Open Access Research Article
HOW PURITY CULTURE AFFECTS FAMILY DYNAMICS AND FAMILY LAWS IN INDIA BY: HARINI RAMESH
Published Paper
Article Details
HOW
PURITY CULTURE AFFECTS FAMILY DYNAMICS AND FAMILY LAWS IN INDIA
AUTHORED BY: HARINI RAMESH
3rd year law student
CHRIST (Deemed-to-be) University
ABSTRACT
This paper will aim to address the impact that purity culture has on
family dynamics, taking into consideration the already existing patriarchal
norms of family systems. This paper will also further examine the various
personal laws that are codified in India, which govern the diverse religious
communities in matters related to family law, with emphasis on marriage. It
will mainly cover how purity culture influenced Hindu, Christian, and Muslim
law, analysing these from the sources that personal laws are based on, since
all personal laws are based on various religious texts and teachings of
different preachers. By analyzing religious doctrines and statutory laws, this
paper seeks to establish how purity-based norms have shaped the legal identity
of women, restricting their autonomy and reinforcing patriarchal control. The
study primarily focuses on how personal laws in India reflect and perpetuate
purity culture by placing undue expectations of chastity, honor, and obedience
on women. Moreover, the paper will aim to purport how purity culture pervades
and influences almost every aspect of a woman’s life, causing her to shoulder
the burden of men’s actions. This paper adopts a doctrinal legal research
methodology, relying on a comprehensive analysis of statutes, case law,
religious texts, and scholarly critiques. It examines judicial precedents and
aims to engage in a comparative analysis of reforms in different personal law
systems, identifying areas where legal interventions have successfully
challenged patriarchal norms and areas where further progress is required.
KEYWORDS: purity
culture, religion, family law, personal laws, women
INTRODUCTION
What
is purity culture?
Most familial belief systems are
rooted in the central and core belief that women must be of ‘pure’ nature or
character for them to fulfil their duty of marriage with a partner in the
future. While mostly propagated in the Abrahamic religions that exist today,
purity culture has taken an almost perverse route to infringe in a micro sense,
all spheres of life, affecting only women by-large on the binary that exists.
Purity culture rose in popularity within Christian communities as a response to
the increasingly liberal societal movements in the 20th century such as
second-wave feminism.[1] Here, the
idea of purity became linked to chastity, and over time, the idea of purity was
shaped in the way that a perceived woman is expected to dress, behave, and act,
all to please their male counterparts and appease to society’s standards of
what is expected out of them. Purity culture evolved during the Evangelical
period and resulted in manifesting itself in guilt and shame-inducing ways.[2] Seeing as
how purity culture itself as a recognised tradition started in the Western
world, it was also only attributed to white women, a side-effect of racist
beliefs. (Non-white women were not seen as ideal).[3]
It encouraged young women to believe that the only right way was by practising
abstinence and celibacy. God and religion were used as the deterring factors to
turn people away from what were actually ‘social wrongs’. According to existing
social norms, a woman, after marriage, is supposed to embrace the role of a
dutiful wife and mother, and these beliefs have unfortunately been made almost
corporeal in the way that they have been included as a part of the personal law
system in India. Women and girls are characterized as impure or pure based on
their sexual behaviour, menstrual cycle, marital status, and other factors.
This abstract notion of purity is largely based on myths and misconceptions.[4] While the
original notion of purity culture emanated from Evangelical beliefs, in India
particularly, Hindu texts and interpretations of mythology had their own role
to play,[5] along with
the onset of Christian missionaries and Islamic rule in the subcontinent. For
example, the concept of kanyadan— how
unmarried girls are categorised and lauded for being fertile and chaste, and
celebrated for the same, and shamed if not.[6]
This inevitably leads to the social conditioning of a young girl that she must
also do everything in her power to stick to these intangible illusions of
seeking appraisal, or she will risk social ostracisation. Further, the concept
of menstruation by itself remains a heavily taboo concept in Indian society and
is deemed impure according to Hindu customary beliefs.[7]
Traditional gender roles are endorsed in a way that women must appear
attractive to men. Such findings not only imply that women are unattractive if
they express their thoughts and opinions and act as whole and complex people
but women are consistently burdened with the responsibility of controlling
men’s expressions of sexuality.[8] However,
like previously elaborated, purity culture while although evangelical, had its
own roots in pre-colonial times. Verses in the Manusmriti, for example, held
many interpretations of social values that stigmatised women because of
sexuality, and in that period, customary law was heavily prevalent due to
social stratification and the Sanskritization of society, leading to a
caste-based hegemony that left Dalit women the worst affected.[9]
A basic example for understanding
purity culture is the way (often) religious reasons promulgate the way a woman
should dress and behave or go out of her way to do so, and the problem rests in
the way it becomes conditioned in the malleable minds of children from a very
young age when they are susceptible to such beliefs.
