About the Book – One in five Christian women use pornography. One in three visitors to a porn site is a woman. Many, many more women read explicit books like Fifty Shades of Grey. Even more than that write their own pornography – not on paper for publication, but in their heads for their own use.
Helen Thorne knows all this because she’s done it.
But no one talks about it. Our churches are silent on it. There are very few books about it. It is the unspoken struggle of thousands of Christian women – perhaps you, and probably someone you know.
But no more. In this refreshingly honest, resolutely hope-filled and gospel-soaked book, Helen speaks the unspoken. In doing so, she shows how purity is better and more satisfying than fantasy – and that, whoever you are and whatever your struggles, that purity is possible.
About the Author – Helen Thorne is Assistant Director of the Open Bible Institute where she oversees the Cert HE Theology courses validated by Middlesex university and offers general student support. She is also a trustee for Capital Youthworks, the charity behind Sorted – an annual youth event held in London.
Helen Thorne is the blog editor at The Good Book Company and oversees the work of The Good Book College. She has a passion for biblical counselling, edited The Good Book College’s course in a Women’s Ministry and is a trustee of Capital Youthworks (the charity behind Sorted and Sorted Nano). She attends Dundonald Church in Raynes Park, London.
My Review – This book doesn’t really add anything new to the conversation about seeking to develop purity in one’s life when it comes to pornography…if you’re a young man. But Helen Thorne isn’t writing to young men; she writes to young women, the fastest-growing demographic using pornography.
I think this book shocked me, simply in the sense that I don’t usually associate women and pornography together…at least not when it comes to using it for one’s own fantasy life. Of course, we all know about the degradation of women, the objectification of women IN porn, but as the OBJECTS of its intake; well, that’s something which needs to be addressed.
Thorne lays out her plea to women in a manner that not only seeks to get them to stop the sinfully impure life of fantasy adultery/fornication via pornography, but to replace it with a stronger, better affection. Chapter 1 begins by talking about real beauty, true beauty, rather than the airbrushed, silicon-injected variety that women are now feeling like they need to pursue in order to be attractive to others. ‘Magazine beauty is superficial beauty. Real beauty–that’s what we were designed for. We were made for the kind of beauty that starts in the hearts and overflows into every part of our being.’
From here, she goes on to address fantasy, which I could only wish she’d have explored more. My curiosity is raised here by the huge influx of so-called ‘Christian romance novels’ over the past decade. I wonder how much this contributes to the female reader’s discontent with her own love life (be it physical or emotional) and causes her to fantasize about something other than what she’s been given by God. It may seem all ‘innocent’ because, well, after all, it’s ‘Christian.’ But the mind is a powerful tool and is open to temptations of all sorts.
Thorne’s later chapters on Mercy, Purity, Liberty and true Intimacy were very helpful. As I said at the beginning, if this short book were being offered to men, it doesn’t say much that hasn’t been said by men like Tim Challies (The Next Generation and Sexual Detox). But Thorne writes for the woman struggling with purity issues related to fantasy and pornography. She is very readable and relatable (sharing her own struggles without become morbid or vulgar, thus increasing the problem itself).
I now have a ‘go to’ book for young women when it comes to talking about sexual purity.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Cross Focused Reviews. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
