#38: Marriage & sex stereotypes (with Sheila Wray Gregoire)
“Many people feel that if you have to work at something, it’s not natural, and if it’s not natural, then it’s not real. Everything should be easy or else somehow there’s something wrong in our relationship. This is a big lie.”
Sheila Wray Gregoire, owner of the popular blog To Love, Honor and Vacuum joined me on the show to discuss sexual intimacy and the many stereotypes that exist surrounding marriage. Sheila is also the author of The Good Girl’s Guide to Great Sex, and she shared some insightful and practical advice with me on dating, marital communication, sex and more.
Resources:
The Good Girl’s Guide to Great Sex, by Sheila Wray Gregoire
Support the show at patreon.com/jonathanpuddle
This week, popular Christian sex blogger and author Sheila Wray Gregoire returns to the show with her daughter Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach to discuss their groundbreaking research on harmful Evangelical teachings about sex. They conducted a survey of 22,000 Christian women to test many popular evangelical teachings about sex and see how they corresponded with women’s sexual and marital satisfaction. Their findings are important and powerful, and they’re available in their new book, The Great Sex Rescue: The Lies You’ve Been Taught and How to Recover What God Intended. Content warning: contains a discussion on sexual assault in marriage, and is not appropriate for children. This interview offers hope to anyone who grew up in purity culture, or who has experienced sexual difficulties in marriage and wondered whether it was all their fault.