For those readers who have the self-esteem not to engage in the world of Christian right social media, let's just get this out of the way: It's heavy on the cheesecake, sometimes verging on softcore adult content. That's a startling thing to say, especially to those of us who came of age any time before the invention of TikTok. It may be hard to believe, but it's true: The same people who wanted to slap "parental advisory" stickers on every album with curse words, distributed "purity rings," and banned leggings in public schools now often take a decolletage-oriented approach to social media content.
Ultra Right Beer put out a pin-up calendar featuring scantily clad influencers from the Christian right-o-sphere. MAGA lawmakers like Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo. and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., wear skintight clothes and make sexualized remarks to draw attention. And, as Ruth Graham reported in the New York Times over the weekend, popular evangelical leaders online frequently use "vulgarities," aping the language of shock jocks to be "relevant and appealing" to young men they want to bring into white evangelicalism. In the world of "tradwife" social media, good Christian "housewives" celebrate their godly womanhood with leg-baring photos and videos of them lustily stirring dough while their bosoms jiggle over mixing bowls.
