Putting the “Fun” back in “Fundamentalism”: Part 1, Sex Sounds Good

The following is from an email Lo received from an admirer, slightly adapted to protect the guilty:

Dear Lo,

I know you don’t know me, but I feel as if I know you — really know you. Like Biblically know you. Sorry if that sounds weird or creepy. It’s just that I’ve been reading mysexlifewithlola for a long time and I even got all five audiobooks of Match, Cinder and Spark from Audible.com.

I’m writing to you because I thought you might be interested in what happened to me lately. I’m eighteen and I grew up in the Bible Belt. My parents are both fundamentalist Christians and I’m surrounded by evangelical Christians. I don’t subscribe to their beliefs. Maybe I did once, when I was young, but since about fifteen, I’ve gradually grown out of that. It’s probably no coincidence that my falling out with the Church coincided with my budding sexuality. Early on I knew I wasn’t “normal” and I didn’t fit in with all the couples of my school or the families of my community. I was attracted to women, but also men. I knew very well the consequences that happen to people like me if they get found out — conversion camp.

I kept to myself. I had very few friends and no romantic partners. There were a few people I could tell were like myself, but I dared not approach them…