Evangelical sex advice books channeled sexuality into patriarchal marital authority

Evidence

In The Act of Marriage they offered a vastly expanded treatise on sex. The book was a nearly 300-page how-to guide that answered virtually every imaginable question, often in graphic detail: How can a man delay orgasm long enough for his wife to get aroused? What about oral manipulation of breasts? Is a woman’s clitoris always the spot she desires her husband to touch to arouse her sexual tensions? Are some women born frigid? Is it right for a Christian woman to have silicone injected into her breasts? Can a homosexual or lesbian ever be cured? Is it right for Christians to practice birth control? Charting a course between an unhealthy repression of sexuality on the one hand, and the excesses of the sexual revolution on the other, the LaHayes offered a vision of sexuality securely confined within the structures of patriarchal authority. Men could have unrestrained libidos—they simply needed to satisfy themselves within marriage. Women needed to restrain themselves until marriage, at which point it was their duty to satisfy their husbands’ demands. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 210

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s existing interest in how consumer culture (advice books) transmits religious identity rather than pulpit theology — this is a concrete instance of that mechanism. — connects to: Adultery is judged more seriously for women under patriarchal tradition
• DEFINE: Shows the actual content and framing of the ‘sexual fulfillment within marriage’ strand of evangelical teaching.