With Host Tam Dillon @tamdillon And Guest Paula Barlow @paulab98
This episode of Talks with the Elders explores the lasting impact of purity culture and the ways moral control continues to shape identity, self-perception, and relationship to the body long after individuals step away from those systems.
Tam sits with Paula Barlow for a grounded conversation on how teachings around morality, sexuality, and obedience become internalised, influencing self-worth, boundaries, and the ability to trust one’s own experience. Together, they examine how these frameworks move beyond belief into lived patterns that can persist quietly beneath the surface.
The conversation looks at how purity-based systems create fear, shame, and disconnection from the body, often positioning worthiness as something that must be earned through compliance. Paula shares from her own experience, offering insight into how these patterns continue to shape behaviour, relationships, and self-perception even after leaving the original structure. This episode offers space to engage these experiences with honesty and care.
It invites a process of rebuilding self-trust, reconnecting with the body, and developing a more grounded sense of personal authority without rushing resolution or bypassing complexity.
ABOUT PAULA BARLOW