Indian legislations vide personal laws
and their sources:
Family dynamics are given their legal
validity by the various personal laws that exist in India. Due to its
significantly diverse population of 1 billion people, the Indian legislators
determined that providing the people with their various laws to govern their
own communities in relation to marriage, inheritance, and divorce would be
ideal. From this, what one can also note is the way the customs and beliefs of
these communities have been reflected in the statutes.
For example, in the model Nikkanama
(marriage contract) given under Muslim personal laws,[10]
one of the wife’s duties is “to obey him (the husband) in religiously valid
matters”. Another obligation is listed as “fully safeguarding her own honor”.[11] This
concept of honour, particularly in the context of personal laws, raises
questions about gender equality and the unequal distribution of
responsibilities and rights within a marriage, which can further be attributed
to the nature of the wife having to remain pure for the sake of marriage, and
maintain this sense of purity throughout.[12]
This additionally highlights how being pure is attributed to being celibate and
chaste, and the burden is more often placed on women. Religious women often used three definitions
of impurity: the unclean, the immoral, and the religiously indecent.[13]
In the Manusmriti, which is an
important source of Hindu personal law, marriage was seen as the only way that
a woman could exercise her reproductive freedom because otherwise, she would be
labelled as unchaste, and that would be seen as an inherent flaw to her
character and worth morally. An interpretation of what Manu propagated suggests
that he did not want marriage between a Hindu man and a disabled woman or women
with defects in their body.[14] An even
bigger issue is the fact that this same level of moral scrutiny was not
extended to men. For example, when adultery still used to be criminalised under
the Indian Penal Code (Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code), the offence of
adultery could only be committed with another man’s wife. Not only does this
take away from the fact that a woman has the same autonomy over herself and her
body as a man does, it was based on the fact that this crime was hurtful
towards the other husband because the wife is essentially seen as having an honorary
tie to him.
Customary practices of other
religions, as enshrined in their respective sources, act as a foundational
pillar that bequests expectations for being considered as a proper religious
woman. The most important and notable source in Christian law, is the Holy
Bible. All sects of Christianity recognise this as their one true source of
religion and religious duties, and any legislation that exists today has its
basis in this piece of literature.[15]
Christian laws are governed by the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872,[16] as well
as The Divorce Act, 1869.[17] Most—if
not all—laws that exist today are shaped by their growth in the time of British
colonialism. Indian Christians are mostly Hindu or Muslim converts, and they,
therefore, needed separate legislations to govern them after being converted to
a faith that was not seen before in India and hence had no precedent or
customary value.[18]
Everything that was taken was from the British understanding of the same, with
paramount importance being placed on the Church of England or the Roman
Catholic Church. This, again, placed its foundation on the Bible.
Starting with Eve’s history and
prevalence as a temptress, it is said that all women inherit a portion of this
personality and the shame and guilt that comes with it. Consequently, they were all untrustworthy,
morally inferior, and wicked due to this unchaste nature. Menstruation,
pregnancy, and childbearing were considered the just punishment for this
eternal guilt.[19] Moreover,
various verses in the Bible profess dressing ‘modestly’ for women, without much
outward adornments (pearl or gold), and hair to be kept neat and clean.[20] In
Christianity as well, one important pillar is the concept of celibacy. In
furtherance of this, girls are instructed to behave and act in a particular
manner to follow the path of a ‘Christian wife and mother’, which propagates
that marriage and childbirth are an important duty of a woman, and she must, therefore, remain pure to fulfil
that role. Consequently, the legislation for divorce under Sections 24 and 25
of the Indian Divorce Act[21] (which is
the existing law governing Christians), qualifies a separated wife as a
spinster. The word spinster has an inherently derogatory meaning that reduces
the value of a woman to her age and status of being unmarried.[22] This
again comes to show that all the value a woman has in a marital sense is tied
to her connection with her husband/male figure.
