Hello, Feministing community! I'm posting a call for help. I'm writing a seminar paper in my master's program about the use of Jane Austen by advocates of abstinence-only sex education. The idea started from a post on Feministing about Miriam Grossman's website and book called Sense and Sexuality . I've gotten about as far as a Google search will take me, and so I'm asking Feministing readers, have you seen Jane Austen evoked by any purity-pushers, online or in print?
Or even in person? If you've encountered folks who use Austen in arguing for the purity movement and would be willing to either pass along contact information for a phone interview or would be willing to be interviewed yourself, that would be extremely helpful.
I'm also interested in Austen being used by feminists who are specifically countering the purity movement: people who are advocates of comprehensive sex ed and who, in advocating it, use a reference to either Austen or any of her novels.
Even if you only have a vague description of something you may have read, it could be helpful. I'm fairly good at tracking things down. Thanks so much!
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Hi stokerc! This is so interesting! I wrote my thesis about the evangelical Christian branch of the purity movement in college, and they invoke Austen constantly. There's a huge amount of comparing Eleanor to Maryanne to illustrate the benefits of reserve vs. the shame and ruination of getting involved in a romance too quickly and passionately, and a lot of general wistful "Don't you wish you lived in Jane Austen's time when men were men and women were ladies and love was pure and nobody ever thought about having sex before marriage unless they were a shameless hussy like Lydia" writing.
I'm not sure this is what you're looking for, because it goes well beyond abstinence-only sex ed and into hard-core fundamentalist Christian physical and emotional "purity" territory, but check out some of Eric and Leslie Ludy's books if you can find them (and read them without becoming physically ill...). In Leslie Ludy's book Authentic Beauty she has almost a whole chapter on "what a perfect courtship/every woman's fantasy romance should look like" (hint: pure! drawing rooms! blushing when fingertips brush!), based explicitly on her conception of Jane Austen (which I take extreme issue with, incidentally).
If you'd like to talk more about this let me know!
LSG, thanks! I will look into getting that book through ILL. Can I get your email address? I'd like to talk to you about your thesis and perhaps get a bibliography from you.
courtneystoker@gmail.com
Emailed!
It's probably only tangentially related, but you might get some interesting things out of it - there was a book a few years back called 'Jane Austen's Guide to Dating'. I distinctly remember a few examples along the lines of 'don't be all skanky like Lydia - be smart like Lizzy!'