It's a way of asserting control over strong emotions that might otherwise become overwhelming.
It's not a coincidence that if you lift up the rock the fundie types live under, all kinds of sexual weirdness comes wriggling out. I'd guess they experience desire as an overpowering threat to their fragile sense of personal dominion and sovereignty.
It's also not a coincidence that the wackier fundies get, the more this kind of thing happens, until everyone is living in Gilead - which isn't just a repressed place, it's also a very kinky one.
I feel X when I look at you. Therefore, you are the cause of X. Since X is bad I must change you so I don't feel X when I look at you.
The thought they are responsible for X never crosses their mind.
you are the media you consume.