In Islamic law, it is established
that covering awrah for women is
sunnah, and the burden rests on the women to cover themselves to maintain
purity in front of their non-mahram.[23]
The foundational source in the gradual codification of Islamic law was the
Muslim understanding and interpretation of the Quran and practices of their
Prophet Muhammad.[24] Purity
and being in a state of impurity exist throughout Islamic texts, and rituals
exist for Muslims to become pure in order to be able to pray. However, this
purity is also tied to other practices for women such as observing the hijab
and strictly practicing chastity. According to Islamic standards, hijab and
chastity are one of the most important religious pillars, which have been
mentioned several times in the Holy Qur'an and have also been mentioned many
times in the Hadith.[25] However,
at one point, the line between indoctrination and choice becomes blurred,
especially noting its connection and tie to social norms, expectations, and
duties to be observed in a family. This indicates that the purity culture that
is prevalent in India today has ties to pre-colonial roots since Christianity
was the onset of British rule. The concept of purity in Islam (tahara) extends beyond physical modesty
to ritual cleanliness, yet its legal interpretations (Sharia-based laws) often
place the burden of maintaining honour on women. For example, interpretations
of Surah An-Nur (24:31)[26] regarding
hijab are often used to justify strict gender norms, which are quite
imbalanced. The issue that inherently arises, therefore, is the fact that since
laws have been so heavily influenced by religion and customary practices, there
is an unequal burden that is placed on women, while the law professes
‘equality’ on paper.
Further, when understanding Islamic
law on intestate succession, there is absolutely no justification that can be
provided as to why the female members are only subject to half the share of
their brothers.[27] The
brothers or sons are never excluded and are mentioned as residuaries. Further,
the wife, under Muslim personal law, could only claim 1/8th of the property of
the husband after his death and if in case she has no child born out of this
marriage, then she is entitled to 1/4th.[28]
Muslim women in India fall under The Shariat Application Act, which makes these
laws applicable to Muslims in India.[29]
Another example that reinforces the
concept of how women’s moral values are tied to the home, hearth, and husband
comes in the form of the Restitution of Conjugal Rights that is enshrined in
personal laws as a means of nullifying the separation of a married couple.
Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act allows a spouse to file a petition for the
restitution of conjugal rights if the other spouse withdraws from society
without reasonable cause.[30] However,
this law has disproportionately affected women at large.[31]
The institution of marriage in India has always been seen as something
sacramental, a sacred bond that should not be broken, the breaking of which to
be avoided at all costs.[32] In
furtherance of this, the Indian judicial system is of the nature that marital
relations should be reinstated to whatever possible extent to maintain this
sanctity of marriage. However, what this does is only reinstate the fact that
women must uphold their duty as wives no matter what and forego other problems
in lieu of preserving the marital relationship. Hindu, Islamic, and Christian
traditions developed purity norms independently, with some overlapping
influences due to historical interactions, and that is noticeable in daily
parlance in the form of interactions, as well as legal implications.
Effects of purity culture on family
dynamics:
One key takeaway from this is that
current gender roles in family settings are still based on the effects that
purity culture has had. Purity culture
emphasises a modesty culture that places the responsibility of inciting the
sexual desire of men on women – it is women’s fault if men are sexually aroused
when looking at them.[33] More
problematic is the fact that marital rape in India still is not considered an
offence and remains in the civil field, with many women themselves thinking it
to be their duty or role as a wife to fulfil marital intercourse. The concept
of consent in these scenarios gets immediately thrown out of the window. A
common message that exists is that men have no control over their sexual
nature— seen even in school environments when girls are reprimanded for the
length of their skirts, hair, and nails. Rationally thinking, what do any of
these factors have anything to do with a person’s character? The commonly
thrown-around phrase ‘no man will marry you if you are like this’ is another
example of purity culture and how it has become deeply entrenched in Indian
society. Marriage is seen as a sacrament in Hinduism, and a wife is expected to
be sexually available to her husband at all times. This myth also absolves men
of responsibility for sexually assaulting women because they are supposedly
powerless in the face of their sexual urges.[34]
Another uncovered message was that women are wholly responsible for how they
are treated, particularly when men treat women in sexualized ways, and the only
reason purity culture came around in the first place was that women were deemed
the more submissive of the binary and, therefore to be chosen, they had to
appeal to men. The concept of ‘purity’, while associated with a woman, is
inherently tied to her honour and overlaps with her caste, and this is
especially true when seen as the justification for honour killings in western
India, such as in the Khap Panchayat.[35]
While most of the legislations
covering personal laws do not reflect this, especially the secular laws such as
the Special Marriage Act[36], and the
Foreign Marriage Act,[37] it is of
paramount importance to know the history behind the sources that shaped
personal laws that are based on religion. Simply qualifying that there is a
rational nexus with the object sought to be achieved is not important, and as a
welfare nation, the effect and the way the lacunae in laws impact the people
must be studied, and more so, the lack of certain provisions. Purity culture
enforces gendered morality in personal laws, which leads to legal
discrimination against women, while skirting the fact that it could be legally
valid.
