Seriously. When science shows that a certain strategy isn’t working, fundamentalist Christians flock to that strategy with blind fervor. In this case, the strategy is the abstinence/purity movement. I’ve listened to various reports about this movement through Christian radio stations and it fucking creeps me out. I think it is *so* important that parents talk to kids about sex but the way the purity movement discusses this idea of “purity” sounds like a not-so-repressed fetish with virginity. I don’t think it’s healthy for parents to be obsessed with a child’s virginity. Here’s the NYT article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/us/19purity.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1211203267-81AcCQpe7lGMl3FVovzw7w
What I love is this one line of truth, “But studies have also shown that most teenagers who say they will remain abstinent, like those at the ball, end up having sex before marriage, and they are far less likely to use condoms than their peers,” juxtaposed against an entire article of descriptives about girls in evening gowns, ceremoniously placing white roses beneath a cross and dancing with their fathers. Ick.
