Dr. Sara Moslener (she/her)
Sara Moslener is a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, Anthropology, and Religion at Central Michigan University where she teaches courses on the history of religious and racial discrimination in the United States. She has been studying evangelical purity culture for over 15 years and has numerous publications including the book Virgin Nation: Sexual Purity and American Adolescence (Oxford University Press: 2015) which demonstrates how sexual purity campaigns and rhetoric have been used by white Protestants since the 19th century to obtain greater political power and cultural influence.
From Pure Adolescence
In high school, Sara was a fierce advocate for the counter-cultural teachings of Christianity. She was proud of not fitting in and made that known by writing a letter to the editor of her local paper in response to an article on sex education. The article claimed that teaching abstinence-only sex education wasn’t practical as teenagers were without a doubt having sex. With great pride, Sara announced to the readership of the Beaver County Times that it was, in fact, worthwhile to teach young people abstinence-only education.
Like a lot of the college students she teaches today, Sara started asking hard questions in her early twenties. They left her feeling confused and lonely because it seemed there were few people she could trust with her doubts. Many of these questions were about gender, sexuality, and the Christian faith she was coming to realize had failed to provide her with the tools she needed to make sense of the most human of experiences.
It turned out that these questions Sara was asking became the fuel for discovering her true self and changed the trajectory of the work she felt called to do in the world.
To Promiscuous Scholarship
Sara’s work has been featured in The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Sojourners Magazine, Jezebel, Religion Dispatches, Religion & Politics, Religion News Service, and The Baffler. She has appeared on numerous podcasts and is a regular contributor to the podcast Straight White American Jesus.
Survivor Advocacy
