Author(s): Janeth Chavez, Hayden Henrie, Samantha Hodgson, Taya Jeppesen, Brooklyn Reid
Mentor(s): Julie Pynn, Katerra Johnson
Institution SUU
Purity culture refers to a set of beliefs and practices that are often rooted in religious traditions. This concept was created to provide strong morals to certain religious communities regarding sexual behaviors with emphasis on chastity and modesty. Purity culture highlights an interesting interaction of societal norms, personal autonomy, and cultural or religious beliefs. Though purity culture has provided moral standards it has also created shame, guilt, and prejudice for those that don’t fit purity culture standards. This study aims to see if there is a relationship between those with body modifications and the moral judgments of those within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) community. Participants completed a survey, which consisted of photos of AI generated people that were deemed as either “pure” or “impure” based on if they did or didn’t have tattoos or piercings. Participants then answered five questions that aimed to understand how trustworthy participants viewed the person in the photos. The research participants were then asked questions about their own experience with the effects of purity culture. They were also asked to describe when they had seen discrimination based on someone's physical appearance. Our hypothesis was that those who identified with the LDS church would score the “impure” group lower than those within the “pure” group. However, contrary to our hypothesis, the “impure” group ended up scoring higher than the “pure” group. Furthermore there was not a significant difference between those within the LDS religion and those outside it. The qualitative data showed that most people identified that they had personally been affected by purity culture. Participants also shared that they had seen discrimination based on someone’s physical appearance.