“The big message that so many of us need is that we are worthy of love, exactly as we are. We don’t have to sacrifice every single ounce of ourselves for love. We don’t have to be pure, or never have a sexual thought or never have a sexual feeling to be loved.
We don’t have to be perfect. We don’t have to be a sexual superstar at every moment, or be the great pleasurer or great satisfier to be loved. We are lovable in our most difficult moments, and in our most incredible moments. We are worthy.”
– Linda Kay Klein
What does the divine love of God look like? When someone has been indoctrinated so tightly to feel shame about their sexuality, what’s the first step to breaking out of it? How can we encourage more people to see their faith as loving and accepting of all peoples?
Learn the answer to these questions and more in this week’s episode of the Learn to Love Podcast, where your host Zach Beach interviews the coach, author, and founder of Break Free Together, Linda Kay Klein on Breaking Free From Silence and Shame
Listen on:
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about Linda Kay Klein:
Linda Kay Klein is founder and president of the nonprofit, Break Free Together, and a personal coach dedicated to helping people release shame and claim their whole selves. This work was born out of her 15 years of research on religious trauma around sex and gender, documented in her award-winning book, Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement that Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free. Linda’s work has been featured by CBS, NBC, NPR (her interview with Fresh Air’s Terry Gross having been named one of the top ten of the year), and over 150 other outlets, and she has been highlighted on the TEDx stage, and at The Apollo’s Women of the World Festival, the 92Y SHE Summit, and over 100 other venues.
Linda is also teaching faculty at Claremont Lincoln University and consults with organizations and individuals committed to doing good. Previously, she was the founding director of Echoing Green’s multi-award-winning Work on Purpose program. The program’s leadership development curriculum on how to find and follow your purpose was adopted by over 200 colleges/universities, nonprofits and corporations and has impacted tens of thousands of emerging professionals. Prior to this, she led Moving Millions, propelling what was then a $181-million campaign for large-scale investment in women and girls into the global community of 100+ donor-activists committed that it is today, and held other roles within academia and the women’s funding movement.
Linda has contributed to several publications, and authored two successful curricula and training programs. She was awarded the NYU Reynolds Fellowship in Social Entrepreneurship for her work on religiously-rooted sexual shame in 2006. She later became a judge for the Forbes 30 Under 30 faith-based initiative, and the Echoing Green, AshokaU, and NYU Reynolds social entrepreneurship fellowship competitions. She is chair of the Board for the Forum for Theological Exploration board, and sits on the advisory boards of Feminist.com’s Our Inner Lives initiative and New York University’s Of Many Institute for Multifaith Leadership.
Linda holds an interdisciplinary Masters degree in gender studies, religious studies, oral history, nonfiction writing, and art as social change from NYU and is trained Our Whole Lives (OWL) sexuality education facilitator. A Midwesterner at heart, Linda lives in New York City with her family. She is the wife of a writer and social change agent who inspires her every day, and the “bonus mom” to a very cool teenager.
Stay Connected With Linda Kay Klein:
- https://lindakayklein.com/
- https://www.instagram.com/lindakayklein/
- https://twitter.com/LindaKayKlein
- https://www.facebook.com/lindakayklein
- https://lindakayklein.com/break-free-together/
People and things mentioned in the show
- Plato
- Aristotle
- Paul the Apostle/Saint Paul
- Augustine of Hippo/Saint Augustine
- Break Free Together
- Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement that Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free
- John Welwood, author of Perfect Love, Imperfect Relationships and Toward a Psychology of Awakening
- The Seven Lessons of Love
Sponsors
- This episode is sponsored by Listenable, your home for powerful, bite-sized audio courses authored by well‑loved experts. Use the discount code “zachbeach” for the first seven days on the platform for free. And while you’re at it, sign up for our How To Be a Better Partner Course.
Related Episodes
- Ep 19: From Madness to Mindfulness with Dr. Jenn Gunsaullus
- Ep 18: Taking Sexy Back with Dr. Alexandra Solomon
- Ep 7: The Deep Heart with John J. Prendergast, PhD
- Ep 6: Inquiry, Meaning, and Purpose Through Sex with Finn Deerhart
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