'I can now thank God when I come': Sex, faith and the body in the lives of non-heterosexual Dutch Protestant women

Abstract

Dynamics of belonging and exclusion and the notion of being ‘in-between’ are common in dominant discourse regarding sexuality and Christianity in Dutch society. Homosexuality and Christianity are considered as incompatible, with religious homosexuals moving in between religiosity and sexuality. This dominant discourse in both media and academia mainly focuses on homosexual men. As a consequence, the lives and narratives of religious non-heterosexual women are silenced and made invisible ‐ an exclusion which this article seeks to address. Based on in-depth interviews with non-heterosexual Protestant women, this article foregrounds the stories, practices, and experiences of these women. It explores different strategies these women use to move beyond the dominant discourse of incompatibility. Instead of positioning Christianity and non-normative sexuality as opposites, these women show how religion and religiosity can affirm love and desire for women. This article argues that the faith of these women enables them to express love and desire in other parts of their life, such as in relations with women. At the same time sexuality, especially same-sex sexuality and female sexuality, is largely unspoken or even condemned within the Churches that these women attend. These women use various strategies to establish a sense of community by questioning established boundaries through an experience of sex as positive and empowering. Through these negotiations of God, sex, love, and the Church, these stories emphasise the agency and creativity of these women by showing the diverse ways in which religion and sexuality intersect and are embodied. As such religion and sexuality are co-constructed and embodied by these women as empowering modes of negotiation.