Sex, Christianity and purity

Where does God fit into your sex life? Decades after signing up to remain ‘pure’ until marriage, many Evangelical Christian Millennials are still confused by that question – and some are turning to counselling for help. In the 1990s a sexual abstinence movement became popular in the US and eventually spread to the UK. This ‘purity culture’ recruited young people to wait until marriage before having sex, and wear a silver ring to advertise their pledge. But what effect did it have on the thousands of teenagers who took part.

Journalist Harriet Bradshaw went to a Christian evangelical/Pentecostal youth church as a teenager, and has been fascinated with the movement ever since. She revisits her own past, and hears from others who signed up to find out what their lives are like now.