Gender and Sexuality

This chapter summarizes and reflects on the paradoxes of gender and sexuality in Global Pentecostalism, with special attention to Pentecostal megachurches. While Pentecostal movements are usually associated with conservative gender ideologies and sexual morals, often critiqued by proponents of emancipatory politics regarding these issues, they are quite appealing to women and youth. How can we understand this appeal from a perspective taking into account the “gendered webs of power” in which people are embedded? How do the offerings of these churches create venues to explore desires in terms of relationality, intimacy, and lifestyle and develop agency concerning gender and sexuality? Drawing on research from across the world, this chapter revisits the classic “gender paradox” of Pentecostalism as first formulated by Bernice Martin.