Staged Chastity offers a rare in-depth historical investigation of sexual violence in the early modern period, focusing on the Society of Jesus in German-speaking lands. Drawing on extensive archival research, it examines sexual offenses committed by Jesuits against schoolboys, penitents, and fellow members of the order.

The book argues that a "staged chastity," both a performance and a claim to moral authority, was crucial to the order's identity and its efforts to secure the Church's authority. This left the Jesuits especially vulnerable to scandal, since misconduct cases threatened the Society's reputation and undermined the Catholic ideal of the priesthood. As a result, such cases were usually handled internally and in secret, since protecting that reputation took priority over punishing perpetrators.

The book shows that sexual violence was embedded in structures of authority, discipline, and symbolic power. It challenges the view that clerical abuse is mainly modern, placing it within long-standing institutional and theological frameworks. Staged Chastity lays the groundwork for a broader history of sexual violence and the management of scandal in religious settings.