Good Girls, Good Sex

What happens when a woman’s identities as a Christian and as an embodied sexual woman collide? What impact does a conventional Christian view of sexuality have on women’s sexual lives? Through conversations with thirty-six Protestant women, Good Girls, Good Sex explores how both religious values and communities shape women’s sexual experiences and the role of social class and race in this shaping. In their stories, the women reflect on how they handle conflicts between their religious views and their sexual desires, and how they satisfy those desires while simultaneously negotiating a conservative Christian message and more liberal secular messages. Sonya Sharma finds that, although the idea of the “good girl” is a common thread throughout the narratives, many of the women challenged the notion of “no sex before marriage” and saw their sexuality and insights into their church community as a means to challenge systems of patriarchy that persist in these spaces.