Sex and Belief in American: ‘Devotions and Desires’

Sex and Religion are often two forces that are pitted against each other, but for many modern Americans, the two act as complementary forces in American life. Devotions and Desires: Histories of Sexuality and Religion in the Twentieth-Century United States walks a thin line in multiple ways. The book attempts to bridge the gap between narratives of antagonism and repression and the opposing view of the two acting as balancing forces. Also, instead of offering a broad range account of the intersect of sexuality and religion, it opts for a more specific strategy, choosing to discuss specific times that the two interact with one another. The book embraces this format, allowing it to explore different, far-flung aspects of this relationship across American society.

The book consists of an introduction written by the three editors of Gillian Franks, Bethany Moreton, and Heather R. White, thirteen individual essays written by different scholars, and an afterword written by renowned scholar John D’Emilio. The essays take a chronological view of the twentieth century, starting with five essays about various issues in the early-twentieth century, followed by five essays about different religious responses to the sexual liberation and birth control of the mid-century and finishes with three essays about religion and the LGBT movement.

Each essay keys on singular events and stories where sexuality and religion interreact with one another. The essays run no more from 15 to 20 pages in length each, and range from extremely specific, isolated stories to large multi-national ones.

The highlights of the book include the essays “Subversive Spiritualities: Yoga’s Complex Role in the Narrative of Sex and Religion in the Twentieth-Century United States”, “Fascinating and Happy: Mormon Women, the LDS Church, and the Politics of Sexual Conservatism”, and “We Who Must Die Demand a Miracle: Christmas 1989 at the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco”.

“Subversive Spiritualities” is one of the few essays in the book that paints a full, incisive picture. Written by Andrea R. Jain, the essay traces yoga’s role as a subversive and maligned spiritual practice at the turn of the Twentieth Century to what it has become today as the favorite exercise of middle-class and suburban moms. The essay starts by telling the story of Hindu guru Vivekananda and Protestant reformers Ida C. Craddock and Pierre Bernard touting the spiritual and sexual benefits of yoga at the turn of the century, and then how they were subsequently shut down and silenced for their beliefs. Retreating out of mainline society, these yoga enthusiasts found refuge in places like the Clarkstown Country Club in Nyack, New York and other secluded places. Remerging in the mid-Twentieth Century thanks to the work of figures like Daya Mata, Blanche DeVries, and B. K. S. Iyengar, yoga became digestible for mainstream society. Yoga finally cemented itself as a cultural mainstay with Lilias Folan, who learned about yoga through her YMCA, and her TV show Lilias, Yoga, and You! While many of the other essays in the book tell a limited story and try to relate it to larger developments, “Subversive Spiritualities” successful tells its larger story in a concise and compelling manner.

“Fascinating and Happy” is a well-written account of religious conservatism trying to respond to sexual liberation. Scholar Neil J. Young focuses on the story of two Mormon women, Jaquie Davison and Helen Andelin, and their religious, and eventually political, attempts to wrestle with sexual liberalism from a religious standpoint. Andelin started out as a religiously conservative women’s advice writer with the book Fascinating Womanhood, garnering a following with religious housewives. Davison was attracted to Andelin’s writing and subsequently started a political group named Happiness of Womanhood (or H.O.W.) to combat the Equal Rights Amendment. Young’s essay tells the story of how a religious and sexual movement transformed into a political one to combat what was perceived as a threat to their religion and sexuality. “Fascinating and Happy” perfectly encapsulates the mission of the book to tell the stories of the intersection of religion and sexuality, and how, in this case, the crossing of the two also necessitated political action.  

“We Who Must Die Demand a Miracle” portrays the AIDS crisis as both poetic and tragic. Scholar Lynne Gerber takes the message of a Christmas Sermon in the heart of the AIDS crisis and relates it to the crisis as a whole. Pastor Jim Mitulski of the Metropolitan Community Church (what was seen as the largest gay church in 1980s San Francisco) related the poetry of W. H. Auden to the AIDS crisis that was ravaging the community at the time. Auden’s Christmas Oratorio, For the Time Being, provides the poetry for his sermon, forming a beautiful metaphor between Christmas and the AIDS crisis. The line that serves as the title of the essay also serves as the heart of the metaphor. The fear and anger from the crisis result in a call, a demand for their struggles and sacrifices to be met with retribution and justice. Gerber beautifully illuminates this metaphor on a larger scale, writing the most beautiful and poetic essay of the book.

The decision for individual histories and essays is purposive, but this design does not come without limitations. The introduction and afterword talk to each other in a strange manner that subtracts from the unification of the book. While the book does an adequate job to unify all the essays into one message, each essay still feels compartmentalized at certain points, making internal references between essays seem awkward and forced. However, while each essay is written by a different scholar, the overall voice of the book remains surprisingly unified. This success is due to the tremendous job of the editing team, who do a laudable job of tying the thirteen different essays into one integrated book.

There should also be praise for the tasks of uniting the scholarship of sexuality and religion. The idea that sex and religion are opposed to one another is common and widespread. For many Americans, however, the two intimately influence one another, and Devotions and Desires does an admirable job of showing the two as complementing forces. The customary narrative of sexual liberation and the secularization of America as accompanying forces is challenged and examined, portraying a plethora of different responses to the sexual liberation of the twentieth century.