Sheila Wray Gregoire is known as an outspoken advocate for healthy, biblical marriages and sex lives. Her books and blog posts span various topics, from purity culture to parenting to traditional gender roles. In Gregoire’s Bare Marriage podcast, she takes a deep dive into these subjects and provides an enlightening perspective.
The Bare Marriage podcast seeks to combat the common pat answers about Christian marriages and unhelpful sex advice often given to Christian women. While some episodes and topics specifically address men, women are Gregoire’s primary focus. Gregoire and her team have conducted surveys and had countless conversations that indicate a lot of traditional messaging and marriage portrayals in popular faith-based resources have done a huge disservice to women. Gregoire instead offers healthy, evidence-based teaching through her podcast.
The show offers a helpful mix of commentary, research, Scripture and personal narratives from Gregoire’s own experiences. Despite often tackling explicit or heavy subjects, Gregoire is an engaging and tactful host. She also has a knack for incorporating humor to lighten the mood when applicable. She and her daughter/frequent co-host, Rebecca Lindenbach, often joke about the strangeness of a mother-daughter duo talking so candidly about sex. “You need to not make eye contact with me while we’re talking about this,” Lindenbach jokingly chides Gregoire in one episode.
Despite how uncomfortable frank discussions about sex can be, the Bare Marriage podcast – and Gregoire’s other resources – are vitally helpful for undoing damage and cultivating healthier marriages. And for listeners who aren’t married or seeking that type of advice, Bare Marriage offers insight on other themes such as church culture and healthy communication.
Overall, while this podcast serves as a cautionary tale based on some of the harm that’s been done, it’s also a refreshing boost of encouragement for wives and husbands to unlock the lifegiving gift of marriage and sex in the way God intended.
About the Author
Kayleigh (Fongers) Van Wyk graduated from Calvin University in 2018 and works as a reporter for a Grand Rapids-based publication. She’s also a freelance writer. Kayleigh and her husband currently reside near Grand Rapids, Mich.