Undoing religion, redoing gender: sexual stories of religious exit

Nella van den Brandt

doi:10.1080/0048721x.2024.2435822

Undoing religion, redoing gender: sexual stories of religious exit

Nella van den Brandt

Research Centre for Peace and Security

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

53 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Drawing on life story research in the UK and the Netherlands, this article foregrounds women’s experiences of sexual embodiment in leaving religion. It approaches religious exit as a trajectory of transformation entangled with power and relationality. The article considers sexual embodiment as shaped by discourses of boundary-making that construct notions of religion, gender, sexuality and race. From this perspective, the article analyses women’s sexual stories of religious exit focusing on modesty, purity, sex and abuse. Its main argument is that women’s trajectories are involved in undoing religion and redoing gender, sexuality and race. The article encourages scholars of leaving religion to take gender, sexuality, race and embodiment seriously as formative for religious exit. Moreover, it calls for scholars of (lived) religion and gender to pay more attention to those who cannot or do not stay.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	347-368
Number of pages	22
Journal	Religion
Volume	55
Issue number	1
Early online date	6 Dec 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721x.2024.2435822
Publication status	Published - 2 Jan 2025

Bibliographical note

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No-Derivatives
License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.

Funding

The data and analysis received funding from the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sk\u0142odowska-Curie grant agreement No 101033426. The research project (2022\u201324) entitled \u201CWomen Leaving Religion in the UK and the Netherlands\u201D, was hosted by the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University

Funders	Funder number
Horizon Europe
H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions	101033426, 2022–24

Keywords

Leaving religion
gender
life stories
sexuality
the body

ASJC Scopus subject areas

History
Sociology and Political Science

Access to Document

10.1080/0048721x.2024.2435822Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Brandt2025VORFinal published version, 1.06 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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abstract = "Drawing on life story research in the UK and the Netherlands, this article foregrounds women{\textquoteright}s experiences of sexual embodiment in leaving religion. It approaches religious exit as a trajectory of transformation entangled with power and relationality. The article considers sexual embodiment as shaped by discourses of boundary-making that construct notions of religion, gender, sexuality and race. From this perspective, the article analyses women{\textquoteright}s sexual stories of religious exit focusing on modesty, purity, sex and abuse. Its main argument is that women{\textquoteright}s trajectories are involved in undoing religion and redoing gender, sexuality and race. The article encourages scholars of leaving religion to take gender, sexuality, race and embodiment seriously as formative for religious exit. Moreover, it calls for scholars of (lived) religion and gender to pay more attention to those who cannot or do not stay.",

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AB - Drawing on life story research in the UK and the Netherlands, this article foregrounds women’s experiences of sexual embodiment in leaving religion. It approaches religious exit as a trajectory of transformation entangled with power and relationality. The article considers sexual embodiment as shaped by discourses of boundary-making that construct notions of religion, gender, sexuality and race. From this perspective, the article analyses women’s sexual stories of religious exit focusing on modesty, purity, sex and abuse. Its main argument is that women’s trajectories are involved in undoing religion and redoing gender, sexuality and race. The article encourages scholars of leaving religion to take gender, sexuality, race and embodiment seriously as formative for religious exit. Moreover, it calls for scholars of (lived) religion and gender to pay more attention to those who cannot or do not stay.

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Undoing religion, redoing gender: sexual stories of religious exit

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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Cite this