Purity culture in India is not a
monolithic or imported phenomenon but a complex intersection of religious
traditions, colonial legal structures, and social hierarchies. While personal
laws have been reformed over time, their foundational premises—such as the
sanctity of marriage, female modesty, and male guardianship, which all
conveniently tie in with the concept of purity culture—continue to reinforce
gender disparities. Legal efforts like the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act,
2005[38] and the
judgement regarded in the landmark case of Joseph
Shine v. Union of India[39]
have challenged patriarchal norms, but societal attitudes continue to lag
behind.
CONCLUSION
Purity culture, embedded in religious
and legal traditions, has historically influenced family dynamics in India.
While personal laws have been shaped by notions of female chastity and male
dominance, reform movements and progressive judicial interpretations have
challenged many of these patriarchal structures. Despite constitutional
protections under Articles 14, 15, and 21, which guarantee equality,
non-discrimination, and personal liberty, many legal provisions continue to
reinforce outdated notions of purity and honor. The expectation that women must
conform to societal standards of virtue has resulted in laws that restrict
bodily autonomy, enforce gendered expectations in marriage and family life, and
place undue moral scrutiny on women’s choices in personal and professional
spheres. The presumption that women must uphold family honor has also
contributed to laws that disproportionately disadvantage them, such as the
Restitution of Conjugal Rights.[40] Legal
advancements, such as the abolition of adultery laws and the criminalisation of
triple talaq, mark important steps toward gender justice. However, remnants of
purity culture persist in areas such as restitution of conjugal rights, and
caste-based purity norms, and the way they have shaped Indian succession laws
has impacted the societal expectations imposed on women in family settings. Not
only this, there is a systematically disproportionate way in how this affects
women due to a rural-urban divide. Women in rural India often face stricter
control over dress and behaviour, while urban women experience modernised
versions of purity norms, such as workplace dress codes and honour-related
violence. A holistic approach to legal reform—one that considers constitutional
values, intersectionality, and evolving societal norms—is necessary to
dismantle purity-based discrimination while respecting cultural diversity. The
future of family law in India must balance religious freedoms with the
fundamental rights of women, ensuring that personal dignity is never
compromised in the name of tradition.
[1] Purity Culture: Measurement and Relationship to
Domestic Violence Myth Acceptance - ProQuest,
https://www.proquest.com/openview/fc96131e691e452d4dd4c2bd93180cfa/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
(last visited Sep 23, 2024).
[2] The Relationship Between Purity Culture, Male Role
Norms, Ambivalence Toward Men, and Social Intimacy in Christians - ProQuest,
https://www.proquest.com/openview/7910621251fc890edcccb7714a03cae4/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
(last visited Sep 23, 2024).
[3] Breaking up with purity culture, The One Woman Project (2021),
https://www.onewomanproject.org/religion/breaking-up-with-purity-culture (last
visited Sep 24, 2024).
[4] Margot Radding, “It’s
Not Important for You to Speak:” The Perception of Purity and Its Power Over
Women’s Reproductive and Sexual Health, Independent
Study Project (ISP) Collection (2016),
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/2515.
[5] Karuna Chanana, Hinduism
and Female Sexuality: Social Control and Education of Girls in India, 50 Sociological Bulletin 37 (2001),
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0038022920010103 (last visited Sep 23,
2024).
[6] Supra at 3
[7] Aru Bhartiya, Menstruation,
Religion and Society, IJSSH
523 (2013),
http://www.ijssh.org/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=show&catid=43&id=595
(last visited Sep 23, 2024).
[8] Supra at 1
[9] COFEM Secretariat, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Against Dalit Women and Girls in India,
(Jul. 22, 2022),
https://cofemsocialchange.org/sexual-gbv-dalit-women-girls-india/ (last visited
Feb 2, 2025).
[10] Shia board moots model ‘nikahnama’, denounces ‘triple
talaq’ in one sitting, Hindustan Times
(2016), https://www.hindustantimes.com/lucknow/shia-board-moots-model-nikahnama-denounces-triple-talaq-in-one-sitting/story-E6a0ft9mnod91s7sKLe7MI.html
(last visited Sep 24, 2024).
[11] See MARRIAGE
AND DIVORCE LAWS, Commercial Law Publishers (India) Pvt. Ltd., 2024 ed.
[12] Supra at 3
[13] Supra at 3
[14] Rishika Agarwal, Marriage
Laws With Respect To Manusmriti, Vol. 9 Issue 5 IJCRT, a876-a880 (2021),
IJCRT - International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (IJCRT),
https://www.ijcrt.org/ (last visited Sep 24, 2024).
