Sex Addiction and the Purity Culture

So much of the focus on the shootings in GA has been focused on racism but from what we know so far the primary motivation was "sex addiction" with racism related that he targeted Asian women who were in the sex trade. This is an indication of how much problems there are in this society dealing with sex and it's no surprise to me that the shooter came from a very strict religious background and one that focused on shame where women were seen as the temptresses and to give into that weakness was shameful. As such the shooter set about removing that temptation.

This also ties into "Purity culture" that also looks at sexuality as human failings and something to be considered shameful. Elizabeth Smart who was kidnapped at the 14 and held in sexual servitude for 9 months has talked about this. When asked why she didn't escape even though she had many chances to she said that it was shame from Purity Culture, that she had been brought up in and that her captors knew about that helped keep her down. She was ashamed that since her captor had sexually abused her that her family and community would shame her as purity culture said that sex outside of marriage was her failing.

Such stories have been heard in many cases of sexual abuse including by Catholic priest and others in authority who made their victims feel shame and that it was them were at fault.

This ties back to why the GA shooter Aaron Long targeted sex workers that he had frequented. While he probably felt shame that shame was directed outwards to seeing the women as not humans that he was using but as tormenters corrupting him. His "addiction" was his inability to come to terms with biological sexual urges versus what he was being taught as moral failings.

Here is a good piece from the NYT that covers this. It's pretty long and recommend reading but here are some excerpts.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/20/...tion=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Atlanta Suspect’s Fixation on Sex Is Familiar Thorn for Evangelicals
The man accused of killing eight people, including six women of Asian descent, blamed “sexual addiction,” a disputed term used in parts of evangelical culture.

When Brad Onishi heard that the man accused of a rampage at three Atlanta-area spas told detectives that he had carried out the attacks as a way to eliminate his own temptations, the claim sounded painfully familiar.

Dr. Onishi, who grew up in a strict evangelical community in Southern California that emphasized sexual purity, had spent his teenage years tearing out any advertisements in surfing magazines that featured women in bikinis. He had traded his online passwords with friends to hold himself accountable. “We had a militant vigilance: Don’t let anything in the house that will tempt you sexually,” Dr. Onishi, now an associate professor of religious studies at Skidmore College, recalled.

The evangelical culture he was raised in, he said, “teaches women to hate their bodies, as the source of temptation, and it teaches men to hate their minds, which lead them into lust and sexual immorality.”

Robert Aaron Long, the suspect in the massacres that left eight people dead, told the police this week that he had a “sexual addiction,” and he had been a customer at two of the spas that he targeted. He was so intent on avoiding p*rnography that he blocked several websites on his computer and had sought help at a Christian rehab clinic. A former roommate said that Mr. Long agonized over the possibility of “falling out of God’s grace.”
...
But Mr. Long’s characterization of his motivations was also very recognizable to observers of evangelicalism and some evangelicals themselves. He seemed to have had a fixation on sexual temptation, one that can lead to despair among people who believe they are failing to follow the ideal of refraining from sex and even lust outside heterosexual marriage.
...
Many Christians trace their condemnation of p*rnography back to Jesus. “I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” he is quoted saying in the Gospel of Matthew.

For Protestants in particular, whose faith prioritizes correct internal beliefs and spiritual attitudes, that passage has contributed to a worldview in which inappropriate sexual thoughts are just as sinful as wrong actions.

The problem with p*rnography, in this view, is how it affects the person’s mind and heart.
...
White evangelicals do not use p*rnography more than other demographics, said Samuel Perry, a sociologist at the University of Oklahoma who has researched the role of p*rnography in the lives of conservative Protestants. In fact, white evangelicals who regularly attend church look at p*rnography less than the general population.

But they report significantly more anguish around the practice. Almost 30 percent of white evangelicals say they feel depressed after using p*rnography, compared with 8.6 percent of white liberal Protestants and 19 percent of white Catholics, according to a survey Dr. Perry co-conducted in February as part of the Public Discourse and Ethics Survey. White evangelicals are also significantly more likely to report that they are “addicted” to p*rnography.

Dr. Perry described a phenomenon in some parts of evangelical culture that he called “sexual exceptionalism,” in which sexual sins are implied to be more serious than other categories.

“So many men boil down how they’re doing spiritually to how often they have looked at p*rn recently,” Dr. Perry said, reflecting on his research in evangelical settings. “Not whether they’d grown in their love toward others, given generously of their time, or spent time connecting with God, but if they masturbated.”
...
“It presents a very demeaning view of manhood,” said Rachael Denhollander, an evangelical advocate for sexual abuse victims. “Every time you teach a woman in the presence of a young man that it’s her responsibility to keep a man from lusting and that she has the power to keep him from sexual perversion by what she wears and what she does, what he hears is that it’s her fault.”
...
“Purity culture teaches young men to view young women who do not try to maintain modesty as sinister forces,” Dr. Onishi said. “It’s hard not to think about the fact that Asian women have been sexualized and set up to be viewed through the lens of an exotic other who is sexually desirable.”
..
“Sex addiction” is not an established psychiatric diagnosis, and there is a debate in the mental health community about how to define and treat compulsive sexual behavior.

“There’s no evidence-based treatment for sex addiction,” said Joshua Grubbs, an assistant professor of psychology at Bowling Green State University and a clinical psychologist. Evangelical sex addiction treatment tends to emphasize total abstinence from any sexual behavior outside heterosexual marriage. “They don’t take into account that humans are creatures with a drive for sex,” Dr. Grubbs said.

 

This is speculation but it wouldn't surprise me if he channeled the shame he felt about satisfying his urges to seeing himself the tool of God to wipe out the source of his temptation.

 

I'm curious what you thought of the part in NYT piece that some Evangelicals consider sexual sins more serious than many others?

I don't know if @MadMax wants anything to do with D&D anymore but would be interested in hearing his opinion.