“Meghan Tschanz has done something very important. On the one hand, she provides a wide-angle perspective on the world of twenty-first-century women and girls—those suffering human rights violations as well as women of privilege. On the other hand, and without ever losing sight of the big picture or narrowing the focus of her book to a single issue, she zooms in on stories of young girls trafficked for sex, of women enduring domestic violence, and of those denied educational opportunities. Meghan’s work is unique in that she doesn’t distinguish those women from herself and other women in the evangelical church. She masterfully weaves in her own often costly journey as a young girl growing up in the evangelical purity culture amid pervasive teaching about female submission to male leadership that diminished her sense of self and created an alarming vulnerability. Later, when confronted by horrific violence against women, a crisis of conscience compelled her to ask deeper questions. One of the many strengths of this book is that she doesn’t just describe the issues, she drills deeper to explore how the church’s gender theology is part of the problem and needs to be reexamined against this wide-angle perspective. Vital reading for both women and men.”

-Carolyn Custis James, author of Half the Church: Recapturing God’s Global Vision for Women and Malestrom: Manhood Swept into the Currents of a Changing World