Sexuality and Hope with Dr. Hillary McBride

<p style="text-align:left;">The Cupboard welcomes guest Dr. Hillary McBride.</p> <p style="text-align:left;"> </p> <p style="text-align:left;">Dr. McBride is a Psychotherapist, and host of the CBC Podcast "<a href='https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcasts/other-peoples-problems/'>Other People's Problems</a>" and the <a href='https://theliturgists.com/the-podcast'>Liturgists Podcast</a>.</p> <p style="text-align:left;"> </p> <p style="text-align:left;">We speak with Hillary about purity culture, scrupulosity, mental health and body image, changing views from one generation to the next. </p> <p style="text-align:left;"> </p> <p style="text-align:left;">How is it that when religious culture becomes fearful or controlling or strict, so often the first location of control is over women's bodies? Purity culture has hurt men as well as women, often preventing people from taking steps of maturity and life. The cycle of ignorance, fear, and shame has done terrible damage to so many women and men. Dr. Hillary McBride in her work and in her podcasts and books, offers a better way of understanding, a better way of speaking and even more promisingly, a way of hope. </p> <p style="text-align:left;"> </p> <p>Episode Terminology:</p> <p> </p> <p>Gnosticism: A philosphical/religious way of seeing the world. For our purposes in this episode the basic consideration is that gnosticism presents a spiritual/earthly (or physical) division. Much of the New Testament is written in contrast and opposition to gnostic thinking which said that Jesus could not have been divine because he had a physical body. The inferior way of seeing the physical also led to some extreme actions as seeing the body as degraded led some to think that any form of expression, including sexually was fine as the body was degraded anyway.</p> <p> </p> <p>Purity Culture: The emphasis/idolatry of sexuality (particularly female sexuality) in some religious circles that led to expressions such as “chastity vows”, etc. This was the conflation of morality and even s