Discovering the Evangelical sexual marketplace: an ethnographic analysis of the development, exchange, and conversion of erotic capital in an Evangelical church

• Author / Creator

  Willey, Robin D.

• This manuscript traces the development of sexual abstinence and virginity as a commodity and describes how this development has contributed to modern conceptions of sexual abstinence. Within this analysis, the author provides what
  demographic and statistical information is available on abstinence practice in North America as well as outlines some of the perspectives critical of abstinence
  and abstinence-only sex education.

  More importantly, the author argues that within many Evangelical churches a defined social space—a sexual marketplace—exists where individual agents exchange and convert this commodity, among others, to attract potential
  marital partners. Furthermore, the manuscript outlines the effects and implications of this marketplace on its participants. The author derives these conclusions from the ethnographic observations and interviews he conducted while attending an urban Canadian Pentecostal Church.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Abstinence
  • sexuality
  • Evangelicalism
  • ethnography
  • erotic capital

• Graduation date

  Fall 2010

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3Q147

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.