Free from Lust: The "72-hour Rule" and the Evangelical Marital Sexual Economy

This paper unpacks the development and spread of the so-called “72-hour rule” within Evangelical Christian teachings, where married couples ensure husbands are free from lust by engaging in regular sexual acitivty. The paper presents a feminist historical critique of the theological anthropology undergirding this “rule,” as well as of the related martial sexual economy. Drawing on Evangelical Christian sexual advice manuals published between the 1970s and today, as well as sermons, blogs, and Christian TradWife social media, the paper argues that the 72-hour rule provides a perfect microcosm for understanding the wider complexities of American Evangelical “purity culture.” Like purity culture teachings more broadly, the rule reduces complex human sexual behaviour into simplistic mandates that are presented as divinely authoritative. Understanding the history of the rule opens up an interesting case study in the Evangelical use, circulation, and application of extra-Biblical authorities and directives.