The Motivations and Persuasion Tactics of Pro- and Anti-Purity Culture YouTube Creators: A Comparative Mixed-Methods Case Study

Purity culture, or the belief that one should abstain from sexual activity until marriage, was popularized in the 1980s and 1990s in conservative evangelical Christian churches in the United States. The movement has been heavily marketed to American teens through merchandise, books, movies, and, most recently, social media. Conservative evangelical Christian YouTubers like Girl Defined, Paul and Morgan, and Allie Beth Stucky promote purity culture on their channels through discussions of modesty and sex within heteronormative marriage. This content is chock full of advice for young Christians about how they can resist sexual temptation to remain pure until marriage. Other YouTube creators directly oppose purity culture and the channels that promote the movement. Fundie Fridays, Mickey Atkins, and Jordan and McKay frequently react to pro-purity culture content on their channels explaining to their audiences the harmful impacts of purity culture on non-heteronormative people and people of color. Through the lens of the Social Identity Theory and interviews with YouTube influencers, this dissertation qualitatively examined the motivations of pro- and anti-purity culture YouTube influencers and how those influencers perceive their authority both online and offline in terms of their identities. Additionally, this study conducted a quantitative content analysis to compare the uses of pro- and anti-purity culture influencers’ persuasion tactics and how those persuasion tactics relate to their YouTube audience engagement metrics. The results of the interview research found that pro- and anti-purity culture influencers are motivated to create their content through advocacy, and they perceive their online and offline authority by way of their gender and racial identities. The results of the content analysis found that influencers on both sides of purity culture primarily use opinion leadership to effectively persuade their audiences. Additionally, the persuasion tactics of humor, aspirational content, and opinion leadership were all significantly associated with the YouTube engagement metrics of video views, likes, and comments. This dissertation research offers practical implications for religious leaders and media literacy educators, and it offers scholarly implications in the fields of mass communications, religious studies, and gender studies.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Kansas

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Burkett, Macy

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Seo, Hyunjin

• Mass communication
• Gender studies
• Religion
• Feminism
• Influencers
• LGBTQ+
• Social Media
• YouTube

Statement dc:rights

• This item is protected by copyright and unless otherwise specified the copyright of this thesis/dissertation is held by the author.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

https://www.proquest.com/LegacyDocView/DISSNUM/32168895

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:kuscholarworks.ku.edu:1808/36422