Thankfully I had a wonderful, supportive spouse instead of a shitty boyfriend, but it took well over a year of marriage to work out solutions, and much longer to start working through some of our other hangups with sex because of purity culture. As a deconstructing former evangelical who grew up deep in purity culture, this was healing in a way I didn't know I needed. For further information about your statutory rights, contact your local authority Trading Standards department or consumer advice centre (for example the Citizen's Advice Bureau if you are in the UK).

Maybe it's not the choice I would've taken, but it felt true to Monique's character arc and that particular family. The second novel about a preacher's daughter in small-town Texas and her journey toward loving herself and her body. I had no idea this religious piece could be a cause, but I dealt with something similar (albeit less extreme) and it became apparent after I got married. There is mention of religion as it is a part of the storyline but it is well written and very relevant, especially as the main character Monique is the preacher’s daughter so thinking of having sex is a no no especially before marriage!

C. Rosen, in which a young gay teen plays Dear Abby anonymously to the anxious and curious teens in his school who have sex questions. I almost wanted to annotate it as I was reading because there were so many hard hitting lines, but I couldn't bring myself to ruin such a perfect book! With the help of her frenemy, Sasha, the overly zealous church girl Monique’s mum pushes her to hang out with, and Reggie, the town’s bad boy, Monique must go on trips to unknown and uncomfortable places to find the treatment that will help her. Normally, with a storyline like this, you expect unforgiving, controlling and ignorant Christian parents. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic.

This is about a teenager going through puberty and her emotional roller coaster as a pastor's daughter and family and friends influences. This condition is apparently more common in victims of sexual trauma AND people who grew up in religious traditions with intense purity teachings. I wish CONFESSIONS hadn't focused so hard on "fixing" Monique, or held up penetrative sex as the be-all, end-all. I know parenthood will be a journey and Im happy for the examples and lived experience around me that will guide future generations in being better than the ones before. I hope more than anything that any girl who has or is experiencing vaginismus feels seen and heard and valued.Registered address: Unit 31, Vulcan House Business Centre, Vulcan Road, Leicester, LE5 3EF, United kingdom. Even though I'm sure that's language that is part of a grief and acceptance process, having her friends constantly pushing her to fix herself, even if it came from a place of support, kind of normalizes that sort of thinking rather than refuting it. I also wish the author had mentioned that sex isn't even necessary as part of a teen's coming of age. She's torn between her parents who want the pure virginal daughter, and her boyfriend, Dom, who wants to explore the more intimate side of their relationship.