The Times of South Africa recently wrote about a virgins' ball, in which young Christian girls promise their fathers that they will stay virgins until their wedding day. One event in Tucson, Ariz., featured former Miss Arizona 2006, Hilary Griffith, who talked about remaining a virgin until marriage:'Alas, it is not usual to focus on purity in our society. I’ve always refused to compromise and have stayed firm in my resolve to stay pure until the day I marry. My belief in God is so important to me. I am convinced that He wants me to wait. But it is very difficult and there are many obstacles on the way.'
The beauty queen had a relationship with a boy who pushed her into having sex, while she wanted to wait. After God spoke to her, she knew what to do — break up with him.
'The world says that staying a virgin till marriage isn’t a big deal, but the world is wrong. It is a big deal!'
Approximately 1,300 virgin balls are organized by Christian groups across the country annually.
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The "Times" article also said'
ReplyDelete"The effectiveness of the virginity pledge has been extensively researched.
Columbia University’s Peter Bearman and Yale’s Hannah Brückner have carried out one of the largest studies on teenage sexual behaviour, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. According to this, 88% of the young people who have pledged to remain virgins until their marriage do have sex earlier.
It’s these teenagers who run the greatest risk of becoming pregnant or getting venereal disease; they just aren’t prepared for the situation .
The US’s Guttmacher Institute has discovered through research that the highest percentage of teenage pregnancies occurs in Mississippi, Arizona and Arkansas — the religious states where sexual abstinence is promoted as the only option.
It seems that teenagers who have taken the virginity pledge have just as much anal and oral sex, as a means of avoiding vaginal sex, as their peers who haven’t taken the oath.
But, to a certain extent the virginity pledge has had the desired effect: on average, the “pledgers” have sex around 18 months later than their peers."