“Straight” White American Evangelical Masculinity looks a lot like Jerry Falwell Jr.

A really long exploration of sexual shame culture in church and personal history.

(The now deleted photo from Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Instagram post)

Having placed the blame of sexual indiscretion squarely on his wife’s shoulders, in a stunning display of “Straight” White American Evangelical Masculinity, Jerry Falwell Jr. has resigned his position as President of Liberty University.

I don’t know Jerry Falwell Jr. Or, rather, I do not know Jerry Falwell Jr. specifically. My entire childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood was shaped by and in the presence of “Straight” White American Evangelical Masculinity so it is safe to say I know his type.

Growing up in Northern Kentucky during the rise of home school legal defense and the Quiverfull movement, imprinting of certain ideologies began at a young age. My parents were well intentioned and bright young people — with a desire to “raise up a child in the way they should go” and a promise that “like arrows in the hands of a warrior, so are the children of a man’s youth.” Five children, a handful of future weaponry against the forces of evil, the destruction of Family Values, and the sexualization of schoolchildren gave my parents purpose and camaraderie as they sought a church and a homeschooling network. Lessons, as…