursuit of both purity and pleasure. Contemporary evangelicals have been instructed to approach sex as if their salvation-as well as that of the wider culture-depends on its proper performance. Saving Sex is an eye-opening examination of just how extensive and detailed that instruction has been. Leigh Eric Schmidt, Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor, Washington University in St. Louis Saving Sex offers scholars and students of religion and sexuality excellent textual analysis of a body of literature Sara Moslener, Sociology of Religion

Saving Sex offers scholars and students of religion and sexuality excellent textual analysis of a body of literature * Sara Moslener, Sociology of Religion * Resisting the temptation of a playful romp through evangelical marriage manuals, Amy DeRogatis seriously engages the sexual ambivalences of born-again Christianity, particularly the insistent pursuit of both purity and pleasure. Contemporary evangelicals have been instructed to approach sex as if their salvation-as well as that of the wider culture-depends on its proper performance. Saving Sex is an eye-opening examination of just how extensive and detailed that instruction has been. * Leigh Eric Schmidt, Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor, Washington University in St. Louis * Fascinating from beginning to end, this book adds greatly to the understanding of Evangelical life today. Amy DeRogatis examines the almost overlooked subject of conservative Protestant heterosexuality. Putting sex on the scholarly agenda in a compelling way, she makes a fundamental contribution to the materialization of Religious Studies in general, and of Protestantism in particular. Long dismissed as prudish and disembodied, Protestantism is rediscovered here as sexually engaged and self-aware. * David Morgan, Professor and Department Chair of Religious Studies, Duke University * From sexually transmitted demons to father-daughter purity balls to the use of trampolines as sexual props, Amy DeRogatis is a sympathetic, critical, and engaging guide through the world of evangelical sex manuals. She provides a vivid and nuanced account of how evangelicals convert secular sex advice for godly purposes and understand sex as part of salvation. This is an indispensable contribution to studies of evangelicalism and sexuality in America. * Tanya Erzen, author of Straight to Jesus: Sexual and Christian Conversions in the Ex-Gay Movement *

Author Information

Amy DeRogatis is Associate Professor of Religion and American Culture in the Department of Religious Studies at Michigan State University. She is the author of Moral Geography: Maps, Missionaries, and the American Frontier.

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