[15] Nandini Chatterjee, Religious Change, Social Conflict and Legal Competition: The Emergence
of Christian Personal Law in Colonial India, 44 Mod. Asian Stud. 1147 (2010), https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0026749X09990394/type/journal_article
(last visited Sep 24, 2024).
[16] Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872
[17] The Divorce Act, 1869
[18] Aishwaryasandeep, Christian
Personal Laws in India: A Comprehensive Guide - Aishwarya Sandeep- Parenting
and Law, (2024),
https://aishwaryasandeep.in/christian-personal-laws-in-india-a-comprehensive-guide/,
https://aishwaryasandeep.in/christian-personal-laws-in-india-a-comprehensive-guide/
(last visited Sep 24, 2024).
[19]Sherif Abdel Azeem, Women
in Islam versus Women in the Judaeo-Christian Tradition: The Myth & the
Reality (2019),
https://repository.globethics.net/handle/20.500.12424/184089 (last visited Sep
24, 2024).
[20] The Top Bible Verses about Modesty in Scripture, Bible Study Tools,
https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-modesty/
(last visited Sep 24, 2024).
[21] THE DIVORCE ACT, 1869, §24 and 25
[22] Where does the term “spinster” come from?,
https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/spinster-meaning-origin (last visited
Sep 24, 2024), spinster, (2024),
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/spinster (last visited Sep
24, 2024).
[23] Fiqh Us Sunnah,
https://www.iium.edu.my/deed/lawbase/fiqh_us_sunnah/vol1/fsn_vol1c.html#:~:text=The%20clothes%20worn%20must%20cover,are%20not%20suitable%20for%20prayer.&text=It%20is%20preferred%20for%20a,that%20is%20all%20he%20has.
(last visited Sep 24, 2024).
[24] Stella Eme Osim & Nzeyo Gabriel Eteng, Women and Ritual Purity in Islam, 2 IJSES (2021),
https://ojs.unm.ac.id/ijses/article/view/22956 (last visited Sep 24, 2024).
[25] Amin Hasanvand, Hijab
and Chastity and Their Role in Psychological Security, 8 Islam And Health Journal 13 (2023),
http://iahj.ir/article-1-292-en.html (last visited Sep 24, 2024).
[26] Tafsir Surah An-Nur - 31, Quran.com,
https://quran.com/24:31/tafsirs/en-tafsir-maarif-ul-quran (last visited Mar 6,
2025).
[27] Dr. Poonam Pradhan Saxena, Family law lectures: family law II, (5th ed. ed. 2022).
[28] Aarushi Tomar, “Property
Rights of Women under Muslim Law”, JOURNAL OF APPLICABLE LAW & JURISPRUDENCE,
Vol. 1, Issue 1.
[29] The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act,
1937
[30] Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
[31] Articles – Manupatra,
https://articles.manupatra.com/article-details/LIMITATIONS-OF-RESTITUTION-OF-CONJUGAL-RIGHTS
(last visited Sep 24, 2024).
[32] Mohamed Imranullah S, Marriage Is Sacramental, a Word That Has Lost Its Meaning Due to
Recognition of Live-in Relationships, Says Madras HC, The Hindu, Jun. 1, 2021,
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/marriage-is-sacramental-a-word-that-has-lost-its-meaning-due-to-recognition-of-live-in-relationships-says-madras-hc/article34696836.ece
(last visited Sep 24, 2024).
[33] Supra at 2
[34] Supra at 1
[35] Madhu Nagla, Khap
Panchayat, Honour Killings and Gender Relations in Western India, in Subalternity,
Exclusion and Social Change in India 355 (Ajit K. Pandey & Ashok K.
Pankaj eds., 2014),
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/subalternity-exclusion-and-social-change-in-india/khap-panchayat-honour-killings-and-gender-relations-in-western-india/4D291445B65AE86032A085DBF849497B
(last visited Mar 6, 2025).
[36] The Special Marriage Act, 1954
[37] The Foreign Marriage Act, 1969
[38] Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005
[39] Joseph Shine v. Union of India 2019 (3) SCC 39
[40] Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
Article Information
HOW PURITY CULTURE AFFECTS FAMILY DYNAMICS AND FAMILY LAWS IN INDIA BY: HARINI RAMESH
Authors: HARINI RAMESH
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Published 2025/03/08
- Issue 7
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- Abbreviation IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Access Open Access
- License CC 4.0
All research articles published in International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis are open access and available to read, download and share, subject to proper citation of the original work.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis.