Inspired by the story slams by The Moth, a non-orifut literary society from New York City 2001 , the purity culture story slam is a local non-competitive event for storytellers of all cultures sharing live stories of living through purity culture.

Storytelling is more than a modern entertaining art form. It’s an ancient technology that cultivates community, reflection, and healing. Story circles are pre-cursor to the church as a gathering place of celebration and forgiveness; where everyone is seen and accepted.

On April 1, 2022, EMBODIED, a North Carolina public radio show on WUNC 91.5, aired an episode about purity culture which featured Nathan Novero as a former church camp pastor who now explores erotic filmmaking to heal. The episode also featured Liz Lenz, author of God Land: A Story of Faith, Loss and Renewal in Middle America, and Cindy Wang Brandt, author of Parenting Forward: How to Raise Children with Justice, Mercy, and Kindness and the creator of the Parenting Forward Podcast that talks about how her own break with purity culture informs how she is raising her kids. After the episode, a flood of calls and emails reached the producers. So many listeners related to the episode. It inspired PURIFIED, the first live event for the Embodied team.

Touch Podcast host Ryan Clark is the closing storyteller. After 5 years of producing a podcast to hold the stories of others, Ryan poetically finds himself held to share his own purity story shared with his wife Cindy.

Featured Storytellers INDHIRA UDOFIA, REV. SOLOMON MISSOUR, ANGIE HONG, ASHLEY LUMPKIN, RYAN CLARK

Host ANITA RAO

Story Coach, Executive Director of The Monti JEFF POLISH

Filmmaker NATHAN NOVERO

Embodied / WUNC Team KAIA FINDLAY, AUDREY SMITH, AMANDA MAGNUS, JENNI LAWSON, AL WODARSKI, SEAN ROUX

Camera Operators. NATHAN NOVERO, RYLEE ENNIS

Haiti Heritage Center Team. QUENTINE TALLEY, JOHN FRAZIER, EJ THORN

Edited By NATHAN NOVERO

Producer RYAN CLARK

Embodied Theme Music By QUILLA

Music By EPIDEMIC MUSIC

Purified Poster Art By CHARNA HUNTER

Executive Producers ANITA RAO, NATHAN NOVERO

Presented By EMBODIED / WUNC 91.5 and TOUCH PODCAST Presentation