Taught to be Ashamed: Sexual Shame, Faith, and Moral Incongruence in Men’s Psychosexual Development

Abstract This literature review synthesizes interdisciplinary research examining how conservative religious ideologies influence male sexual development through the mechanism of sexual shame. Using a biopsychosocial and intersectional framework, it explores how moral teachings about purity and gender roles contribute to internalized shame that may manifest as hypersexuality, hyposexuality, or relational distress. Drawing from psychology, sexuality studies, and theology, the review reveals that religion-based sexual shame is not merely an individual experience but one reinforced by broader cultural and institutional structures. It fills a critical gap in existing research by centering the influence on heterosexual men—a population rarely included in studies of sexual socialization. By integrating psychological, sociological, and theological perspectives, this paper reframes sexual distress as a biopsychosocial phenomenon rooted in moral incongruence, bridging theory and practice to suggest new directions for empirical and therapeutic research.