Emily Joy Allison – Her Story Speaks

Emily Joy Allison is a queer author, artist, public speaker and yoga teacher from Nashville, TN. Her passion and work focuses on fighting sexualized violence and purity culture in Christian communities. In November of 2017, Emily took to Twitter to share her story of being groomed for an abusive relationship by a church youth leader when she was in her teens, and the #ChurchToo movement was born to expose the culture of sexual abuse and assault utterly rampant in Christian churches in America.

In her debut book, #ChurchToo: How Purity Culture Upholds Abuse and How to Find Healing, Emily turns over the rocks of the church’s sexual dysfunction. She reveals just what makes sexualized violence in religious contexts both ubiquitous and uniquely traumatizing. Her book also lays the groundwork for healing from a religious culture of sexual shame, secrecy, and control.

Emily holds a B.A. in Philosophical Theology and Apologetics from Moody Bible Institute and is currently pursuing a Masters of Theological Studies with a concentration in religion, gender and sexuality from Vanderbilt Divinity School.

In our conversation we talk about:

-Emily’s story of coming out as queer women after being raised in purity culture

-The history of purity culture in the church

-Why complementarianism is a breading ground for sexual abuse to occur in churches

-How homophobia in the church is sexual violence

Connect with Emily here:

IG @emilyjoypoetry

Twitter @emilyjoypoetry

Facebook facebook.com/emilyjoypoetry

Website emilyjoypoetry.com