Leaving Purity Culture, Finding Non-Monogamy: Healing, Desire & Autonomy with Leah Carey, Ep. 122
What happens when you grow up being told your body isn’t yours, your desires are dangerous, and your worth is tied to being someone’s “only one”… and then you finally break free?
In this powerful conversation, I’m joined (again!) by Leah Carey, relationship and intimacy coach and former host of Good Girls Talk About Sex, to talk about what so many folks discover after leaving high-control environments like purity culture, religious abuse, cults, or narcissistic family systems:
→ The floodgates of curiosity open—and suddenly queerness, kink, and non-monogamy are on the table.
We dig into:
Why exploring outside monogamy can feel like a reclamation of autonomy
How high-control systems shape our nervous systems and sexual wiring (and why “just getting over it” isn’t a thing)
The sticky shame messages ex-purity-culture kids drag into adult relationships—and how to start untangling them
How non-monogamy can be a massive relief during seasons of mismatched desire (and Leah’s refreshing take on letting a meta meet your partner’s needs)
Why true sexual freedom often starts with learning what your real yes and no even are
If you’ve ever thought, “Why can’t I just be normal about love and sex?” this episode will remind you—you’re not broken. You just weren’t given a roadmap. And you get to write a new one.
Links & Resources:
Connect with Leah: leahcarey.com | YouTube | @XOLeahCarey on socials
Leah Carey is a Relationship and Intimacy Coach and host of the podcast Good Girls Talk About Sex, which ran from 2019-2024. In a world full of confusing and contradictory messages about intimacy and relationships, Leah helps sex make sense. Drawing on her own healing journey from fear and repression, she specializes in working with people from High-Control childhoods like Purity Culture, narcissistic abuse, cults, and other religious abuse. Regardless of your background, she works with clients to unlearn stigmas and unhealthy patterns around intimacy and communication. Her work has been featured by Buzzfeed, Yahoo, NBCThink, The Journal of Cancer Education, and more.
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Music: Composer/Author (CA): Oscar Lindstein
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